Hogwarts Legacy Review

Like most generic millennials, I consider myself a Harry Potter fan. I didn't really carry the intense love that I had for it in my wonder years into my adulthood, though I do still like the franchise and look forward to sharing the books and movies with my kids when they're older. Reading those novels and watching the movies as they were releasing was a very special component of my youth and I'll forever hold a place in my heart for the series because of that. If you're like most Harry Potter fans, you probably dreamed of being in that universe and being able to explore Hogwarts and live like a student at the school, attending classes, learning magic, etc.

 

We received video game adaptations of many of the films, with some of them being fondly regarded and others being thought of as lazy movie tie-in games. Most Harry Potter games have been just straightforward action-adventure titles, with the exception of some Quidditch-centric games and the Game Boy Color adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is a really cool looking turn-based RPG. These games, as fun as some of them were, didn't really fulfill that desire to role-play as a student of Hogwarts and roam around the campus, casting spells and whatnot. Finally, with the release of Hogwarts Legacy in 2023, we were given that opportunity; and so much more.

 

 

Hogwarts Legacy is a massive open-world action-RPG set in the Harry Potter (often referred to as the Wizarding World) universe, though about one hundred years prior to the events of the books, which places it in the 1890s. While it isn't set in the same time-frame that is featured in the book series, the game does allow the player to do basically everything we've wanted since we first read the original Harry Potter novel. 

 

Hogwarts, the iconic, gargantuan academy, is displayed in staggering detail with dozens of classrooms, corridors and chambers, loads of characters and more secrets than you could shake a wand at; which feels wonderfully accurate to what we know of the school from the novels and movies. You can also explore what seems to be dozens of miles into the surrounding campus grounds, the village Hogsmeade and the beautiful Scottish countryside. As you'd expect from a Harry Potter game, and a fantasy RPG, you can learn and wield various schools of magic to fight enemies and solve environmental puzzles. It feels like Hogwarts Legacy understood the assignment and swung for the fences in some ambitious, seriously impressive ways.

 

 

The story of Hogwarts Legacy is original, and doesn't feel overly reliant on the preceding novels set in the universe. As I said, it takes place in the 1890s, so we're not seeing familiar faces like Dumbledore or Voldemort or anyone from the existing lore, other than some easter egg-like characters, such as Nearly Headless Nick. This decision gave the writers fertile ground to expand the Wizarding World past what we've seen so far, and they took advantage of that. While I don't want to spoil the story, it went in some interesting directions that I do want to touch on. 

 

The chief antagonist of Hogwarts Legacy is a goblin revolutionary named Ranrok who aims to wage war against the wizards of the world. The plot delves into ancient, lost magic and a group of legendary wizards who seek to protect the world from said ancient spells. I loved this idea to explore this universe in unseen ways. We've not seen a non-human villain up to this point, and while Ranrok wasn't a groundbreaking villain from a storytelling perspective, it was novel seeing what felt like a more traditional fantasy story set in this world. I also enjoyed seeing and hearing about the distant past of the Wizarding World, which we occasionally see detailed in the earlier fiction. I love learning about the lore and history of an intriguing universe, and I feel like Hogwarts Legacy added some much-appreciated depth and creativity to the wider Harry Potter setting.

 

 

I briefly touched on this above, but Hogwarts itself is just incredible to explore. If you've read the books, or seen the movies, Hogwarts, as well as the school grounds, feel so accurately depicted that you can really sense the attention to detail and care that was poured into this game. The school feels alive with the constant hustle and bustle of professors and students, the moving staircases and the magical, living paintings adorning the walls. It almost feels like Grand Theft Auto, in the way that the game is living and
breathing whether you're there and interacting with it or not. Your quest givers are wandering the school grounds, off on their own business, but happy to talk to you or assist you when you're ready to pursue their tasks.

 

 

When you get to Hogwarts, you pick your school House. I think the Sorting Hat can choose for you, like in the books, but you have the option to choose another House if you don't like his selection. I went with Hufflepuff, which is supposedly what my House would be in real life, according to the test from the official Harry Potter website. 

