Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive action-RPG experience that is made more immersive in a sprawling open world spanning much more than just the titular castle. Players can fully explore the castle and Hogsmeade in Hogwarts Legacy, though the Highlands are teeming with as much adventure and activities as players could possibly want in a single playthrough. That is perpetuated further with subsequent playthroughs, where players can select a new Hogwarts house or create a new character, and that is currently the only way players can start a new game save file.
Indeed, to the dismay of many fans, Hogwarts Legacy does not have a New Game Plus mode. New Game Plus modes are essential to most games where returning and having to retrieve each collectible, upgrade, or other items would be arduous. Moreover, New Game Plus modes have been relatively common in most modern games, and having one available at launch in a big-budget game has become more of an expectation from fans. Hogwarts Legacy does not deliver one, though, and there is actually a fair reason as to why.
How Hogwarts Legacy Makes Side Content Optional
Not only can players complete every piece of mandatory and optional content in a single playthrough of Hogwarts Legacy, but that is actually intentional in its design. It is clear based on Professor Matilda Weasley’s insistence on OWL preparations in Hogwarts Legacy that players are encouraged to complete their field guide progression after the events of the narrative conclude for one specific reason. That reason is players are unable to reach full percentage completion on the field guide before the narrative has officially ended with the final story quest finished.
Afterward, they will have a cutscene with Weasley where she tells them they still have work to do on their field guide. Because this cutscene is unchanged whether players have the field guide nearly or barely complete, it seems fully intentional that players should concentrate on optional content later in Hogwarts Legacy’s post-story endgame instead of doing it as early as they are able.
There is no narrative accomplishment awarded to players for completing their field guide, much less completing each individual Collections catalog. Rather, players can find their own satisfaction in that fulfillment and go into their final cutscene at level 34 or over with as much content done as they wish.
Hogwarts Legacy Locks Everything Behind Story Progression
However, players would still be unable to bring all of that dedication into a New Game Plus playthrough, and that is because all of Hogwarts Legacy’s upgrades, items, spells, and other important unlocks are story-locked. Players unlock myriad optional spells through extracurricular tasks their professors assign them, and there are hundreds of collectibles and collections players will amass on their adventures.
The player’s Room of Requirement can become a dense abode filled with passionate customization and functionality in deciding how to craft potions and plants—not to mention multiple Vivariums where players can breed and domesticate magical creatures. This is all introduced through Hogwarts Legacy’s main narrative-driven quests, meaning that a New Game Plus is essentially redundant if players would still need to progress through the game to unlock everything.
Otherwise, preserving everything players have unlocked or discovered would give no meaning or substance to the main quests. Having a broomstick or Alohomora in Hogwarts Legacy’s opening hours would be fantastic, but again it seems like the design is intended for players to not attempt a lot of optional content right away anyway. In the meantime, players can begin a new playthrough as a Hogwarts student and relive the magic that its singular playthroughs offer.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on April 4, and the Nintendo Switch version arrives on July 25, 2023.