The Witcher 3 Remastered Lands on Switch 2 Tomorrow - Free for Switch Owners, but It Won't Find You on Its Own

I still remember playing The Witcher 3 on the original Switch and being amazed it ran at all. Geralt on a bus, Novigrad in my lap, a little blurry around the edges but honestly magical. So when the Remastered version was confirmed for Switch 2, I was all in.

And now it's basically here. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered launches on Switch 2 on 29 September 2026 - yes, that's tomorrow.

The good news first, because it really is good news: if you already own the game on the original Switch, the Remastered version costs you nothing. No upgrade fee, no "Switch 2 Edition" toll booth. That's the kind of thing I love to see, and CD Projekt Red deserves a warm little round of applause for it.

Here's the catch, though. On PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the original game simply upgrades itself to the Remastered version. On Switch 2, it doesn't. The Remastered release is a completely separate product in the eShop, so you have to go and pick it up yourself and download it as its own game.

If you bought the game digitally, CD Projekt Red's support team has said you can already pre-order the Remastered version for free on the eShop. If you've got a physical cartridge, you'll be able to claim it once the game launches.

Is this a scandal? No. But it's exactly the kind of small friction that trips people up. I'm thinking of the parent who bought the cartridge years ago, or the more casual player who boots up the old icon on their shiny new Switch 2 and wonders why nothing looks different. Nobody should miss out on a free upgrade just because they didn't read a support post. So if that's you - or someone in your family - take thirty seconds tonight and check the eShop.

Also, keep some storage free. This is a big open-world RPG, and a second full download next to the original won't be tiny. You can always tidy up afterwards.

I'd have loved the seamless PlayStation and Xbox approach here too, honestly. But a free, better-looking Witcher on a handheld? I'm not going to grumble for long. Toussaint on the sofa, here I come.

Image: Crisco 1492 / CC BY-SA 4.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nintendo_Switch_2_in_Docking_Console.jpg