 

Let me be clear here, Hufflepuff is one of the dumbest sounding words that has ever been dreamt up. When you get beyond that, it's a pretty sweet House to belong to. Their crest is a badger, which is an unbelievably underrated animal. And appropriately for a badger, Hufflepuff's amazing
common room is a giant, cozy, underground den hidden inside the kitchen of Hogwarts. The whole thing is very Redwall-coded, and I loved it. From what I can tell, your choice of House doesn't gate you off from any meaningful content, so you can select whichever you prefer.

 

For as prominently as Hogwarts is featured in the game, I actually spent the vast majority of my time out in the world itself. The map is absolutely loaded with side-missions, combat challenges, collectibles, puzzles, tasks and more. I was well on my way to getting the platinum trophy for this game, but I burnt myself out trying to find every single collectible. There are hundreds of different items and objects to hunt down. Most of the side-missions and tasks are really fun, and you'll get the opportunity to explore all over the map as you chip away at these goals. I will say that you don't really earn anything of major importance from most of these secondary objectives. A lot of the rewards are cosmetic, which is fun if you enjoy changing up your character's style. For a vast majority of the game I played with a Jack-o'-lantern head that I obtained from some optional mission and I loved it.

 

  

When I play massive open-world games like this, I love having access to mounts and vehicles to be able to navigate my way around the world in a quicker fashion. There is also a proper fast travel mechanic in Hogwarts Legacy, the Floo Flames, which are obviously great to use to zoom across the length of the map in a brief instant. For open world travel, you can use broomsticks, of which there are several different styles, or you can use my personal favorite method of travel, the Hippogriff. You can also obtain a Thestral, which are those freaky looking horse things that you can only see if you've witnessed death. Lastly, there's a really cool ground mount called a Graphorn, which looks kinda like a massive lion, but with Cthulhu-esque squid tentacles all over its face. I loved finding and obtaining each of these different mount options and then using them to travel across the map while I worked on side missions and finding collectibles.

 

 

Hogwarts Legacy excels at many things, but possibly where it shines the brightest is in its intensely satisfying and dynamic magical combat. I feel like the combat could best be described as a marriage between something like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the "freeflow" style of the Batman: Arkham series. This lethal, almost rhythmic dance of battle is underpinned by some basic functions that it's important to make sure you understand. Your character possesses a basic magic attack that you can fling at will, but it can also be strung together with actual spells to create some gnarly combos on your opponents. It's not that simple though. Some enemies have color-coded magic shields that require you to use spells of a corresponding color to shatter their defense, so that the foe they can be dealt with. Where the game feels like the Arkham series is through the countering system. Similar to how the "freeflow" combat works in the Batman games, a little indicator pops up that an enemy is about to attack you, and if you time it properly, you can counter their attack and hit them instead. Some enemies or spells are so powerful that they cannot be countered, and you have to carefully dodge those attacks to remain out of harm's way.

 

Once you've got these basics of Hogwarts Legacy's combat down, you can really cut loose and feel like the most powerful witch or wizard who has ever lived. You have an arsenal of spells to choose from and it feels so good to coordinate some massive, brutal combo and take out a tough enemy or a horde of smaller enemies. You can polymorph small foes into explosive barrels, which can be thrown for huge damage. You can tap into elemental magic like ice and fire to unleash Avatar-like powers on your enemy. You can also use magic to pick up boulders and hurl them at your foe. If none of those strike your fancy, you can freely cast forbidden curses at your enemy as well. When you've mastered this game's combat, it is wildly gratifying and genuinely some of the most fun I've ever had with a game.

 

I can earnestly recommend Hogwarts Legacy. If you're a Harry Potter fan, this is probably the game you've waited your whole life for. It fulfills the dreams that so many of us have had since first seeing the movies all those years ago. Between the exploration of the iconic setting, the phenomenal combat and the obvious care and attention to detail put into this game, you can tell it came from a team who wanted to nail it, and they did so in a spectacular manner. Even if you're not a Harry Potter fan, and you just like open-world action-RPGs, I really think that you'll find this game to be engaging and highly entertaining. Supposedly a sequel is in the works, and I can't wait to see what this team is cooking up.

 

VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PlayStation 5