Starting December 14, every player who owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be treated to a free next-gen update. This update gives players access to improved graphics, new missions, cosmetics and more, all for free if you already own the game. Those who don’t own the game can purchase The Witcher 3: Complete Edition, which includes the next-gen update, as well as both of the game’s narrative expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. In addition to all that content, developer CD Projekt RED has also implemented a new online feature in The Witcher 3. This feature gives players access to cross progression and cross saves. Essentially, this means players will be able to access their Witcher 3 saves on different platforms than they originally played on. Below you’ll see exactly how you can take advantage of the new cross-save system in The Witcher 3.
Cross saves in The Witcher 3
CD Projekt RED essentially ported the cross-save system from Cyberpunk 2077 to The Witcher 3. Players can save their save to the cloud, which can then be accessed across platforms. The caveat is that players can only have one cross-save active on each platform, so you can’t carry different saves with plans to save-scrub across platforms. Also, of course, this new feature only applies to current generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and PC, as these are the platforms that will receive the next generation update.
To use the cross-save functionality in The Witcher 3, simply enable the “cross-progression” option in the game’s settings. To do this, pause The Witcher 3 and then open the “save” or “load” menu. From here you can enable cross-progression, which then requires you to log into your GoG account, the CDPR marketplace for digital video games.
If you don’t have a GoG account, you can create one with a valid email address. Once you’ve logged in or created a GoG account, you can return to The Witcher 3. Now all your saved files will be uploaded to the cloud. To access your saved files on another platform, repeat the same steps as before to enable cross-progression.
After that’s done, you’ll be able to view all of your cloud saves from the “Load Game” menu, which can be accessed in-game or on the opening screen for The Witcher 3. Just choose which save to load, and you’ll be taken next to the point where storage was enabled. The only difference now is that you are on a different platform.
Cross-progression between platforms
While you’ll be able to access a variety of saves on most platforms, there’s one caveat to be aware of when playing The Witcher 3’s next-gen update.
To break it down, you can access your cross-progress save no matter what platform you’re on. For example, Xbox Series X|S save files can be transferred to PlayStation 5 and vice versa. Similarly, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S save files can be transferred to PC and PC save files can be transferred between different PCs and PC accounts (Steam to GoG), as well as to consoles, with the exception of Switch, which we have described further below.
However, you will have to make sure to move save data across similar versions of the game, which explains that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a different game from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition in this regard. For example, trying to cross-save between the PC version of the base game and the PS5 version of the full edition won’t work, so make sure each platform you want to use is running the same version of the game.
CD Projekt Red has also warned that for people playing on PC and Switch, where cross-save has been possible for a while, this functionality will only work one way in the future. From the developer:
“After you update your PC copy of the game to patch 4.0, you will no longer be able to access those saves on the Nintendo Switch copy after transferring them using the GOG and Steam cloud save file integration, as the versions of the game will not longer match. However, you can move from the Nintendo Switch to PC.”
The next-gen update for The Witcher 3 is out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
The products discussed here have been independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the proceeds when you buy something on our site.
