Just As Magical As Ever - Hogwarts Legacy (Review)
- John.P
- Feb 18, 2023
- 18 min read
Updated: Feb 28, 2023
Okay, deep breaths. Let us talk about the wizard game everyone is obsessing over for one reason or another.
<Video review here>
Hogwarts Legacy, the brand-new open world role playing game is the first majorly serious step to expand the Wizarding World into the genre of gaming. Yes, in the past we had Harry Potter games, including most recently LEGO titles but this is a more serious game in tone. Its aim was clear, to bring back your nostalgia and let you live your own legacy in a totally new way. A heads up before we begin, I will be avoiding spoilers whenever possible as well as certain secrets, quests or major plot points. Because trust me when I say. You want to experience this game first hand for yourself. It is that special.
After spending around 50 hours with the main narrative, a fair amount of side content completed and nearly all its breathtakingly gorgeous world explored. I can safely say this game has accomplished what the developers Avalanche, and its publishers Warner Brothers set out to do. As a fan I am more than satisfied with what I got to experience, even if there was a fair number of caveats to my enjoyment and things I would add or improve upon. As someone who adores the franchise and as someone in the journalistic field, this game is incredibly difficult to review. Because of that, I will be splitting this into two sections. One being the inner fanboy and lover of the universe of magic and one being a more critical with the intention of non-bias approach. That way, you get both sides of this story for a better perspective.
Starting with that nostalgic lens viewpoint, Hogwarts Legacy, put simply is the definitive gaming experience for a Harry Potter fan. Nothing even comes close to the world that has been reconstructed for you to get utterly lost in. From the moment you boot up this game, it is blatantly evident the love, care, and passion the developers have for the franchise. It lives and breathes every nuance, detail and subtly we have come to expect within the movies. But this time, you are in control and become part of the adventure.
Your journey will begin as a fifth-year student being pulled into a plot involving a dangerous goblin known as, Ranrok and their rebellion against Wizard kind. After a disastrous event carriage ride, involving a dragon eating half of your ride to the school. It was evident to me how this experience was going to go. Following a specific character’s death in that intro sequence, our protagonist immediately sees Thestrals. This, being a minor detail in the grand scheme of things anchored my expectations into high gear. The people behind this game, knew the world and I felt in safe hands.
Following on after some tutorial spaces, character dialogue and you know, that generic entry experience majority games have. We begin our journey into the world of Hogwarts. The sorting hat ceremony genuinely made me smile uncontrollably, it was such a wholesome moment of joy for me and many others I spoke to. Being put into my house of Slytherin, I experienced that moment, that this game is indeed real and it’s in my hands after years of waiting.
The castle is vast, every corridor, painting, object, classroom, and part of its grounds are dripping with the DNA of Harry Potters universe. I spent hours learning new spells within classrooms, making friends that became companions. The you will be using Revelio, a new x-ray vision type spell to find everything you can. My first few hours was just me speaking to my professors before running around furiously looking for every easter egg, secret and collectible.
Every character you speak to for the main or side content is so fleshed out with personality, nuances, and drives, you fall into its world so easily. It is simply fantastic. Whatever your opinion on JK Rowling’s creation, it has grown beyond her at this point. Even fast travelling, a mechanic present in majority of open world experiences is attached to the lore of flu-powder. A specific Harry Potter item that allows teleportation in essence. It was so simple but appreciated, this is something you will constantly notice in your time with the game. Everything a boring open world game would have has been finally tuned into the lore of Harry Potter to be better.
These experiences were simply within the castle walls too, 10 hours spent wandering, seeing ghosts and suits of Armor animated subtly or with comedy. At one point, a gargoyle on the wall insulted me for not knowing the unlocking spell to get into the door next to him. I chuckled hard at that. Once you venture out, it is insanely overwhelming, with music soaring as you fly around the castle itself, the grounds, the highlands or Hogsmeade. Every hour, every moment and every second was carefully crafted for fans to enjoy and players to discover what has been made.
Those boring, cliché and overused open world busy work collectibles, fetch quests and mechanics many of us have come to know, are present here.
