Some say the best performers keep their audiences waiting. Avalanche Software has put this idea into practice for over two years, repeatedly delaying the release of the much-anticipated Hogwarts Legacy fans. In the last few months, more information about the game has been coming out, and Harry Potter fanatics are keen to discover specific details, such as the gameplay and storyline. These fans want everything done in an accurate representation of the elements in the movies and novels of Harry Potter, and Hogwarts Legacy will face an uphill climb to satisfy every lover of the wizarding world brought to life by J.K. Rowling.
Through previous trailers and the latest extensive gameplay reveal from Avalanche Software, gamers are getting valuable information to see if Hogwarts Legacy is developing at the pace it should. The first trailer proved highly enlightening, giving potential players a view of the famous castle and a hint about the game's main antagonist. Of course, this hint was scant, barely revealing anything significant, but there was enough to leave fans wanting more. In the summer, Gamescom 2022 released a new trailer that showed footage of Sebastian Sallow, the Slytherin student, and the path of the Dark Arts. The gameplay showcase which lasted around 45 minutes brought encouraging signs of gameplay depth to be contained in Hogwarts Legacy.
Character Customization and Interactive Gameplay
The gameplay reveal was pretty comprehensive, and the level of detail featured in the game's open world has some calling Hogwarts Legacy a love letter to Harry Potter fans. Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world RPG that allows players to walk through the legendary walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student, even featuring largely uncharted places like the Hufflepuff Common Room. The inclusion of the Hufflepuff Common Room is exciting, as it didn't feature much in the Harry Potter movies, so players can feel they are getting bonus content.
As with any RPG worth its salt, Hogwarts Legacy will contain customization options for players to create witches and wizards according to their liking, with features such as the face, hair, vocal tone, and even glasses customization on offer. Players can also alter their avatar's appearance while playing by visiting the barber shop in Hogsmeade, although only minor details can be edited. Four difficulty settings are available in Hogwarts Legacy, ranging from Story to Hard. The Story difficulty focuses on the game's plot with minimal gameplay challenge.
Players will join Hogwarts as a fifth-year student, playing the role of a late magical bloomer. As a result, the player is lagging behind the other students academically and magically and must complete a host of quests to catch up to their peers. Players' avatars are sorted into one of the four Houses through the Sorting Hat ceremony, although Hogwarts Legacy gives players autonomy to pick a House of their choosing.
Interactions with NPC classmates are also on offer, and players can attend classes to learn spellcasting. The gaming experience also features an element of discovery, as players can explore Hogwarts surroundings, such as Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest, both on foot and with a flying broomstick. With exploration comes danger, and gamers may stumble into dungeons they might need to fight their way out.
An exciting component of Hogwarts Legacy is talent development. Players will have the chance to watch their avatars grow in power as they progress along a talent system, improving their attributes and unlocking new skills. Among these skills is a type of old magic that is said to be extremely powerful. The talent system - a skill tree - gives Hogwarts Legacy a unique chance to connect players to their characters on a personal level. Players will use The Room of Requirement in Hogwarts Legacy to upgrade wizarding abilities and brew potions that can enhance their combat skills.
Combat is a very important part of Hogwarts Legacy, and the combat system displayed during the gameplay showcase is packed with about 20 spells for players to call upon during a battle. These spells are broken into categories named damage and control, and they can be combined to give players an array of weapons to use. To keep things consistent with the Harry Potter series wherever possible, Hogwarts Legacy is using many spells directly from the movies and books. The most recent gameplay showcase gave a brief preview of combat, featuring the player battling a dummy in the dueling club located in the Hogwarts clock tower.
Key Omissions from Hogwarts Legacy
With all the good features announced, there are also a few gameplay decisions made by Avalanche Software that may disappoint gamers. Quidditch is essentially the official sport of Harry Potter and is considered a cultural symbol of the franchise, so fans would be forgiven for assuming its guaranteed inclusion in Hogwarts Legacy. Unfortunately, Quidditch will not be featured in the game - meaning no Quidditch World Cup for fans of the competition.
Quidditch isn't the only fan-favorite set to miss out on inclusion in Hogwarts Legacy, with Gobstones and Wizard's Chess also omitted from the game. Avalanche Software tried to include these elements in the narrative in other creative ways; for instance, players can still fly around on their brooms to make transportation easier. The lack of a multiplayer mode is also a letdown. Considering the endless possibilities a multiplayer feature would add to Hogwarts Legacy, many fans have been baffled by the exclusion.
With many games these days, multiplayer is never in question, as playing against other fans has become a key component of gaming. For Hogwarts Legacy, attending the famous school virtually and going through growing pains as a late student to become a powerful wizard together with friends holds a transfixing appeal. Sadly, Avalanche Software ruled out the possibility and stressed that Hogwarts Legacy is a single-player game.
Hogwarts Legacy releases on February 10, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A Switch version is also in development.