CD Projekt Red closed out Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 with two major announcements for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: a first look at Songs of the Past, the game's third and final expansion, and a surprise free 'Remastered' update for the base game. The expansion marks The Witcher 3's first new DLC in more than a decade, with the last major expansion, Blood and Wine, having released back in 2016.
Songs of the Past sends Geralt to a new region called Letten, described by CDPR level design lead Miles Tost as an idealistic land hiding a dark secret that only Geralt can uncover. The trailer showed Geralt wielding a new chain weapon, functioning like a grappling hook to drag enemies toward him, which callbacks to a weapon first seen in the opening of the original 2007 Witcher game and used in Andrzej Sapkowski's books against the Striga Adda. According to GamesRadar+, the trailer also appears to show Geralt amid the Belleteyn festival, seemingly confirming prior fan speculation about the event's inclusion. CD Projekt Red says the expansion will be roughly as large as Blood and Wine and will add new cards to the Gwent minigame, though it will not serve as a lead-in to The Witcher 4. No firm release date was given; the trailer states it is coming 'next year,' with Kotaku citing 2027 as the expected window. Songs of the Past is billed as Geralt's last adventure before The Witcher 4 shifts focus to Ciri, a sequel currently targeted for 2028.
Alongside the expansion tease, CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 3 Remastered, a free update arriving September 29. It brings upgraded lighting and visuals, combat enhancements including new finishers, improved movement and mount handling, and enhanced monster behaviors. Other changes include a revamped skill tree, a new transmogrification system for gear appearance, an expanded photo mode, ray tracing improvements, new accessibility features, improved UI, and reworked quest tracking and menu navigation. This is the second major upgrade the 2015 game has received, following a previous update in 2022.
To coincide with the announcements, CD Projekt Red made the game's two existing expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, free for all owners. The expansions normally cost $9.99 and $19.99 respectively. The offer applies across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC storefronts, but not to the Nintendo Switch version; a native Witcher 3 Remastered release is planned for Nintendo Switch 2 alongside updates for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X. Fans reacted with surprise online, with some calling the free upgrades 'wild' given current industry norms.
The Witcher 3, originally released in 2015, has sold 65 million copies and previously received 16 pieces of free DLC in addition to its two major expansions. Sources note that CD Projekt Red is simultaneously developing The Witcher 4 using Unreal Engine 5, and has said it intends to release an entire Witcher trilogy within a six-year window.