The Witcher 3 Remastered has received patch 5.01, bringing another set of corrections and options to the newly updated open-world RPG. The most prominent additions are aimed at PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S players, who can now take greater control of the game's image settings, including the ability to disable bloom entirely.
The change arrives shortly after the remastered release's launch, which delivered a sizeable package of free visual improvements and upgrades but also left players on PC and consoles dealing with noticeable technical and presentation problems. Patch 5.01 does not represent a complete end to that work, but it targets several of the complaints that were especially distracting during ordinary exploration, conversations, and cutscenes.
On consoles, bloom has been a major point of discussion because some players felt its brightness made the picture appear overly hazy or washed out. PC users had already been turning the option off in search of a more natural-looking image. With patch 5.01, that choice is now available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well.
Console players gain more control over the picture
Bloom is a post-processing effect that causes bright light sources and reflective surfaces to cast a soft glow. Used subtly, it can help make sunlight, candles, magical effects, and gleaming metal feel more luminous. When it is too strong for a player's taste, however, it can reduce contrast and make fine environmental details harder to appreciate. In a game built around dense forests, stormy coastlines, torch-lit interiors, and long-distance vistas, the impact of that preference can be significant.
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The new toggle means players can decide for themselves whether the effect suits their display and their preferred visual style. It is a straightforward feature, but an important one: picture settings are highly dependent on individual televisions, monitors, room lighting, HDR calibration, and personal tolerance for post-processing effects.
Patch 5.01 also gives PS5 and Xbox Series X/S users access to settings for Light Shafts and Depth of Field. Light shafts, sometimes associated with visible beams of light cutting through windows, trees, mist, or dust, can add atmosphere but can likewise be a matter of taste. Depth of field intentionally blurs portions of an image outside the camera's focal point, particularly during cinematic scenes or close-ups. Some players enjoy its film-like presentation, while others prefer a consistently sharp image.
Together, these settings offer console users a more flexible way to tailor The Witcher 3 Remastered's presentation without requiring a one-size-fits-all compromise. The additions also bring the console experience closer to the kind of granular visual customization PC players commonly expect.
A PS5 settings-reset problem has been addressed
Adding options is only useful if the game remembers the choices that players make. Patch 5.01 therefore also fixes an issue on PS5 that was resetting these custom visual settings. That bug could undermine attempts to fine-tune the image, forcing players to revisit menus and reapply their preferences after they had already found a configuration they liked.
The correction should make the new options more practical for players who want to settle on a particular balance of visual effects and leave it there. For a lengthy role-playing game such as The Witcher 3, quality-of-life improvements of this kind matter beyond their apparent simplicity. A setting that needs to be repeatedly restored becomes a recurring annoyance across a playthrough that can stretch over dozens or even hundreds of hours.
It also illustrates the difference between including a feature and fully integrating it into the player experience. The remastered edition's expanded technology and presentation are intended to refresh a landmark RPG, but stable menus, reliable settings behavior, and predictable audiovisual output are foundational to making those enhancements feel worthwhile.
Dialogue audio receives a needed console fix
Another central repair in patch 5.01 concerns voiceover audio on consoles. Players had encountered an issue where spoken dialogue could become considerably quieter than other game audio after moving through tabs in the pause menu. That could create an awkward imbalance: combat, effects, and general ambience might remain loud while Geralt's conversations with major characters or quest-givers became difficult to hear.
The patch implements the fix for consoles, resolving the problem of voiceover volume dropping after pause-menu navigation. It is a particularly welcome correction given how much of The Witcher 3's identity depends on its writing, performances, and character interactions. Whether Geralt is negotiating a contract, investigating a monster trail, discussing politics, or simply exchanging remarks with a familiar companion, dialogue is not background flavor. It is central to the game's storytelling and quest design.
Audio faults can be more disruptive than they initially sound, especially in a game with dramatic shifts between quiet conversations and noisy action. Players affected by the bug could find themselves raising system volume to follow a scene, only to lower it again when combat began. Patch 5.01 should remove that repeated adjustment and restore a more consistent mix during normal play.
The update fixes voiceover audio becoming significantly quieter than other in-game sound after navigating the pause menu tabs on consoles.
Patch size differs between console and PC
Players should expect a substantial download for this update. Patch 5.01 is approximately 5.5 GB on consoles and approximately 8.5 GB on PC. The different sizes reflect the distinct builds and files involved on each platform, and players with limited bandwidth or storage may want to account for that before beginning a session.
Although the most visible new controls described in this update are for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, the patch is also part of the continuing post-launch maintenance effort across platforms. The remastered release came with broad ambitions, and an update of this size signals that the team is still making detailed changes rather than limiting its work to a small hotfix.
For PC users, bloom had already become one of the visual effects many players chose to disable. Console players now have the same opportunity to make that call themselves, while the broader update continues the process of smoothing out issues that surfaced in the release's opening week.
More feedback-driven updates may still be ahead
CD Projekt Red is continuing to gather bug reports and player feedback following the release. That makes patch 5.01 an important step rather than necessarily the final word on The Witcher 3 Remastered's technical condition. Large-scale RPGs, particularly those receiving substantial visual and systems work years after their original launch, can reveal issues only once a huge number of players begin exploring different regions, quests, menu combinations, display setups, and save states.
The current update focuses on practical matters that players encounter directly: the clarity of the image, the ability to retain chosen settings, and the audibility of dialogue. Those are sensible priorities because they affect nearly every kind of play, from roaming through the countryside to watching a story-heavy cutscene. The bloom toggle in particular is the sort of requested option that can immediately improve the experience for players who disliked the default look.
Additional patches may be needed before the remastered edition fully settles, especially as ongoing reports identify remaining edge cases or platform-specific problems. The development team's continued feedback collection leaves room for more targeted improvements over the coming months.
Attention will eventually turn to Songs of the Past
The work on updates also comes ahead of Songs of the Past, a DLC expansion planned for next year. No further release details are established here, but the upcoming expansion gives the current patching effort additional importance. Players returning for new content will expect the remastered version to offer a dependable foundation, not just upgraded visuals.
For now, patch 5.01 is most immediately relevant to anyone playing on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S and wanting greater authority over the game's effects. Disabling bloom, adjusting light shafts and depth of field, retaining those preferences on PS5, and hearing dialogue at an appropriate volume are all meaningful improvements to moment-to-moment play.
The Witcher 3 Remastered remains in an active period of refinement. This update will not change every aspect of the game, but it directly answers several early frustrations and makes console customization substantially more useful. Players who put off extended sessions because of the bright presentation, unreliable settings, or low dialogue volume now have strong reason to download patch 5.01 and revisit their configurations.
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