It's a rare occasion for PlayStation. State of Play broadcasts are typically reserved for larger events featuring multiple games and reveals, but today a special Hogwarts Legacy event was held. Avalanche Software made the most of the opportunity, spending nearly twenty-two minutes detailing the project. Hogwarts Legacy's combat, progression, story, and setting were all touched on. There was even a brief look at Hogwarts Legacy's highly-anticipated character creation system.
The look at Hogwarts Legacy's character creation system is unfortunately brief, but it is nevertheless exciting. Two faces are shown with the screen split down the middle, one face masculine, and one face feminine. With the few seconds of video provided, several faces, hairstyles, and alterations like scars and beauty marks are shown. It's a glimpse at Hogwarts Legacy's full character creation system and the promise of supporting players' personal tastes.
What makes this brief look at Hogwarts Legacy's character creation system so exciting in an initial impression isn't the diversity of faces or customizations, though. It's that it's the first look at character creation using the game's near-final visuals. The characters genuinely look impressive, though perhaps not to a realistic degree. Still, the character models are impressive and expressive. It's possible the developers at Avalanche chose this specific character design that looks good, and other customizations stand out less. That's up to Avalanche to clarify in the weeks to come.
After the character creation system itself is briefly shown, another of Hogwarts Legacy's personalization systems is introduced. That system is, of course, the Sorting Hat ceremony. Like Harry Potter in the books, players will be sorted into one of four Hogwarts houses, either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff. Players will have an influence over this process just like Harry Potter did, so don't worry about being put into a house that doesn't suit the player's personal preferences.
Ever since the Harry Potter novels began publication, a generation of readers has imagined themselves as witches and warlocks attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While there have been many Harry Potter games since, there are few with character creation and fewer yet with robust systems that embrace diversity. Hogwarts Legacy aims to be the first to offer something so uniquely compelling.
The obvious effort that's gone into Hogwarts Legacy's character creation and impressive visuals make the current situation all the more frustrating. The controversy surrounding Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's discriminatory rhetoric toward trans people has forced many to reconsider supporting media based on her work. There's no question that the developers at Avalanche have done their best despite the controversy, at the very least.
Hogwarts Legacy releases holiday 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.