Harry Potter and the Video Game Release

The door creaks open quietly, the entire room silent as a grave. I hear my footsteps on the old cobblestone floor, I feel the eyes of everyone on me as I make my way down the aisles; overwhelmed with smells from all the foods filling each table. I make it to the front and sit on the stool and the old hat is placed upon my head, my stomach filled with butterflies as I hope I get the house I relate most to. “Slytherin,” the old hat exclaims, and I let out a sigh of relief as I make my way to my table with my new classmates; my journey in Hogwarts Legacy is just beginning.

As a long-time fan of the Harry Potter series, I have been beyond excited for the release of Hogwarts Legacy, like a kid counting down to Christmas I have been awaiting this one. Being set in the 1800’s and roughly a hundred years before ‘the boy who lived’ the game is freed from its ties to the films and even the books and allowed to just explore this wizarding world. Things start off with a bang, as shortly after creating their characters players are introduced to Professor Fig who is their mentor and a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It’s explained that the player is coming into the school as a 5th year, and it’s emphasized (overly so at times) at how extraordinary this is. Things quickly go whatever the wizard version of ‘tits up’ is when a dragon attacks the flying carriage the player is riding in. In a neat easter egg and bit of nerd lore the player is able to see the thestrals who are flying the carriage after they witness the dragon eat their riding partner. If you are wondering why, that is because thestrals are magnificent beasts who have a bad reputation due to them only being visible to those who have witnessed death. For any Potter fan, this early moment is one that will have you ‘squee’ing’ with delight. (don’t act like y’all don’t ‘sqee’ at stuff)

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99

Once players arrive at the school is where the game really begins, by meeting the teachers and new classmates. Characters like Natsai Onai; whose mother transferred to Hogwarts. Her story I loved as you find out that she was attending Uagadou, which she explains is the largest of the 11 wizarding schools, it is carved out of a mountain and shrouded in a mist. In another easter egg drop for us fans she explains to the player that she had to learn how to use a wand as the students at Uagadou all cast spells non-verbally. Another student is Sebastian who players will help deal with a family issue he is having, it is Sebastian that will be the gateway to the dark arts. In a bit of genius game development though the devs at Avalanche designed his quest line in a way that players can decline learning any of the dark art spells but still participate in the quest. For those fans who want to role play as a purely light wizard this is a wonderful thing, for everyone else I can say that casting ‘Avada Kedavra’ on a boss and killing it instantly was about just as awesome as it sounds.

I managed to finish up the main story in about 35 hours and ended at level 31. I did dabble in a bit of the side stories and things, of which let me tell you there are a ton. The map that is presented is quite large and once players get their brooms flying around and exploring all of these vistas and nooks and crannies is so much fun. I will say that my biggest complaint about Hogwarts Legacy comes from the handling of the narrative. While the overall story and mystery of the players’ student and their ability to control ‘ancient magic’ in itself is very interesting and well done. What the game fumbles is that on more than one occasion it presents players with choices; the largest of which being right at the end of the game before the final boss fight and NONE of those choices end up mattering in the slightest. After seeing some convincing arguments on how to handle the macguffin that is at the core of the narrative the ultimate decision that players make doesn’t change the ending one bit. Not only that, but these ‘unforgivable’ curses that children shouldn’t cast (in the game players are only 15), yea I straight up cast ‘Avada Kadevra’ on a guy; killing him instantly and the teacher who was fighting next me didn’t bat an eye and just kept on doing her thing. I get it and I think these should be in the game but to hype them up as being so dire and then give no consequence to using them other than a longer cooldown timer is a bit disappointing to see.

Speaking of the cooldown timers, I can confirm that combat in Hogwarts Legacy is more fun than ‘shaking a wooden stick at someone’ should be. Seriously, there is a basic 4-hit spell attack that players can mix up with the likes of ‘leviosa’ (levitating spell) or ‘confringo’ (long range flame spell) to combo enemies into submission. While it was a lot to grasp at first once I got the hang of it, I was basically a 15-year-old wizarding Batman. (Seriously that’s what I made my kid look like). With a counter system much akin to the Batman Arkham series most players will be able to pick up the combat with ease, but in case it is to much there is a difficulty slider which has an Easy as well as a Story mode where combat is ever more simplified. Accessibility like this is good as of course this is a children’s property and very well could be the first action RPG many of them play and this will be a good way to ease them into it.

There are so many things to Hogwarts Legacy I’m just going to rundown a few, things like a creature breeding mechanic that will help to improve gear. There are puzzles galore around the map that will help to expand the inventory space (If you never listen to anything else I say.. DO THESE. Trust me), there are poacher gangs to fight, dungeons with chests filled with things to decorate players room of requirement. Which for those not in the know is a room that will act as a base of operations, it is here where players can set up their potion stations and planting boxes in order to improve gear and prepare for fights. When I tell you that this is definitively the Harry Potter experience that fans have been yearning for listen, each of the houses common rooms have secret entrances that can only be entered by members of that house AND Peeves flies around and torments the kids. Indeed the only thing missing is Qudditch, which doesn’t appear to be coming as DLC as was rumored since the developers have said they aren’t working on anything as of now.

I loved this game so very much, but that’s not to say that everything was wonderful. For starters there were glitches that required me to reload a save. These usually happened during a cutscene and while some would resolve themselves; like the flying cup incident I talked about on the podcast others needed me to restart. Luckily the game has a pretty good autosave so I never had to repeat anything other than some loading. There were a few quest givers in the world who didn’t show up to start their missions but again this was resolved by a reload of a save. All these issues are the typical ones players have been accustomed to finding in AAA open-world games and none of them ruined my experience in Hogwarts Legacy. I will say as a fan I was ready to give this game a 9 and call it a classic, but after taking some time to step away and think about it objectively I have come to a more realistic opinion. While respectful to the source material and even showing us characters that have been referenced in the books such as Headmaster Black; Hogwarts Legacy uses its place in the past to great effect. Laying the groundwork for the Hogwarts that we know and love, it was great seeing the genesis of some of the more common things in the wizarding world. But the games presentation of its choices; in making them seem dire and dare I say ‘world shattering’ only to then have them add up to a big fat pile of nothing in the post-narrative game is just a cop out that sucks. But hopefully we can see this wrong righted as well as some Qudditch in a sequel, that is if JK Rowling can manage not to have the brand erased from existence.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.