Should You Choose Performance or Ray Tracing in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next Gen Update?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has tremendously improved for next-generation consoles with the next-gen update and provides a placeholder until The Witcher 4. The update offers two graphic modes, including Ray Tracing or Performance. While performance focuses on smooth 60 FPS, Quality’s strong point is including ray tracing into gameplay. While both are improvements over the original game graphics, you may be wondering which one you should choose for your journey. This guide will provide you with details on each mode and our recommendation on the best.

Which One Should You Choose: Performance or Quality?

While each improves the game’s performance, each has advantages over the other. Choosing a mode depends on the visuals you want, and there is no wrong answer, so players should try each at least once to make a final decision.

Performance Mode

Performance mode is better regarding overall graphics in the game and has minimal frame rate drops in the more fast-paced combat sequences. This mode also improves the look of villages and NPC character models making the world feel more alive. You should choose this mode if you want buttery smooth gameplay. The downfall is that you won’t receive next-gen ray tracing elements, showing some lack of what the newer consoles can achieve.

Ray Tracing

Next is Ray Tracing, whose goal is top visual fidelity with ray tracing elements. The ray tracing is a nice touch and helps with reflections of mirrors and the sunlight off trees, and it is executed great here and looks beautiful. The only problem with this mode is that there are more apparent drops in frame rates, especially when you are going fast on your horse or fighting a horde of enemies, ultimately leading to your potential death.

Which is Best for you?

As you can see, each mode has its advantages and specific goals. We recommend going with Performance Mode, mainly because there were almost zero frame rate drops, helping a ton for combat and fast scenarios. On the other hand, the ray tracing looks gorgeous on screen for Quality Mode and showcases how powerful newer consoles are.

Take your time and decide which works best for you since each is still impressive. The good news is that the game makes it easy to toggle between Quality Mode and Performance Mode, making you not locked in your decision!

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next-Gen Update will be available on December 14, 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.