Niantic is looking work some more magic as its latest mobile game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is preparing to launch later this week in the UK and USA regions. Just like its other popular augmented reality game, Pokemon GO, fans of Harry Potter can explore the world around them and encounter all sorts of creatures, cast spells, and even meet iconic characters from that books. Now new details have come out ahead of its iOS and Android launch, including more on house competitions.
As Niantic previously revealed, Harry Potter: Wizard Unite doesn't feature any sort of house competitions. In fact, when players pick their Hogwarts House from the likes of Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Griffindor, it's purely cosmetic and has no actual effect on gameplay. Considering how major this process is in the other forms of media like books and the movies, this news may be disappointing to Potter fans.
Mary Casey, executive director of product for Warner Brothers Entertainment, recognizes how iconic the selection process is, but in terms of the game, she confirmed that Niantic's major focus was on cooperation and bringing people together rather than keep them separated because they were in a different house. "And so, we made the decision to not go with competitive houses, and allow people with different houses to play together cooperatively and to overcome the calamity." Professions will be how players can further customize their character to make them more unique from other players rather than which house they're apart of in.
Unlike Pokemon GO, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite leans more heavily into RPG-style gameplay, letting players select from three different character classes or professions as they're called in the game. At launch, players can select between an Auror, an expert at facing off against the dark arts; a Professor or the jack of all trades class; and the Magizoologist, which is a class that is skilled at fighting magical beasts and creatures.
Thankfully, as each class can be very beneficial depending on the situation players can switch between the three as needed. Being able to switch between them will also be critically important to overcome Fortresses, which have been compared to the Pokemon GO raid battles. Dangerous foes inhabit these fortresses and players will need to work together to overcome the challenges that await.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will launch on June 21 for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Source: Eurogamer