Alex Birlo on April 19, 2023
I think I can safely say that this is both the most controversial and one of the most anticipated games of this year, so there was no chance I would miss it.
But let me first repeat what I said in my video review of the game, to get the controversial part of the conversation straight out of the way.
As long as the game itself is not directly being racist, sexist or any other kind of “ist” – I will play it, and I will review it.
The dedicated developers that make the game, should not lose their livelihoods, just because someone “up the chain” has unpopular opinions.
Now, let’s get to the part we are all here for – the game.
There is something I want to quickly cover regarding the length of the game.
Despite what it might seem from trailers, and demos – the game is actually pretty short for an open world RPG.
It took me just 40 hours to finish. And as usual, I never really “B-line” games that have the exploration element. Exploration is perhaps my favorite aspect of any game (I do hate collectibles though).
But even with the size and number of activities in the world, it took me just 40 hours to complete the entire story and open every “fast travel” point, all hamlets, complete their quests, finish all friendship missions, learn all the spells, and even finish almost all activities you have inside of Hogwarts as well.
I am sure there are a million things I missed, like Merlin Trials and bandit camps to clear out. But counting that repetitive “open world routine” out, the game had surprisingly little to occupy me.
The events of the game transpire long before the events of the books and movies.
It is the 18-hundreds, and you are a new student at Hogwarts. You were discovered late, and so you join your classmates late – during the 5-th year of studies.
This creates a situation that perfectly justifies a first entry into this franchise. You have no prior knowledge of magic, so you have to learn everything and catch up to the rest, but we are also not forced to play a 13-year-old.
And it also makes sense that the main character starts receiving special attention from every character from the very start. After all, they are helping you catch up to the curriculum.
You can create and customize your own character. The process is fairly simple, but there is a fair amount of options in the facial presets and hairstyle section.
What is also fun, is that you can mix and match your voice type, with your body type, and then choose the pronoun by which you will be referred to – a Witch or a Wizard.
Eventually you get to choose which house you want to be in, but only when you finally reach the castle after a prolonged intro.
The intro introduces you to the situation and sets up the mystery you will have to unravel. Mainly, the fact that you are capable of manipulating an ancient and forgotten, powerful type of magic.
Now, there is an important point to be mentioned here. This game is not a “school simulator” by any means.
You will not have the tension of failing a lesson or the triumph of earning points for your house, so that you can win the Cup at the end of the school year.
For better or worse, the game is very casual in this regard. It will be a fairly standard and familiar kind of Open World RPG, with colored rarity loot, leveling, talents, bandit camps, short side quests etc.
It does not matter which house you choose, it does not matter if you use unforgivable curses in front of your teachers or not.
In fact, even the options you pick in conversations, influence something only in around two or three instances throughout the entire game.
The game is perfect for the proper kind of “choice-making”, but the developers were either constrained by time, or were trying to play it safe to create a game that will be casual enough to capture the biggest audience.
Or both.
In any case, this only created a confusing feeling of “making choices that aren’t choices” all throughout the game. To the point, I even saw almost no difference between the so-called “good” and “evil” ending.
The entire final sequence transpires in the same way, and everyone is happy to see you and love you regardless of the choice.
As always, my favorite part to talk and take apart in games is the world they offer us to play in.
Exploration is very entertaining since it triggers our curiosity, and there is nothing that feels better than to satisfy a curious mind.
Hogwarts itself is a very big part of the world, obviously. The location is massive, yet manageable. And the entire place is filled, from top to bottom, with secrets and amazing attention to detail.
Moving armor-sets along the corridors, animated paintings, flying books, talking gargoyles and so on and so forth.
But what interested me more, ever since I saw the trailers, and always interested me in the movies and books – the outside world.
How is it? What is there beyond that castle that everyone is so obsessed about?
The thing I was most looking forward to was passing the broomstick flight lecture, buying my own broom in Hogsmeade, and just running off to explore what this entire area has to offer.
And I must say that it was quite satisfying, although got old pretty soon.
You see, every open world game suffers pretty much from the same problems. From Assassin’s Creed to Horizon, when you have a big world, it is both difficult to fill it with content and make exploration fun.
That is why I prefer smaller but more densely packed worlds, to big and empty ones.
But the two above-mentioned games are making serious efforts to compensate their shortcomings, compared to Hogwarts Legacy.
AC is working towards making more original content. Every bandit camp you attack in Valhalla at least has new original loot with no multiplication.
While Horizon has perhaps the most beautiful world design. With wildly varying biomes, where every rock, building, ruin, camp and river are so perfectly placed, you never get tired of walking and taking in the sights of the game.
In comparison, Hogwarts Legacy has a world that originally seems big, but soon you realize that it is actually fairly small, and has nearly no variety in its environments.
But firstly, we must understand that it is their first project in this franchise. It is already quite impressive they even managed to nail so much on their first try.
Then, we also have to remember that the game area is a single valley in Scotland. So they actually had already done their best to diversify it.
