One of the massive releases of this week is The Witcher 3 Remastered, and ahead of its launch on Tuesday, the first reviews for this huge update have begun filtering in over the past few hours.

Just to remind you, the update is free for anyone who owns the digital version (and seemingly the physical version) of The Witcher 3 for Xbox Series X and S, so you'll be getting it very soon if you're eligible.

Here's what the reviews are saying about The Witcher 3 Remastered so far:

Metro (4.5/5)

"True to its name, this is a remaster rather than a remake, so while there’s a refreshed level of 4K visual polish, and combat that’s been sharpened and rebalanced, underneath it all is the perfectly preserved skeleton of the original game, for better and for worse."

Noisy Pixel (9/10)

"Visually, The Witcher 3 Remastered looks good, but what stood out more to me was how different each region feels... There are still moments where facial animations or certain interactions look older than the environments around them, but they didn’t bother me much. If anything, those awkward moments stand out more because other parts of the presentation hold up so well."

GamingBolt (9/10)

"Has Remastered managed to wow me enough to make me take on that massive story and map again, and see things through to the finish this time around? Has that long list of changes been enough to make me commit to finishing it on my PC, with some of its improvements making it feel different, if not necessarily better? I’d say yes, for the most part."

GameTyrant (9/10)

"Whether you've finished this game a dozen times or never touched the series, this is the version to buy. Newcomers get the definitive experience with none of the original's rough edges. Veterans get a reason to return to Toussaint one more time and find it looking better than they remembered. Either way, having Geralt in your bag is a genuinely great way to own this game."

Polygon (Positive)

"The remastered edition brings many improvements, but not enough to change the fundamental nature of the game, and that’s good. The Witcher 3’s many faults allow its qualities to shine so much brighter. They’re signs of the very human limitations that make every piece of art unique and ultimately memorable."

Sportskeeda (Positive)

"With The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Remastered, CD Projekt Red took one of the most iconic RPGs in gaming history and equipped it with modern QoL refinements, snappier combat pacing, a modern UI, and transformative visual technologies like full path tracing. Despite a few technical quirks, the final product enhances the base game meaningfully."

PCGamesN (Mostly Positive)

"The Witcher 3 Remastered does what it sets out to do: it polishes the game, massively enhances combat, and dramatically improves the visuals. Are said visuals fully to my taste? Not quite. Are they bad? Absolutely not. The vast majority of players will receive this as a free upgrade, and as a result it's not really a question of 'is it worth it?' but more 'will I like it?' My answer is yes, you probably will."

As is always the case with review roundups like these, people are playing the game on various systems — Xbox, PC, PlayStation, Switch 2 — and obviously the experience will differ a little bit from platform to platform.

That's why we've also highlighted some raw Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S footage of The Witcher 3 Remastered elsewhere on Pure Xbox though, which can you find in the "related articles" section below. Ultimately, it seems to be looking pretty good and running very well on Xbox going into tomorrow's launch.

Let's see what happens when it goes live, eh? For now though, the remaster is off to an encouraging start.

Will you be playing The Witcher 3 Remastered this week? Tell us in the comments section below.