Three weeks ago, CD Projekt Red released the 1.61 update for The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. The patch was intended to add HDR support for the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions of the game, among other tweaks and improvements. Unfortunately, it was quickly discovered that the update caused a significant bug; the patch seemed to degrade draw distances for foliage and shadows significantly on the PS4 Pro. Now, however, that problem should have been fixed.
The Witcher III: Update 1.62
CD Projekt Red announced that they were working on a new patch shortly after the release of 1.61, once fans brought the issue to their attention. Today, that hastily-produced patch 1.62 has gone live. This new patch should fix that major bug. As a result, players should be able to play with HDR in 4K on the PS4 Pro without any graphical degradation. With the release of 1.62, The Witcher III should now run at the full potential afforded by the PS4 Pro. If you own a PS4 Pro, now may well be the time to return to the game (or pick it up for the first time).
The Witcher III’s three-year anniversary since release is actually May 19th. As a result, this patch comes just in time. Whether that date was a factor in CD Projekt Red’s hasty fix is unknown, but it certainly could have been.
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt first released in 2015. Given that, it is certainly encouraging that CD Projekt Red would act to fix a problem like this so quickly. The Polish studio is presumably hard at work with Cyberpunk 2077. They also recently announced a major 6-month overhaul of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Nevertheless, they were able to patch this issue in just a few weeks. Hopefully, fans do not report any continuing issues over the coming few days. Indeed, hopefully the quick fix doesn’t introduce any new issues. Thus far, however, it certainly seems to be doing its job.