Witcher 3 Remastered Graphics Spark Fan Debate

Did you catch that official Witcher 3 remastered comparison clip? If you did, you might have noticed something odd: some fans think the remaster actually looks worse than the original. The clip shows Geralt casting Igni on a group of drowners in the swamp, with a side-by-side of the original game and the upcoming remaster. And while the new version boasts much greater detail on Geralt's armor and more defined water, the reflections have become a hot topic of debate.

In the original game, you can see some of the fire reflected in the brackish water underneath the drowners, even if it's just an orange-ish blur. With ray tracing in the remaster, you'd expect that to be a low bar to clear, but the clip doesn't show any reflection of the fire at all. The fog is also different: the original has defined clouds of fog floating just above the ground, while the remaster takes a more atmospheric approach to fog in the distance. A lot of these differences come down to the remaster using ray tracing, which the original didn't have.

Fans have had mixed reactions. X/Twitter user LeafusMaximus said, "despite literally adding RT to the game you managed to post a pic with worse water reflections, worse fog effects, worse armor textures in some cases (the glove he keeps back towards the camera for example), the new drowner just look wetter, the old ones actually look scaly/mucky." While desugar_64 simply asked: "Are you sure you didn't swap the footage around?"

Luckily, if you don't like the new visual representation, you should be able to roll back to an earlier version of the build as long as you're playing on PC. I'm not sure if that option will exist on consoles, but if you really don't want your current install of The Witcher 3 to get this change, you can turn off automatic updates. If you are planning on upgrading to the remaster though, you will be able to carry over your save data when the game comes out on September 29.

So, what do you think of the comparison? Are you team original or team remaster? Let us know in the comments!