Thankfully there is also some amazing quests and mechanics alongside these. But there is one crucial difference with the typically boring ones. The developers have interlaced them in such interesting ways, that incorporate the lore of the franchise. I enjoyed doing them for the first time in years. Merlin Trials, Magic Mazes, Dark Wizard camps, Broom Races, exploring Dungeons and collecting better loot. It was surprisingly addictive. A sensation as a gamer, I rarely feel for the open world bloat and fatigue. Looking at you Assassins Creed Valhalla. 100 hours I will never get back. What Avalanche achieved here is nothing short of a masterpiece of melding a licence with a genre of gaming. To argue that point would be ridiculous and a disservice to the attention to detail present in every footstep of Hogwarts. However, I cannot tell you much more on this front. Because like I said, you need to experience this game if you are a fan. The musical score alone will have you almost shedding a tear. Just go out, grab a copy, and immerse yourself in a new chapter of the wizarding world. It is well worth every penny. So that is my positive bias, fan viewpoint of the game. But we need to delve deeper into its world, mechanics, plot, pros, and cons. So let me get sorted into my critical brain for the second half of this review and let us continue.
Here we are in 2023 after years of trailers, gameplay, rumours, delays, and leaks. The big new Harry Potter game is here, and my god does it hit the mark in so many ways. Even if you are not a fan, I think you could enjoy this as simply a fantasy game. But the game also suffers from a manner of negatives that can hamper your enjoyment too. As a fan, they are easy to dismiss. But as a reviewer we need to bring attention to all the good and bad. Your mileage of enjoyment will vary in Hogwarts Legacy, but I am here to cut through the nostalgia bias, the franchise history, and its controversy to bring you a segment meant for the sceptic muggles amongst you.
Firstly, we need to discuss the plot. Its villains, the overall arc of our character and purpose to the overall experience. You play as a fully created character; you make the protagonist as you see fit and follow a path you desire. I will always praise a game for allowing character choice, small or large. Here, it does tend to be on the Fallout 4 side of things, a lot of your choices do not bring a grand level of consequences outside use of Dark Magic, specific dialogue, and the ending. Professor Fig, your mentor is an essential character. He is your guide to the world of ancient magic, something for better or worse that we the student possess and that you need answers for.
This journey leads you into finding the Keepers. Long dead wizards with a secret to protect that once ran Hogwarts centuries ago. They also shared the same powers as you, and once came across a young witch who shared their gift. This tale unravels in your fifth year at Hogwarts, which is, your first technically. A late bloomer it seems. All while a Goblin rebellion is afoot. The villains of the piece are threefold. Ranrok, the goblin rebellion leader. Rookwood, his brutish yet charming human right hand man and a third person that is a subtle villain you get close to. Which I won’t be spoiling. The story does an excellent job of piquing your interest and bringing a strong backbone to the overall experience. It grounds you in a world where you can easily get lost for hours doing inconsequential things. Then easily return to the story. Its pretty forgiving, which can hurt the impending doom and tension.
The first act is especially strong, where you spend Summer at Hogwarts. Each season is marked by a trial you complete to reveal more and more truth of the keepers, ancient magic, and a character Isadora. Which is a witch you will learn increasingly more about as you play. I was engaged for its majority, while the middle falters due to lots of plot threads, quests, and fun to be had elsewhere stealing your attention. It still made the core of the game have meaning.
Nevertheless, it has issues. Especially with pacing and its villains. I think I saw Ranrok and Rookwood, about 4-5 times in the entire game if my memory serves. Their motivations are cartoonish too. Ranrok has a bare bones motive, as he hates wizard kind and wishes to wield the power to destroy us. Simple but it works, I guess. Rookwood is simply your white middle-aged angry man with a top hat and twirling moustache. I cared little for him and by the end I had no idea what his motives were. Which made his character arc ending, especially anticlimactic. Overall, its engaging at times but mostly average in that sense. As a fan I was more engaged than a casual but for the majority, it won’t win any awards put it that way. Professor Fig is the standout, a cool grandpa type that I loved seeing pop up. The Keepers story about their protection of the ancient magic is far more involved and enjoyable. By the end of the game which has a good, neutral, and evil ending. I was pretty invested in the resolution of its story. Even post story there was plenty of epilogue style quests to take part in which is a welcome final edition.