From the forbidden forest to the north, and all the way to the shore and the sea in the south, you will pretty much see the same nature, that only changes ever so slightly from dense forests, to rolling hills, to swamps, to costal cliff sides.
So there is variety, but together with the repetitive use of similar structures, it will all feel pretty much the same.
Again, what absolutely saves the day, is the fact that this game looks really good. And feels amazing when you fly on a mount or broom, and fight using magic you have learned within the walls of Hogwarts.
The setting of the game remedies any weaknesses that it might have in design, story, open world activity variety and so on.
Because as long as you feel awesome, fighting dark mages by combining magic you have learned on a lesson at the famous school of “Witchcraft and Wizardry”. Or wearing gear you have collected in magical dungeons – it is still FUN! And it might not matter to you, that it is the 12-th nearly identical bandit camp you have cleared, which rewards you with another copy of a useless piece of gear……………
Talking about gameplay, we have to return back to the point that it is a fairly standard Open World RPG. And that such a game comes with its usual suit of gameplay mechanics.
And yet again, I repeat myself in saying that the setting and design saves the game every step of the way.
Let us start with the school and its puzzles.
Hogwarts is a place that is pretty familiar to us from all the other games. Only that it is probably the best it was ever done.
The castle is a perfect combination between what we saw in the movies, but also how it was described in the books. And everything is designed in such a way, as to turn the castle into the perfect playground.
Every corner, every room, every wall and floor hold some sort of puzzle or secret loot. From numerical puzzle doors that can take time to figure out, to simple statues that require a spell to trigger them.
But everything fits into the greater structure and layout of the castle and is not too confusing to navigate.
Then, we have the lessons. Some lessons will be compulsory, and will be displayed like story missions. And some will be optional and presented as side quests.
In most cases, you will have to complete a series of minor tasks – like brew a certain type of potion 3 times – and then you will meet with a teacher that will have you memorize a new wand movement, so you could unlock a new spell.
The spells you learn can be freely mapped to your “Spell diamond” from where you choose to cast them on the fly, and create combos that have chaining effects.
While this is great and all, I can see how the combat in the game can be a problem for some.
Because, as you fight others, you will combine casting and chaining the correct spells to target the enemies’ color-coded shields, while pressing the “Protego” button to deflect their incoming attacks.
Most of the encounters are designed in such a way that you stand in the middle, and all your foes stand in a circle around you.
As you can imagine, this results in a lot of blind spots. So late game, big battles turn into you blindly spamming memorized combos at the enemies one by one. While looking only at your character, because you are waiting for that “spider sense” icon to blink above your character’s head, so you could press Protego and deflect an attack that comes from someone off-screen.
This is a very tough thing to criticize, though. Because I am not sure how else could such magical combat be executed any better.
And I still like it more that the “third-person shooter” camera from some of the Harry Potter games. Because that would just make your wand feel more like a gun that shoots bullets, rather than a magical instrument that casts spells.
The other major mechanic of the game, that I think was actually flawlessly implemented, is the Room of Requirement.
Remember? That room in Hogwarts, that would manifest itself only to those who truly have a need of it. And would contain the space that this person requires.
Here, it becomes like your personal space in the game. You can completely customize and design it with things like different walls, furniture, numerous decorations etc.
Besides the visual aspect of it, you also have various stations that contribute to gameplay. Things like a magical loom that you use to upgrade gear, and slot magical mods. Or stations to grow dangerous plants to use in combat.
There is even a space where you can bring animals you caught in the wild (saved from poachers). Here you can take care of them, feed them, groom them, and in return receive materials like their fur or feathers to use in gear upgrades.
It is both an interesting and entertaining mechanic, that adds a bit of prep-work before going out. But is also a thing that can be almost completely ignored if you are not interested. And can be used only for the bare minimum, like brewing potions.
This is a game that should have been released years ago. Ever since I was a kid, I was thinking about how stupid it is, that they are releasing spinoff games about the events of the movies, instead of making a standalone RPG.
A game where you can create your own character, choose your own house, attend school and then use the spells you have learned and the potions you brewed, to explore and fight outside the castle.
And I am incredibly happy that it did finally happen. Because it is literally one of the few games that I actually dreamed about and really wanted to happen all these years.
But it took them so long to get around to actually realize this golden opportunity! In today’s market, this game feels like it technically missed its release window by a decade or so.
It feels so good, and you can forgive a lot, only because of the universe it is happening in and the love and care the developers demonstrated in making it. Because almost in every regard, this game is generic and short.
But I hope it is a good start for a new franchise, with a big future.
Because I dreamed about playing a game like this in the Harry Potter universe, ever since I learned enough English to be able to read the “Prisoner of Azkaban” for the first time.
No matter the controversy surrounding the creator of the original source material. This game is the result of attentive and loving work done by people who, just like me, remember a time when it was just us – kids, dreaming about attending that magical school, and being able to properly say Wingardium Leviosaaa… you know?
