Hogwarts Legacy is being marketed as an immersive, fantastical experience playing as a witch or wizard attending Hogwarts. In a firm departure from the linearity that Harry Potter’s video game adaptations explored in their later entries, Hogwarts Legacy seems to offer a greater sense of exploration and non-linearity, which may turn out to be its most enticing asset. Now, speculation is no longer necessary when it comes to some activities and content players can look forward to.
PlayStation’s State of Play this month focused solely on showcasing Hogwarts Legacy’s official gameplay, and briefly introduced a number of features that will be at the player’s disposal as a late-entry fifth-year student, whether they are roaming within the castle grounds or stepping outside into Hogsmeade. If Hogwarts Legacy is truly non-linear and all of its locations, secrets, and characters can be encountered at the player’s leisure, it will need an overworld map that can assist players in keeping track of all the game has to offer.
Hogwarts Legacy Should Feature an Open World Marauder's Map
.png?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
When it comes to narrowing down a unique art style with functional UI that also feels like it is inherently distinct to the Wizarding World, Hogwarts Legacy would be remiss not to take inspiration from the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In Harry Potter lore, the Marauder’s Map is an enchanted piece of parchment that appears blank until its contents are magically revealed and an intricately detailed and animated map of Hogwarts and its surroundings are displayed.
The map effectively displays each classroom, hallway, and secret passage in-and-around the castle, as well as every individual within it, who they are, and where they are as animated footsteps appear below their names. As such, anyone with the map would know where anyone is at any point in time, and have access to secret areas that most students were unbeknownst to. Harry Potter comes upon the map in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and with it sees that Peter Pettigrew, who is at that time believed to be dead, is somewhere in the castle.
The map’s original owners and creators, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, play a large role in the film as Harry learns which important characters belong to which monikers. Hogwarts Legacy’s 1800s setting suggests that the Marauder’s Map would not exist as its creators were not yet alive, but it would not be illogical to believe that others had been made before it or that Hogwarts Legacy’s map is a different, if not comparable, piece of enchanted parchment.
Still, it should at least function as a facsimile of the iconic map in order to fulfill its purpose in gameplay. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’s visual portrayal of the map would be exciting to see as an animated map with moving parts and sections for players to scroll through as if they were interacting with the map themselves. This map would perfectly fit the Wizarding World’s atmosphere and aesthetic, rather than a traditional open world map, especially when a clear blueprint is available in the form of Harry Potter’s Marauder’s Map.
How a Marauder’s Map Could Influence Hogwarts Legacy’s Gameplay
This feature would be a fantastic addition to Hogwarts Legacy as it would produce an overworld map that encompasses all of Hogwarts’ castle faculties as well as locations outside the grounds. It could depict secret passageways, dungeons, and other areas for players to explore that they otherwise might have trouble finding on their own. The map could either be a document found somewhere early in the castle or awarded to players after the completion of an early quest, but it could also be beneficial to not depict the entirety of Hogwarts to players right away.
If this makes progression an issue, or if some locations are meant to be a secret until later, Hogwarts Legacy could obscure certain locations on the map until players have explored them, à la Elden Ring’s overworld map. Elden Ring’s map, for example, obscures undiscovered areas and only represents its true scope once players have ventured to its furthest reaches. Hogwarts Legacy’s map could operate similarly and have players magically plotting characters and areas into the map as they are encountered.
Further, players could first need to learn the Homonculous Charm as a prerequisite in order to fully monitor and label the footsteps of idle NPC characters and have a constant pin on where they are if they should need to return to them for any reason. This feature paired with an item such as a Remembrall, for example, could impact and benefit the player. Indeed, Hogwarts Legacy boasts an ambitious scope with a lot of activities and locations players can apparently explore.
The Remembrall could remind players of current questlines, class schedules, and other pertinent information that appears on the map as another way to guide players’ attention and help them to remember what other options are available at any given time. Hogwarts Legacy’s map including a fast-travel component to different parts of the castle would also not be out of the realm of possibility, considering that the students practice comprehensive magic.
A Marauder's Map Could Make Hogwarts Legacy's Open World More Immersive
However, Hogwarts Legacy seems to be placing methods of traversal throughout its open world in order to discourage fast-travel, at least during moment-to-moment exploration. If players are indeed capable of freely flying on broomsticks in Hogwarts Legacy, then fast-travel may be the last thing on players’ minds when it comes to getting from place-to-place. Moreover, if the castle’s iconic atrium staircases randomly shift and players have to rely upon RNG to get to classes on time, fast-travel would omit that immersive satisfaction.
There are numerous combinations of items, documents, and features that could pair well with this sort of map, and they could ensure that its impact on gameplay would become much more satisfying. No such map is currently confirmed, but a play on the popular Marauder’s Map seems like a no-brainer for design purposes. It would not only look visually appealing on next-gen hardware, but could also add to the depth of gameplay possible in Hogwarts Legacy’s expansive open world to truly make the school the player’s oyster.
Hogwarts Legacy is currently scheduled to release Holiday 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.