Hogwarts Legacy is a new open-world action RPG set in the 1800s, long before the events of Harry Potter. You play as a character of your own design, whose late entry into Hogwarts as a new 5th year acts as the perfect preamble to re-learning everything there is to know about being a witch or wizard.
But your late attendance at Hogwarts has an even stronger significance to the world around you. While you're busy catching up on your charms, spells, and potion recipes, a threat to the entire wizarding world is growing – and only you hold the key to stopping it.
From the get-go, Hogwarts Legacy is simply enormous. The castle is a labyrinth of staircases and corridors that beg for immediate investigation. The music is eerily familiar. There are classes to attend. Mischief to get up to. Harry Potter may not be there, but the environment will feel nostalgic.
And just when you get your footing and figure out how to navigate the length and breadth of the endless castle, you’ll venture outside the castle and realise there’s even more to explore. It’s only when you get to a high vantage point and slowly scan your surroundings that you can fully appreciate the scale of this game.
From the forbidden forest and its endless supply of spiders to caves to river sides, tiny hamlets, Hogsmeade, and more. Nestled between each are dangerous bandits, wolves, trolls, and mythical beasts that will have you throwing every spell at them to survive.
Combat: Equal parts magic and frustration
As clichéd as it may sound, the combat in Hogwarts Legacy is pretty magical. You’re never far away from slicing your wand in a series of combo attacks and conjuring up some truly eye-catching spectacles.
Many foes come with unique magical barriers that, depending on their color, require specific spells to break. This challenges you to diversity your spellcasting and can lead to some truly satisfying battles where one minute you’re levitating a poacher helplessly into the air with Leviosa, only to incinerate them with Incendio seconds later.
Hogwarts Legacy combat. #HogwartsLegacy #Hogwarts pic.twitter.com/tbCcpyDlo0
— Mark Medina (@Mark_Medina) February 6, 2023
Even when outnumbered, a well-timed protection spell can send a stun back at your foe, equalling the odds. And when all else fails, enchanting environmental objects, like rocks and barrels to fling at your opponent or unleashing the horrors you’ve created in Herbology, can buy you enough time to formulate a plan.
That said, the combat on PS5 can feel somewhat frustrating in the game’s early stages. You learn spells at an alarming rate but will only have four mappable buttons to quick-cast from.
Although you unlock more ways to quick-swap spells as you level, in the game’s early stages, it’s quite a nightmare to pause, go into menus, and swap spells, only to find yourself doing it again a few minutes later. This really slowed down otherwise immerse combat.
Also worth venting about is the equipment system. You’ll frequently get new cloaks, scarves, wand handles, and the like. And while the stronger gear is always welcomed, cycling to the gear menu to equip them or change their appearances in cut scenes grew very tiring, very fast. So much so that at specific boss battles, I was drastically under-geared because I refused to open yet another menu to equip things.
But when everything’s set correctly, the muscle memory kicks in, and the game allows it; the action gameplay of Legacy is impressive. It’s flashy and zingy, and the sense of satisfaction when everyone’s yelling their spell’s name only adds to the drama.
A good or bad student? Sadly, it doesn’t matter
Be the good student and follow the rules, or indulge in your evil, sinister side; you can play both the main quests of Hogwarts Legacy and its side missions any way you want. But sadly, your behavior in the game has no real consequence.
If you tell a lie to staff, cause some commotion to the castle furniture, or even try to hex a fellow classmate, there might be a line of dialogues addressing it, but nothing too impactful.
Even the house you get sorted into doesn’t really affect much, bar the common room you spawn from and one unique quest further into the game. This seems like a missed opportunity, given how clear-cut the heroes and villains in the original wizarding world became.
Even borrowing a morality system from game series like Fable would have made your decisions, conduct, and which staff member you try to blow up that bit more meaningful.
It would also encourage you to go off the beaten track, weigh up the consequences of your actions, and think twice about casting those unforgivable curses.
Conjuring controversy
As impressive and exciting as the gameplay might be, Hogwarts Legacy has garnered immense controversy over the course of its development and subsequent launch, largely stemming from Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s public comments on transgender people.
While a statement on the game’s official website reads that J.K. Rowling was not involved in the creation of the game, her body of work is referred to as 'the foundation of all projects in the wizarding world.’ It’s also said there has been close collaboration with her team to ‘ensure it remains in line with the magical experiences fans expect.’
There are some subtle additions to the game’s story, which feel like conscious attempts to anticipate the concerns of the LGBTQIA+ community. Hogmeade’s pub owner, Sirona, is hailed as the first transgender character in the wizarding world. Similarly, archaeologist Nora Treadwell casually mentions she has a wife during the game’s early levels.
But the overall context of the game is still proving a divisive issue in the gaming community.
On the one hand, the game has enjoyed record sales and viewership on the streaming site Twitch and will no doubt become one of the best-selling games in 2023. On the other hand, legions of gamers boycotted the game entirely. Understandably for some, the magic of Harry Potter has well and truly worn off.
A magical experience that fans will appreciate
As a video game, Hogwarts Legacy is a well-executed action adventure. Set in one of literature’s most famous castles, it promises a truly nostalgic experience for any fan of the Harry Potter series.
The game can take upwards of 30+ hours to complete – considerably more if you want to explore everything, promising a sizeable adventure for any would-be witch or wizard. And with fan speculation already rift with talks of Quidditch DLCs, potential new areas, and classes to study, it may seem like this legacy is just beginning again.
Hogwarts Legacy is now available to play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC. A PS4 and Xbox One edition is scheduled for April, with a Switch version in July.
