Hogwarts Legacy is an enjoyable experience that feels like a true love letter to all Harry Potter fans, despite some obvious narrative shortcomings.
What you need to know
- What is it? A third-person action-adventure RPG set in the Harry Potter universe.
- Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
- Developer: Avalanche Software
- Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
- Release date: February 10, 2023
- Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch
Hogwarts Legacy review copy provided by Warner Bros. Games.
As someone who is not an avid Harry Potter fan but does appreciate the universe created by J.K Rowling and loves the films, I didn't know how would Hogwarts Legacy make me feel. But after spending some time in this magical world, I can honestly say that this was one enjoyable ride.
To set things straight right from the get-go, Hogwarts Legacy is not the greatest game ever but it's still a very good video game that has a little bit of everything to keep you playing for at least 25 hours, which is enough to beat the main story and some optional content.
STORY
Getting to be part of the world I've only read about in books and watched in Harry Potter movies is a special feeling. Hogwarts Legacy delivers a vast enchanting world, crafted with so much care and love found at every corner, be it Hogwarts castle, the cosy village Hogsmeade or the eerie, spider-infested Forbidden Forest.
Before you officially enter The Wizarding World of Hogwarts Legacy, you’ll create your wizard or a witch in a pretty solid character creator that offers plenty of noses, ears, eyes, hairstyles, presets and everything else you usually get from a modern RPG.
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The story is set in the 1800s, decades before the events in the Harry Potter books, dealing with themes such as revenge, loss, friendship, greed and of course power. You play a fifth-year student who learns of their ability to see and wield powerful but dangerous Ancient magic.
In the first couple of hours of Hogwarts Legacy, you’ll be introduced to the game’s main villain, a goblin named Ranrok, who is on a quest to find the Ancient magic and use it to unleash his revenge on wizards. Ranrok is joined by gang leader Rookwood who acts as Goblin’s errand boy, even if he doesn’t really want to admit it.
Since you’re pretty special, it’s up to you to stop these madmen with the help of The Keepers, a group of wizards and witches who are also familiar with the Ancient magic, as their job was to keep it hidden away from the world, which they did very poorly, obviously.
In a series of trials, The Keepers will teach you to wield the Ancient magic while you reveal secrets of Hogwarts, The Wizarding World and the events that lead to this powerful magic being so closely guarded.
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In a nutshell, I’d say that the premise of Hogwarts Legacy is just okay if not generic, lacking characters you’ll love and remember, epic moments and twists and turns, which I usually expect from great fantasy tales.
The story is a slow starter too, which is not necessarily a bad thing if Hogwarts Legacy used that to build strong relationships and tension or set up memorable moments for later on, which it doesn’t.
Instead, the story simply drags out, failing to provide an intriguing plot, until it reaches its rushed anticlimactic conclusion. It’s a shame given the carefully crafted world is brimming with potential for a truly epic tale.
The feeling of this looming threat and danger coming to Hogwarts that the game desperately tries to portray never got to me and that’s mainly due to the underdeveloped villain who doesn’t get enough screen time but even when he does pop into a cutscene here and there, the evil goblin comes off disappointingly bland.
Because he’s just that - an evil goblin wizard that wants to take revenge on humans and doesn’t care much about anyone or anything. His personality is flat as a flounder, with no strong background or defining features but what he does have is a handful of villain stereotypes.
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The narrative has its moments once in a blue moon as I’ve really enjoyed dialogues and a bit of banter between my character and his charming companions as we explored undead-infested catacombs and caves crawling with Aragog’s ancestors.
One of my favourite aspects of Hogwarts Legacy are side quests where your buddies take the main role. These are called Relationship quests and you get only a few of them but nonetheless, they are well written, helping you build closer relationships and even friendships with Hogwarts students.
Whether you’re helping a Slytherin student find a cure for his sick sister, take down poachers and free magical beasts with Hufflepuff animal enthusiast or help Natty free the people of Ashwinder’s cruelty, all of these relationship quests are great stories with memorable characters that you will actually care about.
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GAMEPLAY
Hogwarts Legacy’s gameplay loop consists of taking on quests that usually send you to dungeons rich with gold, chests and of course, various types of both human and creature enemies waiting for you to Incendio their existence.
You'll then sell the loot in Hogsmeade for coins to buy the stuff that you actually need like potion recipes, plant seed, broom upgrades and of course, fancy haircuts.
The combat is all about mixing various spell combinations to make your attacks as effective as possible while dodging and rolling out of enemy attacks.
I’ve found combat to be fairly enjoyable thanks to the number of spells and combinations available in the game but at times I did notice that I was simply spamming my favourite spells until the room is cleared of enemies and this is something that Hogwarts Legacy is aware of too, given that it rewards more XP if you use different spells and combinations to complete mini objectives during each encounter.
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Building long combos is key to unlocking powerful Ancient Magic attacks that can instantly deplete enemies' health bars by smashing them to the ground or striking lighting into their skulls.
You can also throw barrels, chunks of rock and other close objects at enemies while you wait for spells to cool down or simply switch to another, ready-to-go set of spells.
