The Harry Potter series has inspired hundreds of hours of entertainment across many forms of media, and there’s even a Harry Potter theme park that allows fans to get as close to entering this fictional world as possible. Harry Potter is such a hit, however, that there are plenty of projects that get released and don’t gain a lot of steam.
It's common knowledge that there are many Harry Potter video games are out there, but there’s a lot more to these titles than some fans may suspect. Accordingly, here’s The Sorcerer’s Stone RPG and 9 other Harry Potter games you never even knew existed.
10 Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone RPG
The first title in the Harry Potter series made a huge splash in cinemas and video games were imminent. The PlayStation and PC releases of Sorcerer’s Stone were the most popular of the lot and they were standard action-adventure titles.
However, the Game Boy Color release played into the handheld’s strength and instead it turned out an RPG more akin to Final Fantasy or Pokémon. Curiously, even the GameBoy Advance release is a puzzle game instead of a dressed up port of the GameBoy Color game.
9 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Shooter
One of the most rewarding aspects of the Harry Potter series is how the tone of the stories becomes increasingly mature along with the characters. Impressively, the Harry Potter video games try to put this concept into practice and as a result, the video games for the two Deathly Hallows titles are shooters, rather than action-adventure games.
It's kind of crazy to see stealth tactics and other mechanics from third-person shooters in a Harry Potter game. A magical shooter is a creative idea, but the games are a bit of a mess.
8 Harry Potter: Find Scabbers
There are many larger Harry Potter titles that are direct adaptations of the films, but there are a handful of odder games that have also tried to capitalize on the Harry Potter craze. Find Scabbers is one of the flimsier titles and it focuses on an unexpected character from the series. Find Scabbers is a mobile game where players try to catch Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers. The game employs a maze-like structure as Dementors and spiders act as obstacles. It's a modest distraction, but there's no real progression to the game and it's all about building a higher score.
7 Lego Creator: Harry Potter
There are now dozens of video games out there that apply a Lego veneer to popular franchises, but Harry Potter was actually the first established property to be turned into a Lego game back in 2001. Lego Creator: Harry Potter works off an interesting angle. The game is an open sandbox creation game where there are no real goals and the appeal is instead in the creation concept that it provides. A sequel also came out, which focused on Chamber of Secrets, and they’re unique games that allow the fans to get creative.
6 Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
If there’s to be any kind of spin-off series from Harry Potter then it makes sense it'd be a Quidditch game. Quidditch is of course the broomstick-based sport from the Harry Potter universe that has found a life of its own and is just as popular as the main series. There have been doses of Quidditch in the earlier Harry Potter games, but Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup goes all in and delivers a fun multiplayer experience. The use of online play also gives Quidditch World Cup a lot of value that wasn’t present in standard Harry Potter games.
5 Harry Potter: Books Of Spells And Book Of Potions
Book of Spells and Book of Potions deserve serious credit for adapting some of the more ancillary Harry Potter texts. However, what’s really impressive with these games is how they get creative with technology. The titles are augmented reality games for the PS3, which make use of both the PlayStation Move and the niche Wonderbook accessory for the PlayStation Eye. This software applies augmented reality to real books and is actually really cool & inventive, but it feels more like a tech demo than a game.
4 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is one of the more recent Harry Potter games, but it’s fallen through the cracks and been overlooked. The mobile game tries to do something different and it’s actually a prequel game that’s set at Hogwarts during the institution’s earlier years. It allows the game to tell an original story and not get bogged down with the original characters. That being said, the mobile game is weighed down in microtransactions and despite the interesting angle, the game is fairly disposable.
3 Lego Harry Potter
There have been a few takes on Lego Harry Potter over the years, both in the forms of actual Lego and video games. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Years 5-7 are the definitive take on the idea. These games are painstakingly thorough when it comes to the series and it’s shocking how much content they fit in. The games take their cues from the comprehensive Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones games, but Harry Potter just fits well with the brand and is a fun shift from the norm.
2 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban RPG
With Harry Potter being such a massive property, there were video games released on all of the major consoles & handhelds at the time, but these games could be radically different due to the different hardware and developers. The Prisoner of Azkaban games that came out for the GameCube, PS2, and XBOX were action-adventure titles, but the Game Boy Advance game is a role-playing game that’s more akin to Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger. This Prisoner of Azkaban is really entertaining and it’s a shame that it’s the last time this kind of RPG approach was taken with the series.
1 Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
The Pokémon GO mobile game phenomenon has found a level of success that the developers likely couldn’t have even anticipated. It’s been such a huge hit, for both Pokémon fans and strangers to the series, that it’s not surprising to see Harry Potter try to cash in on the trend. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is an augmented reality game that inserts magic and wizards into the real world, but isn't nearly as addictive to Pokémon GO. Nonetheless, it's still a fun idea and something different. With more updates it could perhaps turn into something impressive.