The Witcher 3’s quick sign casting is the best thing in the new version

New version The Witcher 3Major graphical improvements are made, as well as a photo mode and new content that is inspired by Netflix. There are also a host of other quality-of-life tweaks and fixes. Taken together, the update is a welcome and compelling reason to revisit this modern classic, but in all honesty — as our review pointed out — few of these changes have a massive material impact on the experience. As you play, the last seven-and-a-half years melt away, and the game’s inherent quality asserts itself above all else.

You may also find yourself, as I did, quickly turning off new features like the close camera angle, which looks cool, but is clearly not tuned to the game’s combat style or movement speed. There are still a few minor updates that may have an impact. It’s easy to navigate the sometimes tedious game with its fast loading speeds and performance mode, and I found it easier and more enjoyable because of cross-format Cloud Saves. This allows me to easily transfer my progress between Steam Deck and PlayStation 5.

But there’s one small update — not enabled by default — which has a profound, positive effect on The Witcher 3’s actual gameplay: the new Quick Sign Casting option.

The Witcher Universe’s magic spells, known as signs, are fire, force blasts, mind control and magic traps. Geralt always has five of them at his disposal: the Fire Attack, Force Blast, Mind Control, Magic Shield, and the Magic Trap. Each is particularly useful against certain enemy types, but they have overlapping utility, too; Quen, the shield sign, is invaluable in any combat situation, while Axii’s mind grip is particularly handy for crowd control when mobbed by human enemies.

Previously, Witcher 3To swap the signs, players would have to pause during combat and then use a circular menu to toggle between them. The new sign option allows players to cast signs by pressing down on the right trigger. They can then fire the missiles using the buttons at the top and bottom of the screen.

Once you’ve learned the button assignment, this proves to be a far more frictionless way to play. In fact, it’s so much more fluid that it encourages you to play differently, mixing signs more often rather than, for example, setting up a Quen shield before entering combat and then sticking with Igni, the fire spell, for the rest of the encounter. It’s now possible to easily switch between Axii blasting groups, refreshing Quen or picking up any stray Quen.

Quick Sign Casting is a tactical and situational strategy that allows you to add new content without actually changing the game. The Witcher 3’s combat that was always there, but disincentivized by the control scheme (in much the same way that Death March difficulty brings out the buried focus on the game’s character builds). It doesn’t magically make a Signs build the best way to play — this will never really be a game for fans of the glass-cannon mage archetype — but it does more fully realize the fantasy of a monster hunter for whom facility with magic is just another tool in the toolbox. It’s a tiny tweak that hugely changes the game for the better.