Hogwarts Legacy has a total of 16 combat spells that you can cast at any time. You cast spells by holding the R2 button and then choosing one of the spells assigned to your cross, circle, square or triangle buttons on PlayStation. Simply pressing the R2 button once will cast the basic spell that deals moderate damage.
You can unlock up to four Spell Sets, which hold four spells each, allowing you quick access to your personal favourites.
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I usually had the first three slots reserved for spells that were a great fit for my “stealth until they notice me” playstyle while I used the fourth slot for utility spells like Repairo to repair destroyed paths, Lumos to cast light in dark areas and Vingardium Leviosa to lift heavy objects during platforming sequences.
You can make your magic more powerful and efficient by unlocking talents as you level up and upgrading your gear with various that you get by completing quests or exploring the wild.
Talents can add additional attacks for your spells with one example being Incendio talent, which adds a ring of fire around the player, a spell that proved to be very useful when I got swarmed by spiders.
Talents can also reduce the enemy's ability to spot you while in stealth, unlock additional Spell Sets and make Revelio reveal more items around you, to name a few examples.
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I’d argue that Talents complement spells quite nicely and they are not overly complicated. Some players, who expect a proper RPG will surely be disappointed since there is not much depth here but I think Hogwarts Legacy doesn't need that anyway. Its light RPG mechanics are great for what they are and I wouldn't change them much. They are fun, and that's the important bit.
When you’re not on a murdering spree or exploring the world, you can spend time in your own piece of heaven called The Room of Relaxation, which is pretty much that – your personal room in Hogwarts castle where you can decorate the interior, feed and groom magical animals that you saved in the wild, brew potions and grow screaming Mandrakes and other violent plants that can jump in to help you in combat.
Additionally, you can solve countless puzzles and uncover secrets of Hogwarts Castle, partake in mini-games or break flying records in time trials set by Slytherin’s pretentious champion. The open world map is jam-packed too, featuring hundreds of icons for various puzzles, animal dens, bandit camps, and optional dungeons to explore so you’ll be pretty busy if completion is your thing.
There’s plenty to do in Hogwarts Legacy and more importantly, these activities are actually fun despite the obvious fact that this is filler content that you usually find in Ubisoft’s games.
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GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Hogwarts Legacy is quite the looker with gorgeous vistas, wonderfully detailed environments and breathtaking seasonal changes that make this medium-sized world a joy to explore.
Simply flying across the map, rich with dense forests, beautiful rivers, lakes and mountains, witnessing the scale and the beauty of Hogwarts Castle is one of the moments that really stuck with me while playing Hogwarts Legacy.
The developers did a wonderful job capturing the visual aesthetics of a fairy tale setting which is present at every corner.
This is especially emphasized in smaller villages across the world and Hogsmeade, where NPCs help create a busy atmosphere, making the villages feel alive and simply fun to walk around.
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Hogwarts Legacy’s visuals also excel in locations which portray a darker, mysterious mood like the iconic Forbidden Forest, with firefly lights reflecting in rivers and spooky spider webs all over trees and cave entrances.
The graphics can look a bit outdated at times though, due to some low-quality textures, character models and very poor lip sync. This can be immersion-breaking to some but I’m not usually that nitpicky, especially when the game’s overall art style is truly wonderful.
In terms of graphical modes, Hogwarts Legacy offers a handful of fidelity and performance modes, varying from solid 30 FPS with ray-tracing to ultra-high framerate mode that features noticeably less detail, lower draw distance and texture quality but brings the frame rate to above 60 FPS.
I’ve played on both performance and fidelity modes but decided to stick with 30 FPS with ray-tracing mode since it really elevates the visuals with more detail, better lighting and stunning volumetric clouds.
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Music is magnificent too. From jolly enchanting tones that play as you explore Hogsmead, to mellow background music in Hogwarts, the entire soundtrack is absolutely wonderful, elevating the magical setting to a whole new level.
I’ve spent a lot of time just flying across The Wizarding World, taking in the breathtaking wonderland with soothing tones playing in the background and the sound of my Hippogriff’s wings gliding through the wind.
Voice acting can be hit-and-miss. Simon Pegg, who voiced Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black did an impeccable job, making me laugh several times throughout one specific quest. I only wish Headmaster had more screen time, as he's one of the characters that have a strong and unique personality.
On the other hand, some voice acting for certain characters can come off as bland and unconvincing but this is certainly not true for the entire cast, only a few of the characters.
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CONCLUSION
I guess the level of enjoyment you get out of Hogwarts Legacy depends on your knowledge of the Harry Potter universe. The more you love this world the more you’ll enjoy Hogwarts Legacy. It’s as simple as that. This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing here for those who are just getting started with Harry Potter or just want a fantasy world to explore, but Hogwarts Legacy truly feels like a love letter to the fans of J.K Rowling’s work, above all.
Overall, I recommend Hogwarts Legacy since ultimately it delivered on the key metric for any game - Fun. I had a lot of fun exploring The Wizarding World. Hogwarts Legacy is a very good video game that is well worth your time even if you’re not a fan of Harry Potter.
AltChar wants to thank Premier for providing us with a review copy of Hogwarts Legacy.
