The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launched to major fanfare and a massive boost in peak concurrent players. CD Projekt Red aimed to make it comparable to any modern release, prompting combat and gameplay overhauls for the 11-year-old game.

In an interview with VGC, Fool's Theory's Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz and CD Projekt Red's Paweł Sasko discussed the inspiration and challenges. Sasko noted that the story and characters still hold up, but the aging combat was the weakest part, based on common complaints from players and journalists.

Revamping the skill tree drew heavily from Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update, where Sasko was deeply involved. However, the team had to respect Geralt's fighting style and personality, which constrained the redesign. This approach mirrors the lessons learned from Cyberpunk 2.0's progression changes.