Hogwarts Legacy: An Immersive Open World Harry Potter Action-RPG with a Mix of Pros and Cons
Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive open-world Harry Potter action-RPG that surpasses expectations. Players can fulfill their Harry Potter fantasies by attending Hogwarts as a fifth-year student with unique skills.
Since the Harry Potter franchise became popular in the late 1990s, fans have dreamed of receiving their Hogwarts acceptance letter and embarking on their own magical journey. With Hogwarts Legacy, this dream has become a reality.
The game begins with an intriguing opening cutscene that sets the stage for the central mystery and introduces key characters. Players create their own character and are immediately immersed in the Wizarding World. The player takes on the role of a new Hogwarts student with a mysterious connection to powerful ancient magic. Professor Fig acts as their mentor, guiding them as they unravel the puzzle of their exceptional abilities and attend Hogwarts classes. Players must also deal with the threat of a goblin uprising while learning a variety of spells.
Hogwarts Legacy introduces players to their first spells, including the basic Lumos for illuminating dark areas and Levioso for levitation. While spells are useful in combat, they are most effective in solving puzzles. Finding the right spell to overcome obstacles in the game can be exciting, such as using Reparo to repair a broken bridge, Alohomora to unlock doors, or Revelio to uncover hidden paths. Players must keep track of all their available spells as the dungeons in the game present various challenges that require different spells to overcome.
Hogwarts Legacy: A Thrilling Open-World Harry Potter Action-RPG with Both Pros and Cons
There have been some concerns about the limited number of spells in Hogwarts Legacy, but that fear is unfounded. With 23 spells available, players can equip up to 16 of them at once, offering a wide range of options for casting spells during battles and other combat situations. The fast-paced combat in Hogwarts Legacy requires players to react quickly and strategically, making it an exciting challenge. Experimenting with different spells and discovering the best combinations is part of the fun. For example, players can use Levioso to make an enemy float, Accio to draw them forward, basic spells to attack, Bombarda to launch them into the air, and Descendo to pull them face-first to the ground. While constantly casting spells can be effective, those who branch out and aim for clever combinations will likely have a more enjoyable experience with the majority of combat situations.
Most of the time, the combat in Hogwarts Legacy is enjoyable, but it’s not perfect. While the boss fights are tedious and repetitive, the troll encounters are simply frustrating. Troll combat can last for 10 to 15 minutes, as they have high life bars and are resistant to spells, especially later in the game. Although there are a variety of troll types in the game, most of them use the same moves, making battles with them quickly become dull and monotonous. However, there is a way for players to significantly speed up these troll encounters. Once they are familiar with Avada Kedavra, also known as the Killing Curse, they can end troll fights in just two seconds.
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In addition to the spells that students learn from their instructors, Crucio, Imperio, and Avada Kedavra are three of the Unforgivable Curses that can be learned in Hogwarts Legacy. Imperio allows players to command their enemies, while Crucio allows them to torture their opponents. There are no consequences for using these Unforgivable Curses, and in fact, Avada Kedavra is necessary to make some of the later encounters more tolerable. The lack of a morality system in Hogwarts Legacy means that the context for using these powerful spells in combat is missing.
One of the companion quests in Hogwarts Legacy must be completed if the player wants to obtain all of the Unforgivable Curses. The representative companion characters for three of the four Hogwarts Houses each have their own side quests and individual stories to uncover. These tasks are worth doing because they often provide players with new spells and weapons, but it’s peculiar that Ravenclaw is not included among the houses with proper companion quests.
The companion quests in Hogwarts Legacy are just one type of side quest, however. The game is packed with side tasks, most of which are tolerable, but the quest design is undoubtedly its weakest aspect. Unfortunately, many of the tasks in Hogwarts Legacy require you to rapidly move from one place to another while conversing with people and waiting for the action to commence. Most of the side quests in Hogwarts Legacy are merely filler, and it is evident that the developers prioritized quantity over quality. To a lesser extent, similar issues also affect the main quests, and overall, the main story path offers more diversity.
