It’s no secret that the PC version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt appears to lack the kind of future-oriented features that PC gamers have come to expect from CD Projekt Red. The PC footage we’ve seen thus far comes from a preview build that was sent out to the media.
PCGamesHardware is now in possession of the review build of the game, which comes with the day 1 patch installed. The German website is reporting several key graphical improvements in the game, including better vegetation, better ambient occlusion, better textures, better shadows, along with water tessellation in effect.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the preview and review builds.
Preview Build
Review Build
Here’s a closer look at the same comparison.
Preview Build
Review Build
As can be seen, the vegetation in the center is missing from the preview build. The tree on the left also casts a better looking shadow in the review build.
Update: Here’s an additional comparison that shows improved LOD and water tessellation in the review build.
Preview Build
Review Build
These improvements do, however, come at the cost of performance. Thankfully, according to PCGH, the drop in frame rate isn’t significant.
Let us know what you think of these visual upgrades in the comments below.
