I am a millennial and Hogwarts Legacy is a 20 year old dream come true.
There are few worlds in fiction with as much depth, lore, imagination, and popularity as the world of Harry Potter. Whether you grew up with the books, the movies, or both, more likely than not you were captivated by the world that these books and movies have built. I can safely speak for most people when I say that since the moment we were introduced to Hogwarts and the wizarding world in the first book and movie, we’ve all fantasized about getting our Hogwarts letters in the mail, buying our first wand, broomstick, and owl, sitting at the dining table with the rest of our fellow young wizards and witches while anxiously waiting to get sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses, then donning the team colors that represent the pride of our new house.
Over the years, and decades, we got a fair share of Harry Potter games. We got video game adaptations of every single movie. In fact, we got multiple versions of each of the game adaptations when you take into account all the various gaming platforms that the games were released on. There were even LEGO versions and other spin offs such as the Quidditch World Cup game. These games mostly ranged from decent to terrible, full of potential and ideas that unfortunately were never fully realized.
The year is 2023 and here we have Hogwarts Legacy. The entire premise of this game is that you are a young wizard who becomes a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You get sorted into a house based on a few questions that the Sorting Hat asks you. Personally I was sorted into Slytherin, but like Harry himself, I said “not Slytherin” and I chose to join Ravenclaw, because the game doesn’t force you into the house that the Hat sorts you into. You have the option to join any house that you want. From that point forward the entirety of Hogwarts is yours to explore. You go to classes to learn new spells and interact with other students in the school. Hogwarts feels alive and truly magical. Everywhere you go you will see students going to classes, playing games, studying for tests, and getting themselves into mischief. You will see ghosts flying around while having conversations, and armored statues singing and dancing. There are cats everywhere who make Hogwarts feel cozy that you can pet. The castle is huge and I had a blast just walking around exploring it, while watching the NPCs and listening to their conversations.
To my surprise Hogwarts isn’t the only area that you can explore. I was impressed by how large the areas outside of Hogwarts are. You can visit Hogsmade, which is a cozy town outside of Hogwarts in which you can shop for clothes, brooms, wands, potions and many other things. You can hang out at cafes and candy stores. The music is cheery and visiting Hogsmade always gave my mood a boost. Outside of the town you can explore many other small villages, beaches, camps, dungeons, and forests, including the Forbidden Forest. I found what would-be-Hagrid’s house (this game takes place 100 years prior to Harry Potter) and it warmed my heart.
As I mentioned earlier, you go to various classes to learn new spells, how to brew potions, and how to grow plants that can be used in combat. You’re not on a schedule of any kind. These classes are only classes in name. They are basically just missions which usually involve the professor of each class telling you to do certain tasks, and once you complete these tasks, they will teach you a new spell or skill. Some of the classes in this game mimic scenes from the Harry Potter movies. The flying lessons class felt like it was taken straight out of the first movie. Speaking of flying, unfortunately there is no Quidditch at Hogwarts this year because someone got injured last season. That's what the game says. In reality the developers just likely ran out of time to develop any deep or meaningful mechanics for the game of Quidditch, which is fine and understandable. However, I was impressed by how well the flying felt and controlled. Vehicles and traveling can really be a hit or miss, even in the most highly praised games, but in Hogwarts Legacy flying the broom was not a problem whatsoever for me. That is why I hope that they can hopefully take some time and give us a Quidditch DLC of some kind. Maybe even with multiplayer? I feel like that would really put a cherry on top of this game.
There are 20+ spells that you can learn, including the three infamous unforgivable curses. Many of these spells can be used in combat, while a few others are used for puzzle solving, decorating your Room of Requirements, and taking care of the fantastic beasts that you can catch throughout your journey. The combat can take some time to get used to but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. Your basic attacking spell is mapped to the right trigger, so it feels like a shooting game at times, and you can have four spells mapped to each of the face buttons. As you level up you earn development points that can be used in five different skill trees. With this method you can unlock more slots for your spells, so at any given time during combat you can have as many as 16 spells ready to be used. Once you get good at the combat, it feels amazing to pull off a huge combo with various spells, while also dodging, blocking, and parrying attacks from enemies.
There is a story in the game. It's not amazing by any means but it's definitely serviceable and takes you down some interesting paths. There are plenty of side quests and stories with fellow students, my most favorite stories being the ones involving Sebastian and Natsai.
For a first attempt at an open world game set in the Harry Potter magical universe, the developers did an outstanding job. They went above and beyond filling this game with the charm and magic (no pun intended) that we have dreamed of and expected. The attention to detail all over this world is immaculate. I will say that if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, or don’t know anything about the franchise, then this game may not feel all that special to you. The enemy variety is lacking, as are dialogue options and story branches in general. It may feel like a pretty basic fantasy RPG and there is always room for improvement. Whether we get a sequel, or maybe some expansions for this game, I’m sure that us Potter fans won’t be disappointed.
