Oh man here we go. So, Hogwards Legacy is a game that needed to happen. And it happily fill the void of not having an open world, self-inserted RPG of the Harry potter word out there (for god’s sake, we had a real life themed park BEFORE a good and modern game of the franchise).
Besides the controversy surrounding the creator of the series, I made a point to judge it in a neutral light, so here we go.
The good: It’s a good Harry Potter game. For all of us that love the setting and want to know more about the wizard world, this game delivers just that. There are pages you collect that tells the story of the places you visit, and the experience of riding in a broom, seeing magic beings and casting spells is enough to make the experience immersive. I like the characters – the teachers, the villains, the students – none of them seems out of place, and you find yourself wanting to know more about their lore. Even with mentions of common surnames, it is obvious they are characters of their own. I also think the games does a good job in mixing puzzle solving and battling to solve quests. It also makes us experience every part of a Hogward’s student life, brewing potions and attending classes.
The neutral: The visuals could be better. The magic comes mainly because of our attachment to the franchise, not because the graphs are breathtaking. The main character also spooked me a lot and just looked off most of the time; the customization and gear options are just very mid. Some faces structures you choose at the beginning are poorly made, so you end up with few options of those already few given. The story is interesting, but not very dynamic- what makes the main storyline good are the characters. The potions and plant mechanics, for me, are so forgettable that I ended up not using it in the heat of battle unless I was against a very hard boss. The minigames add variety but making the inventory space locked behind them makes it a pain in the ass to go to town just to sell your gear all the time.
The bad: All right, the most obvious drawback of this game is how long it takes to unlock features. And I mean MAIN features of the game locked behind a 13 hours, only main quest, run. Early game exploration is hellish, making completion also hellish. Flying and Alohomora should have been introduced way before the 13hrs mark. Making the player not capable of interacting with their surrounding is a major flaw of any open world game. Most devs locks the most difficult stuff behind challenging enemies, distance or knowledge, making the immediate ambience always interactive. In a good RPG game you won’t have an interactive item placed in the 30 min mark of the game to only gain the solution of it 1/3 into the main questline. Besides Hogsmane and Hogwards other regions seem almost like sandboxy, not throughout thought of. This, again, is also a major flaw of open world games as you want to feel like every space is created with the intention of you being there (done beautifully in games like AC or even Genshin). It has the same 8 enemies and the same loots and the same look. The need for the Revellio spell gets so annoying and repetitive that you end up not using it even when it shows pages around- again, making a hell of completionists’s lifes. I’m 30 hours in and have given up on even thinking of getting all trophies.
About combat: its is not bad but it’s very clunky on PS4. Turning the wheel and pushing 3 buttoms to cast a spell is a major drawback. The stealth was introduced never to be used again for anything but missions. And, again, potions and plants don’t make that much of a difference. The game also gets repetitive, and I found myself getting a little tired of it. When the magic of OMG IT’S A HARRY POTTER GAME passes, you’re left with an RPG that seems hastily made that you would not have played for so long if it was of another franchise.
Besides the controversy surrounding the creator of the series, I made a point to judge it in a neutral light, so here we go.
The good: It’s a good Harry Potter game. For all of us that love the setting and want to know more about the wizard world, this game delivers just that. There are pages you collect that tells the story of the places you visit, and the experience of riding in a broom, seeing magic beings and casting spells is enough to make the experience immersive. I like the characters – the teachers, the villains, the students – none of them seems out of place, and you find yourself wanting to know more about their lore. Even with mentions of common surnames, it is obvious they are characters of their own. I also think the games does a good job in mixing puzzle solving and battling to solve quests. It also makes us experience every part of a Hogward’s student life, brewing potions and attending classes.
The neutral: The visuals could be better. The magic comes mainly because of our attachment to the franchise, not because the graphs are breathtaking. The main character also spooked me a lot and just looked off most of the time; the customization and gear options are just very mid. Some faces structures you choose at the beginning are poorly made, so you end up with few options of those already few given. The story is interesting, but not very dynamic- what makes the main storyline good are the characters. The potions and plant mechanics, for me, are so forgettable that I ended up not using it in the heat of battle unless I was against a very hard boss. The minigames add variety but making the inventory space locked behind them makes it a pain in the ass to go to town just to sell your gear all the time.
The bad: All right, the most obvious drawback of this game is how long it takes to unlock features. And I mean MAIN features of the game locked behind a 13 hours, only main quest, run. Early game exploration is hellish, making completion also hellish. Flying and Alohomora should have been introduced way before the 13hrs mark. Making the player not capable of interacting with their surrounding is a major flaw of any open world game. Most devs locks the most difficult stuff behind challenging enemies, distance or knowledge, making the immediate ambience always interactive. In a good RPG game you won’t have an interactive item placed in the 30 min mark of the game to only gain the solution of it 1/3 into the main questline. Besides Hogsmane and Hogwards other regions seem almost like sandboxy, not throughout thought of. This, again, is also a major flaw of open world games as you want to feel like every space is created with the intention of you being there (done beautifully in games like AC or even Genshin). It has the same 8 enemies and the same loots and the same look. The need for the Revellio spell gets so annoying and repetitive that you end up not using it even when it shows pages around- again, making a hell of completionists’s lifes. I’m 30 hours in and have given up on even thinking of getting all trophies.
About combat: its is not bad but it’s very clunky on PS4. Turning the wheel and pushing 3 buttoms to cast a spell is a major drawback. The stealth was introduced never to be used again for anything but missions. And, again, potions and plants don’t make that much of a difference. The game also gets repetitive, and I found myself getting a little tired of it. When the magic of OMG IT’S A HARRY POTTER GAME passes, you’re left with an RPG that seems hastily made that you would not have played for so long if it was of another franchise.