The worlds that others create for us can be, even for a fleeting moment, as real and captivating as our own. Whether it be a book, film or game; we escape to these made-up places for a myriad of reasons. Somewhere in this process, we extrapolate our own versions of the people and places that were supplied by the original creators. As I delve into the actual game before me I just wanted to say, no matter what a creator says or does after the fact, the places that now exist in our memories are ours and nobody can take that away.
Hogwarts: A History
I was first aware of Harry Potter when working security in a shopping centre. I passed a Game store and saw a huge cardboard cutout of Hagrid dominating the front window. Intrigued I asked what it was for and the lad told me it was about that new book everyone was reading. Over the next few years it seemed the world, including my girlfriend, was obsessed with the world of Harry Potter.
I’m not a reader: I want to be but games have always won when spare time is on the cards. Yet, very rarely a book will entice me in and then I remember; I actually like reading. Over the years more Potter books arrived and the films also became a cinematic tradition for us. As a Dad, I have also had the chance to re-read the books with my son who also was transfixed by these wonderful stories. However, over all this time I like so many others have been wondering: why the hell hasn't anyone made a good Harry Potter game?
Bygone Times
So for those who have not been following the development, Hogwarts Legacy is set in the same world as Harry Potter but in a different time period: the 1890’s to be exact. This means that while many of the locations will instantly look familiar, the boy Wizard and his coterie have not even been born yet. This decision gives the writers a good degree of creative freedom, although I’d be interested to know how much they had to pour over established lore and genealogy. However, the word on the street is that J.K. Rowling had no creative input over the game itself.
The game opens with a decent enough character creator, allowing for choices on hairstyle, eye colour etc. In support of trans communities, there is no set sex and so you can mix things up as you see fit. I did find the voice actor for males to be very dull so I went for a Witch on this play though. You can also change the pitch of a preset voice but as of now, this seems broken. Once you have named your character it is time to jump in. Like most RPGs, the opening few hours are also designed to be a tutorial of sorts teaching basic spell casting, movement and combat. I was completely blown away by how much happens in this opening sequence, jumping to many different locations (some new, some familiar).
The high production value is immediately evident in how detailed the character models are and some of the awesome animation on show. Running at water your character will dive in or dropping from a height she will instinctively cross her arms ready for the plunge. As you walk through the cliffside backdrop the mise en scène is set up perfectly and is reminiscent of when Harry accompanies Dumbledore in search of a Horcrux. I was also impressed with little details, like when you first get into a carriage pulled by Thestrals you can’t see them. Potter fans will know that only people who have seen death can see Thestrals and so they become visible once events transpire en route to Hogwarts.
Having an eleven-year-old fighting deadly goblins would have been problematic so to avoid this your character is starting at Hogwarts in her fifth year. This also allows you to be treated as a newcomer to the school while still getting the full student experience. Having an older student also gives you greater access to the wizarding world, both in terms of advanced spells and interactions outside the walls of the castle. The story reasons for this late start are not really explained fully but needless to say, you have some catching up to do. In fact, getting up to speed with where your peers are is woven into the main story rather nicely.
It’s a Magical Place
Right from the first few steps into the introduction, this game just feels good to play. The movement of your character feels responsive and yet has just enough momentum. You can also hop over fences, clamber up ledges and as mentioned swim through water. It is a shame that you cannot free-dive down into the Black Lake with a bubble charm or utilise Gillywig; a possible candidate for future DLC. If it was me, I personally would have added a small animation when using the Floo Network or have your character magically dry themselves off after swimming.
After the opening sequence, you awake in the common room for your first full day. There is just so much happening around it can be a little bewildering. Students chatting, practicing spells and a whole manner of activities. Just like in the books and films, as you walk around paintings and statues come to life before your eyes: in one corridor there is a whole band playing happily from their individual paintings. This is Hogwarts in its entirety, from the great hall with its bewitched ceiling to the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. It is just such a delight to see this magical place open up in front of you, made all the more exciting because this is a game and we can wander around under our own steam.
Your first jaunt outside the castle is structured around a trip to Hogsmeade, the famous wizarding village. I love how you are not teleported there but must walk with your chosen friend. This small journey is a good example of how immersive this game can be. As you skirt the Forbidden Forest you see hippogriffs breach the canopy and fly over the lake as students sitting on a nearby wall comment. It is a shame that Hogsmeade is an fps killer but more on that later. Like Hogwarts, so many of the places we know have been lovingly recreated such as Zonko’s or the Three Broomsticks. There has also been a great amount of detail brought over from the films, such as the apparate effect when you acquire herbs or place items in the room of requirement.
