If you’ve got a half-finished The Witcher 3 playthrough sitting on your hard drive, you can relax. CD Projekt Red says your save files will still load once the remaster arrives.
The studio’s support team confirmed the two things everyone wanted to know: “save files carry over as it’s an update to the existing game” and “trophies/achievements remain unlocked.”
The remaster isn’t a separate product you buy and install next to your current copy. It’s an upgrade applied to the game you already own.
Community director Marcin Momot backed that up when asked whether the Steam release would be an update rather than a new executable. His answer was short: “Correct.”
For Steam users, that means no second library entry, no second store entitlement, and no duplicate achievement list. Whatever you’ve already unlocked stays unlocked. Whatever you haven’t unlocked, you still have to earn.
What this actually means for your playthrough
Anyone mid-campaign should be able to install the update and carry on from the same quest. Same level, same gear, same skill points, same Gwent deck, same map discoveries.
The same goes for players who finished the base game but stalled somewhere in Hearts of Stone or Blood and Wine. Completed saves should also remain usable as a starting point for New Game Plus.
One thing CD Projekt Red hasn’t explained yet is what happens if combat, skills, or progression get reworked. A save loading isn’t the same as a build surviving untouched. If the skill trees change, expect some kind of conversion or reset.
Mod users should probably back things up
PC players running heavy mod setups have reason to be careful. Big updates change scripts, executables, rendering systems, and file structures, and mod frameworks tend to break when that happens.
CD Projekt Red’s promise covers clean, unmodified saves. A save that depends on modded items, custom scripts, or an overhauled combat system may throw errors or refuse to load once the mods stop working.
Back up your saves, your mod list, and your config files before the update lands. It costs nothing.