Moving on to its gameplay side of things. A huge mechanic is that of a Field Guide given to you by professor Weasley, the deputy headmistress on your first day. This is essentially an encyclopaedia full of challenges, collectibles, and ways to track progress. It also functions as your pause screen which is a minor detail that is cool to see. Especially because your chosen Hogwarts House symbol is present on its cover. You will be checking this a lot, grabbing pages in and around Hogwarts and the outside world. You even carry it briefly when collecting pages, another subtle detail I loved. This game has a lot of those moments. The first major moment of the game involves picking your house, then it’s designing your own wand at oliveanders. It just never ends with how they have built this interactive medium for the wizarding world. All wrapped up into a magical castle and its surrounding zones.
Hogwarts is just overwhelming at first. Walking through its grand corridors and seeing things from the movies will have your jaw on the floor and eyes wide open. The castle itself is painstakingly crafted with beauty and details. Even if you do not know the movies, you will be in awe of its architectural design. Hard work and talent are showcased in every step. Every room, hallway, classroom and broom closet feel important to the day to day running of a magical school. And you, the player will find secrets, puzzles, chests and easter eggs all over the place. Not to mention random NPC interactions and events that just help the world building so incredibly well. Peeves pestering students, kids being shouted at by howlers, gargoyles insulting you, kids using magic to walk on walls or knights fighting in the courtyard.
All these things just flesh out the game, increasing its immersion and let it be a living and breathing world. If I was reviewing just the castle, the game would be a 10/10. It fulfils your fantasy of being a student at Hogwarts to the minutest detail and then still surprises you 18 hours later with something you haven’t seen yet. So, let’s me move on from the world building and exploration for a moment to talk about what most people who are or are not fans would like to know. What is the gameplay in terms of its combat like. Well, the best way I can describe the spell combat and its general gameplay is a mix up of Ghost of Tsushima meets Elden Ring. Combat starts off simple, you have a basic cast with the press of a button. It does minor damage and can be spammed if needed. You also have specialist spells, combat, and utility to equip to a set wheel. Early on you have four slots, as you progress through its talent tree, which we will go into later, you can get a total of 16. Four wheels total. You can dodge and parry too. But as you progress and have all the spells it can become tedious swapping between wheels and swapping spells in an out. It’s one of those situations where it works as is and it’s hard to think of a better system to take its place. Even if it can become problematic to people who are not into fast paced combat. It works far better than any previous Harry Potter game and went above my expectations of it feeling stiff. Its fluid and fun, all you need. But it certainly is not the games focus. The game really has no true focus. It is all up the player on what they want to put more time into.
The enemies you will face will vary from Dark Wizards, to Spiders, or Trolls or other dangerous creatures. Its basic but works. A huge shout out to the animation team for their talent when it comes to incorporating spell combos together to obliterate enemies too. Holding up a magical frog like creature by its tongue with Leviosa then hitting him with the explosive Bombarda before pulling a Mandrake plant out to back other enemies off with a stun. Never got old once. Enemies sometimes have shields too, hitting those coloured shields with the corresponding-coloured spell will disable them leaving them open to attack. A cool detail I think new gamers will appreciate. Accessibility is important in the game, and it has lots of options in its settings to make combat or exploring easier for whatever reason you wish.
The core gameplay loop is very reminiscent of your typical open world action game. You explore, you take part in combat/exploration, and you are rewarded. Whether that is freely or for a questline does not matter. You are constantly getting gear and I mean constantly. Which is an aspect of which truly shocked me about this game, it is essentially a looter spell-shooter. Division with Wizards. Every chest, every enemy encounter, every random quest reward. I was constantly getting better and different equipment and outfits. From wand handles to clothing choices, to potions and ingredients. It is almost too much at times. I would spend 5-6 hours exploring, do a few main or side quests then look for collectibles to complete my challenges to get more rewards. It was highly addicting, and I am dumbfounded that Warner Brothers did not put microtransactions in the game. There is none. Especially given the cosmetic loot system. Some loot can be acquired from the various shops and merchants in towns and on the road. But I never found myself buying more than recipes or resources because the loot was so abundant. The transmog system in place is the best one I have seen implanted into a video game period. It means any gear piece you love the look of can go over the best stats or mods you have for that clothing item. It works so well.
