The Witcher 3 has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.

Short answer

The short version: it is canon where the developers say it is, and enjoyable regardless.

Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

Where to find it legitimately

Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them.

Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing.

Where it fits with the game

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Stop and reassess after two failed attempts rather than repeating the third.
  • Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.

What exists officially

Everything below is framed around the current state of The Witcher 3 rather than a launch-week impression. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

Whether it is worth your time

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

What is fan-made

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over.

Where people go wrong

  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.

Witcher 3 FAQ

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

Is this still accurate after the latest The Witcher 3 update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Is it any good?

The reception is mixed and depends heavily on what you wanted from it. The section above sets that expectation honestly.

Is it canon?

Where the developers have said so, yes. Adaptations produced under licence are frequently their own continuity.

That is the whole of it — if something here stops matching The Witcher 3, the game changed, not the method.