The good news is, the PS5 version of The Witcher 3 clearly looks much nicer than it did on PS4, with much better lighting, reflections, and various asset improvements. Load times are also almost 10x faster. That said, it comes at a heavier cost than you might think, with Ray-Tracing mode in particular offering a relatively low resolution and a sometimes-juddery 30fps. You can check out the full analysis below, provided you have around 15 minutes to spare.
Post next-gen patch, The Witcher 3 offers two visual modes on PS5 – Ray Tracing and Quality. The Ray-Tracing mode is a dynamic 1440p, with the average resolution not being much better than 1080p (around 1188p). Ray-Tracing mode targets 30fps, but frequent juddery drops of 1 to 3 frames can happen in in busy areas like towns. That said, it looks to be a smooth 30fps out in the field. As for the Performance mode, it is a (very) dynamic 4K, with the resolution commonly sitting at around 1548p. Performance isn’t perfect in this mode either, falling to the mid-50s, but, of course, a few dropped frames are less noticeable at 60fps. Again, there’s no denying the next-gen version of The Witcher 3 looks better than before, but a few more visual options would be welcome. Perhaps a middle-ground 30fps/40fps option without ray-tracing that would allow you to push the resolution closer to an actual 4K. The Witcher 3 next-gen update arrives on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on December 14. It will be accompanied by a patch for last-gen platforms, which will add content inspired by the Netflix series and other features without the visual bells and whistles.