As you progress you will get access to four specific mechanics and utilities. Those are your broom, flying mounts, unforgivable curses, and the room of requirement. Each of these requires progressing in main quests and side character arcs. I remember flying on the broom for the first time and my Duelsense controller using its haptics in such a way I could feel the wind resistance. To be clear, majority of the fleshed-out character arc quests are Witcher level greatness.
Anything involving Sebastian and Ominous especially resonated with me, what that says about me personally for those in the know of their journey. I don’t know. The learning of Avarda Kadarva, the killing curse was a truly dark choice at the time but has little consequence to the player personally. Which can be considered good or bad depending on your outlook. Either way their entire arc and questline was my favourite within the game. A close second would be the caretakers hassle with students pranking him over his worse fears. Leading to unlocking Alohomora and a new collectible. Everything is just so well-crafted into each other that it never felt like busy work. It felt important.
The room of requirement also lets you customise your own base of operations with modular set pieces, objects, and utilities to help your time in the game. Brewing potions, growing plants, adding an aesthetic to the room your vibe with. It is something I did not expect to be so in depth but once again Avalanche surprised me. As more hours passed, this room becomes even more important and fleshed out with vivarium’s. Which are zoos essentially. Places to store fantastic beasts you save from poachers in the world. Then more hours went by, and I could use these beasts’ fur, feathers, scales or whatever they produced to add traits to my existing gear via a loom. Then I could breed them for more rewards and resources. It just kept getting better and better, more immersive and in depth. I have not seen a game do this in a long time. You could consider everything in the room of requirement to be its own game, hell, it could be a mobile game in all honesty. It is another fun distraction welcomed.
There is a skill tree of sorts within Hogwarts Legacy too, its known as talents. With five categories from your wand core, spells, dark arts and move these allow you to customise your gameplay experience. However, be wary. There is no respec system and only 40 talent points available so be careful where you spend them. My advice, focus on spells, wand core and dark arts. As the room of requirement and stealth is not as needed as others. So, take your time to decide.
While experiencing Hogwarts Legacy your eyes will be treated to a spectrum of graphical fidelity. The visuals are something that can be either a spectacle or incredibly beautiful landscape you wish the game had a photo mode for. Or on some occasions it lacks and can be washed out bland character design with awful lighting. When this happens, it brings attention to the dated facial animations and lip sync issues. It reminded me of Horizon Zero Dawn in that sense. Depending on if it bothers you, it may impact your immersion and enjoyment here. I also expected more from the character creator if I am honest. It is pretty basic when considering what contemporary rival offer in this sense.
While we speak about characters and visuals, its best to mention that in different times of day, especially night or sunset. The game looks astonishing. Truly next gen. The castle in the evening is the highlight of its dense but populated landscape that I found myself flying around countless times just to take in the nostalgia and beauty. But again, this can be ruined by a very blatant problem. When entering populated areas such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade or hamlets the same overused dialogue can be heard. Time and time again. The first few times its cool, by hour 20 I was getting concerned the random chatter was an afterthought. By hour 40, I almost wanted to mute my TV. I am sorry chosen wizard protagonist but shut the hell up about how cosy a place is. The writing of the main quest and most side content is great but random chatter; less important narrative moments are plagued by bad writing or cringe dialogue. Anyway, small gripes and cons compared to the amazement the game offers. But they are worth mentioning to say the least.
Because of these issues, it’s a good job the soundtrack and audio design are so fantastical. It is a treat for your ears whether you are familiar with the musical score of the movies or not. The game features small remixes and changes to established themes from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast movies that trigger at moments to help bring emotional weight to gameplay or scenes. I found the introduction cutscene when arriving at Hogwarts and the finale score, especially memorable and emotional. It worked so well, and this alone is worthy of an award in future. Even small sound ques like spells hitting targets combined with the haptic feedback of the PS5 controller helped build immersion.
As you can see, the vast attention to detail counteracts a lot of the negatives within this game, my partner who is a huge Harry Potter fan for example was pointing out things from the books I had no knowledge of. When trying to climb up the stairs to the girls’ dorms within the common rooms, the castle will turn the stairs into a slide. At the time I had no idea what the area was and why I could not get there. It was such a random unneeded detail that they added for fans in the know. That is pure passion in my opinion. My sister and friends were doing the same as the days went by, everyone was finding cool nods to the movies, books, and other games. It is one of those cultural phenomenon bombs of media that everyone was talking about, for better or worse. It was another comparison to Elden Ring, it was everywhere.
