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

Short answer

It exists, it is official, and it is not required to understand the game — but it does fill in the parts the game only gestures at.

Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

What is fan-made

Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers.

Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them.

Whether it is worth your time

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
  • Stop and reassess after two failed attempts rather than repeating the third.
  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.

Where to find it legitimately

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. 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. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

What exists officially

What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. Everything below is framed around the current state of The Witcher 3 rather than a launch-week impression.

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

Where it fits with the game

Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

Where people go wrong

  • Grinding a method that was patched months ago because a thread still ranks well.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.

Witcher 3 FAQ

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?

No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.

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.

Anything that shifts with the next The Witcher 3 update will show up as a changed number, not a changed approach.