The excessive amount of dialogue throughout the tasks in Hogwarts Legacy slows down their pace. Most of the time, the voice acting is good, but the sheer volume of conversation is excessive. Hogwarts Legacy is a game that might have been better off with a silent protagonist, as the lead character lacks much personality, and cutting out their redundant dialogue (which usually amounts to “Yes, I agree” or “No, I don’t agree” with more words) would have increased the pace of the game.
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Although the repetitive boss fights and mediocre quest design of Hogwarts Legacy are drawbacks, the game is still a must-play for fans of Harry Potter. The game becomes very hard to put down once players have their own broom and are free to roam the open environment in Hogwarts Legacy. The developers of Hogwarts Legacy did an excellent job with the flying mechanics, making them easy to use and, more importantly, enjoyable. Nothing beats soaring on a broom across the school yard and soaring above the trees.
The open world of Hogwarts Legacy is far larger than many might have expected. Players can explore every corner of Hogwarts, as well as the vast grounds surrounding the school and the Hogsmeade village, which boasts several indoor spaces. Players are sure to have a “wow” moment when they fully grasp the size of the map. The Hogwarts Legacy world is filled with activities for players to complete in typical open-world fashion, and while not all of them are particularly exciting, there is no shortage of things to do in the game.
In Hogwarts Legacy, players can engage in dungeon crawling, removing spider nests, and even capturing magical creatures like in Pokemon. Once players have access to their personalized Room of Requirement, they can catch monsters that can be sold or kept for breeding and resource farming.
Some of the magical creatures in Hogwarts Legacy can be used as mounts, but they all have additional purposes. Players can take care of their magical creatures by feeding and brushing them to obtain crafting materials to improve their armor. The ability to upgrade their gear with items that greatly enhance their spells and provide other benefits is crucial in late-game battles.
Hogwarts Legacy’s equipment system works similarly to many looter games, with items being color-coded based on rarity, and players constantly discovering new gear to upgrade their inventory. However, this approach in Hogwarts Legacy may have the drawback of forcing players to wear gear that does not match what a typical Hogwarts student would wear, compromising immersion. But, Hogwarts Legacy gives players the option to use their stats and equip gear without having it appear on their character, allowing players to complete the game while still wearing their school robes, without having to sacrifice the better stats of silly hats.
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In the game Hogwarts Legacy, players can improve their equipment, take care of their magical creatures, cultivate plants, brew potions, complete missions, race brooms, search for collectibles, explore dungeons, and much more. The game offers so much content that it could have easily become overwhelming or appear unfinished, but everything has been meticulously polished. During our playtime, we encountered no significant problems, unlike many open-world games that often suffer from bugs and technical issues.
It’s important to note that the plot in Hogwarts Legacy may not be as extensive as some might have expected. After playing for roughly 20 hours, we completed the main plot quests and many side quests. While it’s possible to beat the game in less than the 35 hours reported, it still provides a challenging and immersive experience.
It’s also worth mentioning that Hogwarts Legacy is not a true Hogwarts student simulator as some may have thought. The experience of attending lessons, learning spells, and spending life at Hogwarts is rather linear and structured. Players spend a significant amount of time away from the school, and their enrollment serves mainly as a plot device. While this approach may disappoint some Harry Potter fans, rest assured that the game still provides a top-notch gaming experience.
Players will still enjoy visiting the castle and its surroundings even if they don’t always feel like they are at Hogwarts as students. The Hogwarts castle has been beautifully brought to life by the developers, who have perfectly replicated the look of the Harry Potter film series. The unique environment created by Avalanche, combined with the familiar Harry Potter musical score, will thoroughly engross fans of the property. Exploring the campus and admiring the surroundings could take hours, and players should make sure to visit the Great Hall whenever possible, especially during the fall and winter of the game when it is especially beautiful.
With Hogwarts Legacy, Avalanche has created something truly exceptional. It meets the expectations of many Harry Potter fans and sets a strong foundation for future Wizarding World games. We can confidently say that Hogwarts Legacy lives up to expectations and is the best product to come from the Harry Potter property since the original books and films.
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