Hogwarts Legacy is finally here after being delayed a few times. Was the wait worth it? Based on reviews, the answer seems to be yes as it is in the 80s on Metacritic across most platforms. Being able to create a character and attend Hogwarts in a massive open-world RPG is like a dream come true for fans. Those extra months of polish did seem to help with the overall game although it is not perfect.
Characters can float when they’re not supposed to or clip through walls even though they’re not ghosts. Glitches like that can be fun though and aren’t the main source of Hogwarts Legacy’s problems. The following issues are a bit annoying, but maybe the developers could patch in some fixes.
7 Turn Off The HUD Quicker
The HUD gets incredibly cluttered the further players get in the game between quest markers, spells, and so on. Players can go into the options and individually remove what they wish from the HUD. This customization option is nice, but one more option should be added.
The game should allow players a single command to turn off all HUD options instead of manually going through the plethora of choices. This will allow players to get more immersed in the action of this RPG. There is an option to restore everything to the default settings, so it can’t be that complicated to reverse that proceeds instead.
6 Skip The Intro
Hogwarts Legacy has a great intro for the game that is an exciting romp involving dungeons and dragons, but no dice, unfortunately. After the intro, players finally get to Hogwarts where they get sorted into their Houses. This creates a nice branching path that determines which classmates players can befriend initially although it’s not as exclusive as another school-based RPG, Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Still, players may wish to see all options at their disposal but it takes a while to get to this point and players can’t save manually in the intro. An option should be added to allow players to skip the intro and jump straight to Hogwarts after they do it one time.
5 Quick Subtitles
Players can remove subtitles for all conversations in the menu, which is common for most games. Hogwarts Legacy should add two new commands to the list. One, players should be able to customize what scenarios have text or not.
For example, players may wish to watch cutscenes without subtitles but want to watch smaller conversations with NPCs with subtitles turned on. If it is too complicated to program that difference, then there is another solution. Players could hit a button during a cutscene or conversation to add or remove subtitles.
4 Let Us Pet Owls
The world of Harry Potter is in love with cats and that is reflected in Hogwarts Legacy. There are cats all over the school, on the campus, in the streets of Hogsmeade, and so forth. Players can pet these fur babies which never gets old.
The one downside to this adoration is that owls don’t get the same attention. They too can be found in the school but players can't pet them. This seems like a weird oversight that can hopefully get corrected soon because owls are a big part of this franchise.
3 Add Photo Mode
For as polished as the game is, it’s odd that it didn’t launch with a photo mode. One of the best things about the game is the visuals. The attention to detail in the design of the school is tremendous. Character and enemy models look great too along with the spell effects.
It’s a shame that players, right now, can’t capture the wonder of battle or Hogwarts with a cool framed photo opportunity. Games add photo modes after launch all the time like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so maybe Hogwarts Legacy will too someday.
2 Quick Save Navigation
The beginning of the game only has one menu option for players which is the settings. This is also where players can save or load the game although they can’t technically save in the intro. It’s convenient to pause the game and get right to this menu regardless of that.
Unfortunately, once players reach Hogwarts the menu gets overly complicated. There is no quick way to get to most of these menus let alone the save option. There should be a way for players to get to these settings quicker, or to add a quick save option. Quick saves are a common feature in big RPGs like Fallout 3, as one example.
1 Add Co-Op
As a game that takes place in a school filled with other students, it’s a shame there isn’t an online aspect to Hogwarts Legacy. It didn’t have to be crafted to be a game like Destiny. Giving players more agency in the story with their created character was a good choice. The developers could have still created an area where other players could have met up for online missions.
For example, there is the dueling club side quest in the game. An arena could have been created for some small-scale competitions like this. It would fit in perfectly with the game’s established lore. That’s only one example and maybe they can still add a mode like that in for co-op or versus play.
Hogwarts Legacy was released on February 10, 2023, and is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.