One of the stand-out moments so far was acquiring my broom with all the freedom that comes with it. After a brief lesson, I ported to Hogsmeade to get my own and pegged it to the edge of the no-fly charm. Kicking off and rising up above this stunning Scottish landscape was jaw-dropping with Hogwarts Castle as a backdrop, just lighting up as dusk gave way to night. I cruised over the Forbidden Forest and then touched down at Hogsmeade Station. The flight mechanics are, unfortunately, very basic and yet it just feels so good to scoot around the landscape. I challenge any Potter fan not to have a big smile on your face when flying for the first time.
Old School
If you look at the bones of most modern games, they use very similar mechanics and gameplay conventions. It is the creative flesh that the developers attach to these structures that give them their unique feel. There is no denying that at its core Hogwarts Legacy uses a well-established RPG formula that you might find in Mass Effect or The Witcher. Many of the quests will not stretch the old brain matter much and indeed some are just basic fetch quests. However, the way the developers have enveloped everything with the Harry Potter lore is incredible.
There is a main quest to follow but like most good RPGs you can also find a tonne of side quests in the castle and beyond. Many of these tasks borrow themes from the films, such as chasing winged keys or navigating magical mazes. While none of these puzzles will have you scratching your head for long, there is plenty to dig into and most have imaginative designs. In fact, some of the physics puzzles really reminded me of the ones found in Breath of the Wild. The only one that I found too basic was the lock-picking mini-game, which is simply a case of rotating two discs into the correct position.
The gear system is by far the most lacklustre mechanic in the game and actually reminded me a lot of Destiny. Many times I would traverse an interesting cave system and defeat its guardian in an epic fight, to be rewarded with a green set of glasses. As you pick up new gear the skin will be added to your collection and you can transmog that over any item you have equipped. This is pretty nice and means you can have the best gear while not looking ridiculous. Although I think not having a cupboard in your bedroom with favourite sets was a missed opportunity here.
The Batman Paradox
One thing that always struck me about the world of Harry Potter is, underneath the child-friendly exterior, how thoroughly cruel it is. I recently re-watched the films and mused how in The Goblet of Fire, teachers watched on as fire-breathing dragons tried to eviscerate the kids or Mer-folk tried to drown the little scamps. Makes the school sports days I’ve been to positively mundane. I was expecting the combat in the game to be a little less bloodthirsty but oh no, you can (thankfully) run around wasting hordes of poachers. In one fight I used Depulso and blasted a goblin off a 200 ft cliff to his death: it was spectacular.
Combat is a big part of the game and will underpin most of the places you visit in the open world. I have been continually impressed with how many of the spells used in the books/films are implemented here. In no time at all, you will be knocking seven colours of shit out of anything with a red map marker. Fighting a giant toad my Levioso spell wouldn't lift its bulky body up but was still able to hold its deadly tongue up for a few seconds and there are similar effects with other creatures. As you also have access to ancient magic this also gives you a special attack that charges up over time. This will one-shot smaller enemies in some hilarious ways like turning them into chickens or shrinking giant spiders so you can stomp them.
What I love about this combat system is how it is constantly feeding you with options. Spells have been colour-coded, so movement-based spells like Acio, for example, are purple. Sometimes humanoid threats will have coloured shields and to break them you must whack them with that colour of spell. Also, certain types of attack are more deadly for certain enemy types, fire against spiders for example. On top of this, you have numerous plants that can aid you, such as carnivorous cabbages or screaming mandrakes. The only thing I didn't like about combat is the infuriating spell slot system, which only allows four spells per bar. You can unlock three more bars but even with this, you are constantly having to swap spells out. If the developers (or a clever mod maker) were to add an extra few slots that would be just grand.
Magical Beasts: Required Reading
The single most enjoyable feature in this game is based on the room of requirement, which in the books appears to students who are in dire need. The room has a sort of sentient intelligence and will kit out the room for whatever you need. In Hogwarts Legacy, this comes in the form of a completely customisable play space that allows you to do numerous things that would just be not possible within the common room.
As you gain blueprints for different workstations you will soon be growing your own herbs and brewing potions. These work on a cool-down system, with most plants regrowing in a fifteen-minute window, potions only take a minute or two. There is a dizzying amount of customisation here from the size of objects to different themes and lighting. Placing them is also such an effortless joy thanks to how well the UI has been designed. You will find blueprints out in the wider world which in some ways makes up for the lacklustre gear drops.
Once Deek, the House Elf guiding you, sends you on the beast-taming quest things really switch gears. Now a full vivarium, similar to the one in the Magical Beasts film, morphs into one of the walls. Like in the film, the space within is much greater than the outside, giving you a huge outdoor setting to let magical beasts you find roam away from poachers. You can groom them, feed them and even set up play areas. Even then we are not done as this whole area has its own set of cosmetic and functional structures. Once your beasts have been nurtured they also give you various resources which can then be woven into your clothes, improving stats and adding new powerful traits. You can spend hours in this part of the castle and in a way it seems like a game in of itself.