There are few worlds in fiction with as much depth, lore, imagination, and popularity as the world of Harry Potter. Whether you grew up with the books, the movies, or both, more likely than not you were captivated by the world that these books and movies have built. I can safely speak for most people when I say that since the moment we were introduced to Hogwarts and the wizarding world in the first book and movie, we’ve all fantasized about getting our Hogwarts letters in the mail, buying our first wand, broomstick, and owl, sitting at the dining table with the rest of our fellow young wizards and witches while anxiously waiting to get sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses, then donning the team colors that represent the pride of our new house.
Over the years, and decades, we got a fair share of Harry Potter games. We got video game adaptations of every single movie. In fact, we got multiple versions of each of the game adaptations when you take into account all the various gaming platforms that the games were released on. There were even LEGO versions and other spin offs such as the Quidditch World Cup game. These games mostly ranged from decent to terrible, full of potential and ideas that unfortunately were never fully realized.
The year is 2023 and here we have Hogwarts Legacy. The entire premise of this game is that you are a young wizard who becomes a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You get sorted into a house based on a few questions that the Sorting Hat asks you. Personally I was sorted into Slytherin, but like Harry himself, I said “not Slytherin” and I chose to join Ravenclaw, because the game doesn’t force you into the house that the Hat sorts you into. You have the option to join any house that you want. From that point forward the entirety of Hogwarts is yours to explore. You go to classes to learn new spells and interact with other students in the school. Hogwarts feels alive and truly magical. Everywhere you go you will see students going to classes, playing games, studying for tests, and getting themselves into mischief. You will see ghosts flying around while having conversations, and armored statues singing and dancing. There are cats everywhere who make Hogwarts feel cozy that you can pet. The castle is huge and I had a blast just walking around exploring it, while watching the NPCs and listening to their conversations.
To my surprise Hogwarts isn’t the only area that you can explore. I was impressed by how large the areas outside of Hogwarts are. You can visit Hogsmade, which is a cozy town outside of Hogwarts in which you can shop for clothes, brooms, wands, potions and many other things. You can hang out at cafes and candy stores. The music is cheery and visiting Hogsmade always gave my mood a boost. Outside of the town you can explore many other small villages, beaches, camps, dungeons, and forests, including the Forbidden Forest. I found what would-be-Hagrid’s house (this game takes place 100 years prior to Harry Potter) and it warmed my heart.
As I mentioned earlier, you go to various classes to learn new spells, how to brew potions, and how to grow plants that can be used in combat. You’re not on a schedule of any kind. These classes are only classes in name. They are basically just missions which usually involve the professor of each class telling you to do certain tasks, and once you complete these tasks, they will teach you a new spell or skill. Some of the classes in this game mimic scenes from the Harry Potter movies. The flying lessons class felt like it was taken straight out of the first movie. Speaking of flying, unfortunately there is no Quidditch at Hogwarts this year because someone got injured last season. That's what the game says. In reality the developers just likely ran out of time to develop any deep or meaningful mechanics for the game of Quidditch, which is fine and understandable. However, I was impressed by how well the flying felt and controlled. Vehicles and traveling can really be a hit or miss, even in the most highly praised games, but in Hogwarts Legacy flying the broom was not a problem whatsoever for me. That is why I hope that they can hopefully take some time and give us a Quidditch DLC of some kind. Maybe even with multiplayer? I feel like that would really put a cherry on top of this game.
There are 20+ spells that you can learn, including the three infamous unforgivable curses. Many of these spells can be used in combat, while a few others are used for puzzle solving, decorating your Room of Requirements, and taking care of the fantastic beasts that you can catch throughout your journey. The combat can take some time to get used to but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. Your basic attacking spell is mapped to the right trigger, so it feels like a shooting game at times, and you can have four spells mapped to each of the face buttons. As you level up you earn development points that can be used in five different skill trees. With this method you can unlock more slots for your spells, so at any given time during combat you can have as many as 16 spells ready to be used. Once you get good at the combat, it feels amazing to pull off a huge combo with various spells, while also dodging, blocking, and parrying attacks from enemies.
There is a story in the game. It's not amazing by any means but it's definitely serviceable and takes you down some interesting paths. There are plenty of side quests and stories with fellow students, my most favorite stories being the ones involving Sebastian and Natsai.
For a first attempt at an open world game set in the Harry Potter magical universe, the developers did an outstanding job. They went above and beyond filling this game with the charm and magic (no pun intended) that we have dreamed of and expected. The attention to detail all over this world is immaculate. I will say that if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, or don’t know anything about the franchise, then this game may not feel all that special to you. The enemy variety is lacking, as are dialogue options and story branches in general. It may feel like a pretty basic fantasy RPG and there is always room for improvement. Whether we get a sequel, or maybe some expansions for this game, I’m sure that us Potter fans won’t be disappointed.