If you're playing The Witcher 3 on Switch 2, update before your next session. CD Projekt released patch 5.01 for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on 19 October, and the most important line in the notes is about your saves: the patch "fixed an issue that could affect save file data and added measures to address saves that may have already been affected".
CD Projekt says the patch is rolling out now, with the Japanese version to follow once it passes certification. Nintendo Life, which reported the patch the same day, notes that the Switch 2 version launched on 29 September and this patch lands three weeks after that.
What changes on Switch 2
Several fixes are specific to the Switch 2 version:
- Image quality: CD Projekt "made adjustments to image sharpening and resolution to improve visual clarity and fidelity".
- Stability: a rare crash that could happen when moving between in-game regions is fixed.
- Mods: cache handling for Cross-Platform Mod Support has been optimised.
- HD Rumble: climbing a ladder no longer rumbles only the left Joy-Con 2.
- Map: you can no longer drop pins on the black bars around the map.
There's also something to play with. The patch adds Bloom, Light Shafts and Depth of Field options to the graphics settings, alongside broader visual changes CD Projekt lists as improvements to bloom, tone mapping and character lighting. A fix for Dynamic Resolution Scaling artefacts in certain configurations is in there too. If the default look isn't to your taste, those toggles are the first place to try. CD Projekt also lists unspecified performance optimisations, but it doesn't give numbers, so don't expect a specific frame-rate gain.
The rest of the fix list
Most of 5.01 is steady clean-up. On the gameplay side:
- Automatically Apply Blade Oils works properly when enabled.
- Player-controlled boats no longer occasionally start moving on their own.
- Dodging no longer has an occasional delayed response.
- Sprinting and dodging at the same time no longer drains Geralt's Stamina completely.
- Bombs can no longer be thrown when the option is disabled.
- The Exploding Shield skill now reflects damage, and the Synergy skill shows the right bonus values.
The UI gets tidied as well: no more stuck "You've gained an ability point!" pop-up, the Potions tutorial now appears when it should, and misaligned progress bars are fixed. The fix for voiceover that was much quieter than other in-game audio now applies on consoles too.
Two things will look odd when you boot up, and both are expected. CD Projekt says the policy consent screen will appear again "due to backend issues", so you'll need to confirm your choices a second time. And a fix for My Rewards and Twitch/Bilibili Drops not appearing in the chest in Vizima means some of those items may now turn up duplicated. Ukrainian text is now available in every region except the Japanese version.
What to do next
Download 5.01, load a recent save, and check that it's intact. The save-data fix exists because some files could be affected, and CD Projekt says it added measures for saves that may already have been hit. If something still looks wrong after updating, that's worth reporting to CD Projekt's support.
CD Projekt hasn't announced the next patch for the Switch 2 version, and the only confirmed next step is the Japanese release after certification. For now, 5.01 is the version to be on.
Reporting notes