It has been a very long time since I have wanted to explore every inch of a game, head to toe and 100% it in entirety. Even with the cons and issues mentioned, nothing really broke my immersion or ruined the experience for me to have had enough. Generally, the bugs or flaws are what we have come to expect with most day one releases. Anything from the cloth physics messing up and clipping, to texture pop ins, to glitching creatures through the map would occur randomly but not often. I even at one point had an almost game breaking bug of falling through the map after a save. Luckily, I had kept multiple save files. That was the biggest issue that is now fixed as of today, but the positives vastly outweigh the negatives all in all. It’s so full of special moments I can forgive it in some sense. As it is not often we get such incredible unique experiences like Hogwarts Legacy.
Having gone over most of the game in terms of story, its world, gameplay and its excellent world building, it’s time to talk about exactly what has been happening surrounding this game. For those that do not know JK Rowling wrote the original books, helped with the movies and has been involved in a lot of the aspects within its growing universe. After she stated some comments via social media that can be considered problematic, hateful, and opinionated. Fans and non-fans have been divided. Hogwarts Legacy has been at the centre of these arguments about transphobia for a good few months now with it getting extremely heated over its release period. Wherever you stand on the argument and opinions of JK and the Harry Potter franchise I want to state something very simple. If you chose to play this game, enjoy. If you chose not to, I respect that. Do not bully or attack people for either decision. It is their life and choice. Gaming is about escaping the world and enjoying your time with an immersive world. So, hate, for hate, it’s just not it. In the modern capitalist world, everything you consume has some negative connotations surround it. So, let’s have less of the virtue signalling and support the hardworking developers that have nothing to do with the creators’ opinions.
My last statement on the controversy is this. My honest respect goes out to Avalanche, Portkey Games and even WB in some respect for attempting to undo some of the more cliché or offensive representation of characters the books and movies had. JK had a lot of bizarrely stereotypically or insulting characters looking back. The diversity in Hogwarts Legacy is vastly superior to the other media we have which is a great step forward. The game even features a trans character, whether you see that as a genuine gesture or ham-fisted in is your own decision. But she is there. It did not really feel forced to me, and in other media like MCU for example it can be. Looking at you Disney virtue signalling. The developers clearly tried to alleviate some of the issues presented in the game’s lore with Goblins and Elves especially. Which you will see within its narrative segments.
To conclude my grander thoughts and experience with the game. Hogwarts Legacy is a masterpiece of the video game tie in genre, it brings everything a fan could ask for and then some. There is no doubt that nothing rivals it currently in that respect. Constantly expanding, progressing, and surprising you at every turn, it blew my expectations out of the water with its nuanced world building. Its paced well overall with a few shortcomings in its story but luckily it keeps you constantly immersed with fluid, fun combat and a gameplay loop that keeps you learning new spells, exploring fresh locations, and always unlocking mechanics as the hours pass by. The flaws of character design, lip sync, repeating voice lines can hurt the game and while it has a clear art direction that I enjoyed, it could have done more with the current tech when comparing it to the likes of Horizon Forbidden West for example. None of these issues in the grand scheme of things detract from the amazing passion soaking into every nook and cranny of its world. It’s not a perfect game technically by any means but it’s one of the most unique experiences available to people as of right now.
The creativity of the project is something hardly seen in video games. I do wish it had a more intrinsic karma system and larger choice but for a first outing, I get it. When I played, I had that itch for just learning one more spell, catch one more beast or find one more secret in the castle. I cannot do this game justice with a review because its nature is curiosity and spoiling that would be a disservice to you. It has too much to offer I just can’t show otherwise without ruining your time with the game. If anyone can invent a real time turner so I could experience this game for the first time all over again. I would use it in a heartbeat. My final score for Hogwarts Legacy is an 8 out of 10. I heartily recommend this love letter in game form to fans of Harry Potters incredible world. Your enjoyment will vary depending on your connection to its established world, you’re liking for open world titles and your stance on the political issue involved. Regardless of any of those aspects though, it has sold well commercially and connected with people in a cultural sense. Much like the books and movies before. It is clear as day, the gaming owls have delivered our first game of the year contender with this magical entry.
By John Perry
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