The Witcher 3’s Sound Mix is Now Broken on Nintendo Switch

The wind is no longer howling

Nintendo Switch screenshot taken by the author.

UPDATE 9/14/23: A number of days after this story went live, they finally fixed this in a patch. I would have written this update sooner, but I’ve been busy playing things like Starfield.

The original article text follows, and I’m leaving it up for posterity. I still can’t believe that CD Projekt allowed the original broken patch to ship in the first place, especially since they’ve only just recovered from the whole Cyberpunk bug debacle.

A little over a month ago, the Nintendo Switch version of The Witcher 3 got the “next gen” patch. It didn’t bring over the advanced visual features from the PS5/Xbox Series versions like ray tracing, but it did add a bunch of free new content and small quality of life tweaks.

Unfortunately, it also totally messed up the game’s lush soundscape.

The Witcher 3 is an audiovisual masterpiece, even on the Nintendo Switch. On a platform famous for its “impossible ports,” it’s easy to argue that CD Projekt Red’s seminal fantasy RPG is the most impressive one. Or at least, it was easy until a month ago.

With the new patch applied, the Witcher 3 loses all of its ambient environmental sounds on the Switch. It’s immediately apparent and affects…