Starting The Witcher 3 for the first time in 2026 means starting the Remastered (5.0) build: the skill tree, the lighting and the menus have all been rebuilt, but the game underneath is still a story-driven RPG that assumes you will learn by doing. Three decisions shape the whole run: which difficulty you pick, whether you switch on the Bard's Ballad accessibility preset, and a handful of settings the game leaves off by default. After that, the opening hours — a tutorial at Kaer Morhen, then the White Orchard region — introduce every major system in a safe order. This guide walks through all of it, with zero spoilers.
At a glance
Who this is for: Players who have never played any Witcher game — no books, series or earlier games required
Difficulty: Four tiers, changeable at any time in the options menu — nothing is locked in
Bard's Ballad: The official story-first accessibility preset (5.0) — stronger regen, infinite breath, unbreakable gear, carry weight ignored, and more
Settings to flip first: Loot grouping, automatic blade oils, quick Sign casting
First region: White Orchard — a self-contained starter zone with 6 Places of Power, each worth a free ability point
Levelling: Experience comes from quests, not grinding — follow the story's recommended levels
Spoilers in this guide: None
1. Pick a difficulty — you can change it later
The Witcher 3 has four difficulty tiers. Unlike many RPGs, none of them is permanent: you can raise or lower the setting at any point from the options menu, so your first pick is a starting mood, not a contract.
Just the Story! — Combat is deliberately gentle and meditation restores your health. For players here for the writing, the world and the choices — a respectable way to play a game famous for its story. Picking this tier is also what offers you the Bard's Ballad preset (section 2).
Story and Sword! — The standard setting, and the one most first-time players should start on. Fights ask you to use your tools — dodging, Signs, oils — but forgive mistakes, and meditation still heals you.
Blood and Broken Bones! — Enemies hit much harder, meditation no longer restores health, and preparation stops being optional. A fine second run; a rough first one.
Death March! — The top tier: the hardest hits, reduced experience gain, no healing from meditation. Leave it for a later playthrough — a dedicated achievement requires finishing the game on it, under that achievement's own conditions.
2. Bard's Ballad: the official story-first preset
New in the Remastered, Bard's Ballad is an accessibility preset CD PROJEKT RED designed for players who tire or lose focus easily — and it doubles as the game's proper easy mode. It is offered when you start on Just the Story, and you can switch it on at any time in the accessibility settings, item by item:
Stronger health regeneration — both the threshold and the rate are adjustable
Infinite breath — swimming and diving never run out of air
Unbreakable gear — your weapons and armour never wear out (boats are unbreakable too)
Carry weight ignored — the inventory limit simply stops applying (this collection's money guide explains the weight system it replaces)
Faster boats, and Witcher Senses as a toggle instead of a button you hold down
All of it is a designed way to play, listed in the official 5.0 notes. If you bounce off action combat but want the story, switch on the whole preset. If only one system annoys you — say, the weight limit — enable just that line.
3. Settings worth changing before you play
The defaults are fine, but five options make a first run noticeably smoother. All of them are in the standard settings menus:
Loot grouping (on). A Remastered addition: nearby drops gather into a single loot window, with a running loot feed down the left of the screen, instead of a separate prompt for every sack and corpse.
Automatically apply blade oils (on). Blade oils are damage bonuses you smear on a sword for a specific monster type. This option applies the right oil when a fight starts — patch 5.01 fixed it forgetting itself between sessions, so it is safe to rely on now.
Quick Sign casting (try it). Signs are Geralt's combat spells. The classic input opens a radial wheel and pauses the action; quick casting, added in the 4.0 update, casts with direct inputs instead. If the wheel feels fiddly, this is the fix.
Automatic sword drawing (your call). Geralt carries two swords — steel for humans and beasts, silver for monsters — and the game can draw the correct one for you. Manual is more reliable once you know the rule; automatic is one less thing to think about in hour one.
Minimap filters. The Remastered minimap can hide herbs, boats and corpses. Leaving herbs visible early quietly funds your first potions.
4. Hour one: the Kaer Morhen tutorial
The game opens with a dream of Kaer Morhen, and then — smartly — keeps you there for a structured tutorial. You will practise movement and climbing, sword basics (fast and strong attacks), dodging, your first Signs, and throwing bombs, with Vesemir walking you through each step.
Take it slowly. Nothing in the tutorial can kill your run or lock you out of anything, and every mechanic returns within the hour in a real fight. The one concept worth underlining is the two-sword rule: steel for people and ordinary animals, silver for anything the bestiary calls a monster. The game will also introduce Witcher Senses — Geralt's investigation vision, which highlights tracks, clues and loot in orange. You will use it constantly.
5. White Orchard: the real classroom
After the prologue you arrive in White Orchard, a small, self-contained war-torn region that functions as the game's extended tutorial. Work through it in roughly this order, and you will meet every core system in the sequence the designers intended:
The inn and the notice board. Notice boards are where witcher contracts — paid monster hunts — are posted, alongside rumours that mark your map. Reading every note on a board is a habit worth forming now.
