The Next-Gen PC Tech Powering The Witcher 3’s Vibrant Fantasy World

From PhysX simulated cloth and magical effects to hundreds of thousands of individual strands of hair and fur created with HairWorks, we take a look at the impressive graphics technologies featured in CD Projekt RED’s RPG epic, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt finally arrived, bringing an epic conclusion to the tale of the series’ white-haired monster slaying protagonist, Geralt of Rivia. The game is by far the biggest adventure in the action RPG franchise yet, packing more than 200 hours of gameplay, including the main storyline, side quests and secrets for players to discover. Additionally, The Witcher 3 on PC takes advantage of an array of cutting-edge graphics technologies that bring the game’s dark fantasy world to life.

Poland-based developer CD Projekt RED reengineered its powerful graphics engine, REDengine 3, to deliver the best possible visual fidelity in everything you see in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, from the level of detail exhibited in its sprawling outdoor environments to a new facial animation system on its numerous inhabitants. Volumetric effects for more realistic clouds, fog, smoke and other effects also benefit from the revamped REDengine 3.

NVIDIA also worked closely with the development team at CD Projekt RED to enrich the massive open world of The Witcher 3 with GameWorks, a huge suite of next-generation real-time graphics and simulation technologies for developers to use in their games.

One of the most talked about visual effects technologies featured in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is NVIDIA HairWorks. The countless characters and creatures in the game have hair and fur generated by HairWorks that simulates and renders individual strands with convincing realism. HairWorks even enabled the developer to make the facial hair of Geralt continue to grow as the game progresses. 

Other GameWorks technologies the world of The Witcher 3 benefits from include HBAO+, which creates high-quality Ambient Occlusion shadows on everything you see in the game. HBAO+ is also faster and more efficient than previously existing Ambient Occlusion techniques.

NVIDIA PhysX is another powerful graphics technology utilized in The Witcher 3. The tech enriches the experience by adding dynamic cloth that sways and bends authentically to real life. PhysX also brings advanced destruction effects to the game.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features one of the most stunningly detailed fantasy worlds in a video game. To take full advantage of its rich visual experience on PC, the developer recommends you have system with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 graphics card or equivalent.

Ready to stand against the Wild Hunt? Prima’s official strategy guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough to help make decisions, navigate the vast game areas and reach the ending you want. The collector’s edition offers even more, with 32 pages of bonus content.