When you play Hogwarts Legacy, you’re reminded that there aren’t many imaginary universes that can compare to the enchantment of Harry Potter’s. My mother gave me a copy of The Philosopher’s Stone (also known as The Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States) in 1998, and the very first chapter pulled me immediately into the book’s wonderful world. I was addicted for the rest of my life.
Or so I thought at the time. My emotional attachment to the story began to weaken when the primary book series was over, and there were no additional movie adaptations planned. Both the packed spinoffs and the incendiary statements that author J.K. Rowling made about transgender people took away any residual enjoyment that the brand had to offer, and I decided it was time to move on.
All of that baggage disappeared as soon as I began playing Hogwarts Legacy, which will be released on Friday for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC (it will be available for early access beginning on Tuesday, and it will come on more systems in the following months). This action role-playing game (RPG) with an open environment was produced by Avalanche Software to fulfill our imaginations of attending the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a first-year student. The game was released in 2018.
After playing the PS5 version for ten hours, I can say that it successfully captures the magic of the early novels thanks to its captivatingly diverse gameplay, intriguingly unique plot, and carefully constructed environment to investigate.
Return to fundamentals
The video game skirts around the limits that the plot of Harry’s tale places on the narrative by skipping forward in time to the 1890s. Following the completion of the character creation process, you will be taken on a short opening adventure before arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Despite the fact that you are a brand new student, you’ve decided to start your magical career a bit later than most people and enroll as a fifth year student. There’s a good chance that this is due to the fact that sending a wide-eyed first-year student who’s just 11 years old into perilous tunnels to study deadly spells and do combat with evil wizards would feel strange.
It’s a lot of fun to live out your fantasies about the wizarding world thanks to all the many ways you may customize your character. You have the ability to pick the gender and look of your character. After that, you’ll choose and customize both your broom and your wand (don’t worry, the one you start the game with is only a loaner).
You will also be placed in a house at Hogwarts based on your responses to a series of questions you will be asked soon after you arrive at the school; however, you will have the opportunity to change your house if the one assigned to you at first does not suit your preferences.
Beyond the common area, your uniform, and some throwaway lines, the home you end up in does not seem to undergo significant changes. Even while some of your instructors may talk about house points in their lessons, you won’t really be fighting for those points when you play the game.
Your studies are periodically sidetracked by the main plot, which centers on your link to some enigmatic old magic and a nefarious dark wizard who is working in alliance with the intense leader of a goblin uprising—Victor Rookwood and Ranrok are two fantastic names for these villains, who go by them, respectively. The story is captivating and adds beautifully to the mythology of this world, particularly when it makes clues about events that occurred farther back in time, but it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle with all of the game’s other diversions, despite the fact that it develops the lore nicely.
Living in a planet ruled by wizards
The affection that the production team has for the Harry Potter series is shown in every facet of Hogwarts Legacy, but it can be seen most clearly in the game’s setting and its cast of characters. Every classroom, student, and venue has its own identity and sense of realism, and there is a sprinkling of recognizable characters and places, such as Weasley and Black, to put fans at ease.
It’s quite interesting to chat to the different characters and find out more about their histories since each one has such a deep backstory and is so well written and spoken (Simon Pegg gives the grouchy headmaster his voice). (However, it is annoying because you cannot halt the game during the cutscenes.) This characterization is threaded throughout both the main tale and its side missions, which include things like researching one of the castle’s secrets, surreptitiously stealing potion ingredients, and straying into a perilous cave.
These are not only diverse and entertaining in terms of game play, exploration, and the solution of puzzles, but they also provide the player opportunity to learn more about the people who are giving the quests and the environment in which they are set. And the antics of adolescents, such as sneaking into the library in the middle of the night with the use of an invisibility spell, have all the hallmarks of a classic Harry Potter story.
The voice acting of your personalized avatar is really good, although there are times when it falls a little flat, giving the impression that you are excessively polite or restrained. That is far more entertaining than listening to a youngster who is really living their life. Although the character models are believable enough, the eyes occasionally move in a way that is not natural, which may be unsettling.
The universe is also exquisitely constructed, notably in the exquisitely gothic Hogwarts, with its moving paintings, conversational gargoyles, and interesting student banter. This is especially true in the Great Hall. You can hear a pleasing hint of the John Williams theme whenever you pick up certain things, and the whole area begs to be explored since it is filled with a ton of trinkets and Easter eggs that are waiting to be found. The neighboring town of Hogsmeade isn’t nearly as vast as Diagon Alley, but it still has plenty of exciting things to do and see.
In contrast, the remainder of the world, consisting of beautiful rolling hills, plains, and hamlets, might have the impression of being somewhat uninteresting, while having an Elder Scrolls feeling to them.
Sometimes, assets may load at the border of your screen, and doors will seem to be stuck while the region beyond loads. This is one of the ways that the game’s technological constraints become apparent as you sprint throughout the world. It never seemed like it was going to damage the game, but it may temporarily disturb your feeling of immersion.
Magical procedures and sleights of hand
As you go through the early hours of Hogwarts Legacy, more and more aspects of your wizarding will be revealed to you. Your character begins the game with the most fundamental dueling abilities and spells; nevertheless, the manner in which you flick off spells with your wand lends a one-of-a-kind, dynamic flow to the fights.
You use a magical shield to deflect smaller incoming strikes while you evade larger ones. You use a magical shield to deflect smaller incoming strikes while you evade larger ones.
As soon as you enroll at Hogwarts, you will begin taking courses like as Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Herbology, where you will acquire new spells and talents. You will attend a class, and then put what you’ve learned into practice in a few main missions or side quests. This is a crucial aspect of the flow of quests, which allows you time to get familiar with each new talent before presenting another.
You shouldn’t become too comfortable with just a few basic combinations and depend on them to carry you through every fight; the game actively pushes you to make use of all of the tools at your disposal. You’ll have to put in a few hours of gameplay before the skill trees are unlocked, but by that point, you should have a good idea of the approach to fighting that works best for you. You get experience points for pretty much everything you do, so you’ll quickly advance in levels as a result.
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In addition, there is a continuous influx of new equipment that, in addition to altering your character’s appearance, will improve both your offense and defense. You may also give any new apparel the appearance of any prior clothing you’ve worn. This ensures that you won’t end up appearing ludicrous just because a specific outfit has better stats.
You may locate new equipment, but you won’t be able to take it up since your inventory is full. This may be a very frustrating aspect of exploring. It is a nuisance to have to use the quick travel feature to go to Hogsmeade in order to get rid of extra stuff while you are exploring the castle. At the very least, some side tasks will allow you to expand your current inventory.
A happy school get-together
Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t put too much emphasis on being a school game, so you won’t have to stick to a strict schedule. Instead, you go to class because you want to move the story forward and add new game elements, not because you have to. Instead, you go to class because you want to move the story forward and add new game elements, not because you have to. It takes a little practice to learn how to fly above everything, but it’s exciting and shows how big the playing area is.
Hogwarts Legacy has the same magic as the first book’s first chapter. It lets you explore a beautiful world, meet interesting people, and start your own career as a wizard. Fans of Harry Potter have been waiting for this game for decades.