Your first contract: the griffin. The region's main quest line ends in a proper monster hunt: investigate with Witcher Senses, read the bestiary entry the game gives you, and prepare. The bestiary names the oil, Sign and bomb each monster fears — using it is the difference between a fair fight and a wall.
Your first Signs in anger. You own all five Signs from the start: Aard (a telekinetic shove), Igni (fire), Yrden (a slowing magic trap), Quen (a protective shield) and Axii (mind influence). Experiment freely — but know that Quen is the beginner's best friend. This collection's Signs guide explains all five in depth.
Your first potion. The herbalist Tomira sends you gathering ingredients, and you brew your first healing potion. The alchemy loop in miniature: recipes are permanent once learned, and meditating refills brewed potions and bombs at the cost of strong alcohol. Oils, once made, apply without being consumed.
Places of Power. Six of these standing stones stand in White Orchard (thirty exist across the whole game). Drawing from one the first time grants a temporary Sign buff — and, permanently, one extra ability point. Six free points in the starter region is the best early bargain in the game; this collection's Places of Power guide maps all thirty.
Your first game of Gwent. The inn hosts an opponent for Gwent, the collectible card game built into The Witcher
3. It never blocks the story — but some cards can only be won at specific moments, so play an opponent when you meet one rather than "later". A beginner's Gwent guide follows in this collection.
6. Ability points, levels and the new skill tree
Geralt grows in two currencies. Experience comes overwhelmingly from quests — killing monsters in the wild pays very little, so do not grind; follow quests near your level (each shows a recommended level). Levelling up grants one ability point per level, and Places of Power grant more.
Points are spent in the Remastered's rebuilt skill tree: four branches (Combat, Signs, Alchemy, General) linked by prerequisite chains, with three ranks per skill. One rule catches new players out — a purchased skill does nothing until you place it into one of the limited skill slots on the right of the screen. Slots unlock as you level. Spend early points on one branch you enjoy rather than spreading thin; this collection's skill tree guide has a starter route.
7. Death, saving and meditation
Death in The Witcher 3 is a reload, not a punishment system: you return to your last save, with no corpse run and no lost currency. That makes saving manually and often the whole strategy — before contract fights, before long rides, before any door the game makes a show of opening. Keep more than one save file; a rotated pair protects you from saving at a bad moment.
Meditation is your other lever. It passes time, and on the two story-focused difficulties it also restores your health; on Blood and Broken Bones and Death March it does not. At any difficulty, meditating with strong alcohol in your bags refills your brewed potions and bombs — loot every bottle of spirits you pass. In the Remastered, meditation plays as a short timelapse rather than a menu: same function, nicer packaging.
8. What not to worry about
A few reassurances to close. You do not need the earlier games, the novels or the TV series: the game introduces its cast properly, and its glossary fills gaps as characters appear. You cannot "build wrong" in your first hours — respec potions exist later in the game (covered in the skill tree guide). And while the game does contain missable content, it sits later in the story, and the game itself warns you at the famous point of no return; this collection has a spoiler-light missables guide for when you get there. For now: finish White Orchard, then ride south.
FAQ
Can I change difficulty after I start? Yes, at any time, from the options menu — the tiers are not locked. The one exception to keep in mind is the Death March completion achievement, which has its own full-run conditions; changing difficulty mid-run is a normal play decision.
Should I turn on Bard's Ballad if I picked Story and Sword? You can — the preset lives in the accessibility settings and can be enabled at any time, item by item, regardless of when you started. Many players switch on a single line (unbreakable gear, or carry weight ignored) and leave the rest of the game untouched.
What actually happens when I die? You reload your last save. There is no corpse run, no lost money and no death penalty beyond lost time — which is why saving before a contract fight is the only death preparation you need.
Do I need to play The Witcher 1 and 2 first? No. The story stands alone, returning characters are reintroduced, and the in-game glossary covers the background. The Remastered is also the only version on sale now — you are not missing a "better" edition.
Is Gwent mandatory? No. Gwent is a self-contained card game: it never gates the main story. Play it if you enjoy it, take the opportunity when an opponent offers (a few cards are only winnable at certain moments), and ignore it otherwise.
Where do I get more ability points, fast? Places of Power. Each one you draw from for the first time gives a permanent extra point, and six of the game's thirty are in White Orchard alone. It is the only meaningful "free power" in the early game — the full list is in this collection's Places of Power guide.
Related guides
The Witcher 3 Remastered: What's New and Different vs the Original and Next-Gen Versions
The Witcher 3 Remastered Combat Basics: Swords, Dodging vs Rolling, Parries and Staying Alive
The Witcher 3 Remastered: All 5 Signs Explained — Igni, Aard, Quen, Yrden and Axii for Beginners
The Witcher 3 Remastered New Skill Tree Explained: Prerequisite Chains and Your First Skill Points
The Witcher 3 Remastered: All 30 Places of Power and the White Orchard Route
The Witcher 3 Remastered: Beginner Money Guide — Crowns, Weight Limits and Which Merchants to Use