Yer a Wizard Harry, kinda.
This week it has been evident that the world (most of the world) still has a lot of love for the boy wizard. Multiple generations now have experienced this fantastical series and have always wondered what it would be like to live the life of a Hogwarts student. As we know, gaming is one of the best ways to live out the whims of our imagination and so people have been wishing for this game since day one. I have even been hearing about none gamers in their late sixties going out and buying PS5s; just for a chance to explore the Potter world in a different way. So, how successful you think the developers have been really depends on what you are expecting from it. I will say that despite all the praise I have heaped on this game if you wanted to sink deep into the minutia of the life of a Hogwarts Student you might come away a little disappointed.
So for example, you do attend classes but these are not in any kind of daily schedule; more that they follow the main quest line. After fighting spiders in the Forbidden Forest one evening I ported to my dorm to get into bed but found this was not an option which seemed like a strange thing to leave out. Especially because there is a working day and night cycle running under the hood. In fact, many daily events like eating in the great hall, sending letters in the Owlery etc are just not in the game unless they appear in a specific quest. I do understand that while these smaller actions would add more grounding for those who want the full experience, they would also wreck the pacing of the game and make it more of a Wizard simulation. As there are so many ways to keep you engaged in this game world, I do think they get away with it to an extent.
As many players will now no doubt have noticed, while there is a Quidditch pitch playing is not an option. This seems even stranger considering that flight is in the game. Admittedly making this wrap-around a good representation of Quidditch would still take a lot of work. So I suspect this will either appear in the sequel or future DLC. With that said, there are plenty of races to jump into and your broom, like most things, can be customised and upgraded. I also found the way the seasons change as you progress through the game a nice touch. One day you notice pumpkins floating around the castle and another day Christmas trees spring up as the landscape goes white.
Is it PC?
Of course, I have been playing this on PC so for those interested my rig is an overclocked i9 12900K, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and an overclocked 3080ti. I run my games at 1440p as I still think 4K is not worth the small gains when you then have to fight to get 60fps. With all the settings cranked up to maximum I have been very pleased with the texture quality, post-processing and overall visual spectacle of Hogwarts Legacy. In so many areas the game exceeds expectations, even down to how much wildlife there is running around the outdoors.
I was impressed to see that the first screen I was presented with was the accessibility options. This is a great idea because if you do have special needs like a screen reader, for example, this is when you want them. In terms of graphical options, everything you could want is there including DLSS. I did find that raising the sharpness of the upscale to around 0.2 gave the visuals a bit more pop.
Unfortunately, the performance of Hogwarts on PC is lacking and is in fact one of the major issues with the game. Even people I follow with 4090 cards cannot get a stable 60fps running through Hogsmeade, the epicentre of the fps black hole. RTX seems to be one of the big culprits here and without it my game ran pretty well. It is also worth noting that RTX looks mostly awful, with a weird shimmering effect on brighter reflections. There has been one patch so far but this did very little to address the issues. If we are being fair, the environments in Hogwarts are covered with activity, a whole manner of magical objects, paintings coming to life etc. For now, if your rig is struggling turn off RTX and keep most settings on high as there is little difference from ultra.
The in-game music sounds just as I would have hoped. It dances along with the official theme and then veers off slightly to do its own thing. As danger gets near the cheery notes change to a more menacing piece. One sequence in particular, when flying the hippogriff, gave me tingles as it really captured that awesome moment when Harry flies on Buckbeak. As for the in-game sound effects, this is a top-drawer effort with so many effects brought in from the films. Casting Lumos for example makes that same hollow echo sound. I have seen some reviews knock the acting in the game but I found it to be pretty decent, with the professors standing out the most. You do get some very odd facial expressions on the students but for the most part, facial animations are great.
Conclusion
It just so happens that Hogwarts Legacy is a fantastic game in its own right and overall provides an almost perfect gameplay loop. In terms of design, my only major wish was for a way to see the consequences of my actions. As it stands you can run around blasting everyone with Avada Kedavra and nobody blinks an eye. I also found it weird that could help a poor woman who has lost her husband and then break into her house for some extra loot. I have literally broken into people's houses and ransacked every container while they sit there sipping tea. Even dialogue options seemed to always support a negative reaction, which suggests maybe they were toying with a morality system at some point but ran out of time.
Hogwarts Legacy is the Harry Potter game we have been waiting for all these years. Yes, there are variations that I would have made here and there but then we all have our own tastes. At the end of the day, developers have to make decisions and run with them. Just the fact that we can now wander around such a beautifully realised Hogwarts is an incredible thing and I want more. This game is going to earn Warner Bros a lot of money and I think it is a given we will see more content. Maybe they could use the base game as a launch pad for some significant expansions, exploring other locations such as the Ministry or out in the Muggle world. Maybe even chart the events of the books: the potential here is limitless.
