*UPDATED* The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt next-gen update is dated for December 14

CD Projekt Red has announced that its long-awaited next-gen update for The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt will finally be available as a free download next month.

As well as a free update for existing owners, the upgrades will be available to buy along with the game and all of its previous DLCs in a The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition from the same day, December 14.

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The update will include – as per the announcement – “ray tracing support, faster loading times on consoles” as well as “a variety of mods integrated into the experience”. There’ll also be a Photo Mode.

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Next Gen trailer

Specifics on these mods – plus the first gameplay footage from the next-gen version – was showcased in a livestream from developers CD Projekt Red. You can check out the trailer below.

The new ‘Complete Edition’ of the game will also get a physical release at a later date.

The next-gen updates for The Witcher 3 were originally promised all the way back in 2020, before the current consoles even launched – at the time, Saber Interactive were working on the ports with an aim to release them in 2021.

However, following several delays, CD Projekt decided to take them in house, after they’d finished similar work on improving the next-gen versions of Cyberpunk 2077.

By May – and in time for the game’s seventh anniversary no less – the studio confirmed the updates would be ready by the end of the year; and even though they’re cutting that deadline fine – they will indeed just sneak in before Christmas. Lovely.

In the meantime, there’s plenty more Witcher goodness on the way – with a new Witcher Trilogy on the way, a new spinoff AND a remake of the original The Witcher game in Unreal Engine 5.