Hogwarts Legacy is an action-RPG inspired by many other open world games of the same kind, but in many ways it is also inventive and nuanced enough to not simply adhere to what its IP is known for. Much of the open-world Highlands is far off from the actual castle, for example, and many of Hogwarts Legacy’s Ancient Magic mysteries take place in a visually distinct location, but it still has fantastic roots in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade with all the iconography fans could want from it.

Hogwarts Legacy is also a beautifully depicted game with landscape vistas and an exceptional depth-of-field in every direction, which makes broomstick flight even more stunning. Hogwarts Legacy’s combat is fluid with interesting spell combinations, parry counterattacks, and somersault dodges that make encounters feel rhythmic and satisfying—all before potions and plants are even introduced. This gameplay template is hopefully what future AAA games in the Wizarding World take after, and such games could potentially include Harry Potter remakes.

RELATED: A Hogwarts Legacy Sequel Should Consider a Morality System

Hogwarts Legacy is Almost Everything Harry Potter Fans Could Want

Screenshot 2023-02-07 23-40-02

Harry Potter game remakes could be incredible if they were developed similarly to Hogwarts Legacy, let alone if Avalanche was given Harry Potter remakes to develop for the next decade. Perhaps the best approach would be to focus on remakes of the original trilogy of Harry Potter games, which actually encompasses a handful of titles across different platforms with unique interpretations of the source material.

Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban all take place within Hogwarts itself, and each installment demonstrates an impressive amount of exploration and gameplay. In comparison, Hogwarts Legacy does a great job of feeling unique with the other two-thirds that its open world map encompasses, but it is undeniable that its castle exploration feels like a proper evolution of the formative Harry Potter games that came before it. That may be only natural, but Harry Potter remakes with an open-world design similar to Hogwarts Legacy could show how the castle has evolved since the 1800s and fully revitalize those games for a modern era.

The Case for Wizarding World Games to Remain Unique and Progressive

Screenshot 2023-02-10 19-11-38

However, there is hardly any reason why returning to games centered squarely around the original IP source material would be necessary. Part of what makes those early Harry Potter games endearing is their low fidelity charm, including the low-poly Hagrid that appears in the PS1 version of Sorcerer’s Stone.

Likewise, Hogwarts Legacy is made special through all the things that make it unique from the IP, and even though its Hogwarts castle is indeed immaculate it is not the only part of the game that was given a lot of attention and detail. The most poignant issue, however, would be that Harry Potter games have almost no debate in terms of whether J.K. Rowling’s involvement would be apparent.

Hogwarts Legacy at least has the appeal of new narratives, characters, and settings, but backpedaling to games that built on the largest part of Rowling’s work would make that argument more difficult for developers to confidently stand behind. Instead, it might be a better move to keep looking ahead at new ways to iterate on the Wizarding World with more unique stories that can hopefully isolate themselves further from Rowling’s work. Hogwarts Legacy’s Sirona Ryan is a great example of that separation, and only new games would be able to show progression and inclusion in the same way.

Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports release on April 4, whereas the Nintendo Switch version arrives on July 25, 2023.

MORE: Why Hogwarts Legacy Doesn’t Have Dementors at the Castle