A delightful array of information has finally been revealed of the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy. With the title receiving its own State of Play presentation on March 17, the veil has finally been lifted for fans who have been waiting a long time for information relevant to the game.
Fan buzz and hype surrounding Hogwarts Legacy has seriously picked up as a result of the State of Play presentation, with the game set to come out this year. The presentation revealed the physical and temporal setting of Hogwarts Legacy, as well as game mechanics, available spells, and much more.
Hogwarts Legacy: The Basics
Hogwarts Legacy is an upcoming action adventure role-playing game set in a sprawling open world. The game takes place within the Harry Potter universe; namely the acclaimed wizarding school of Hogwarts, and is set in the 1800s, long before the events of the books and films.
The game will see players embroiled in the lifestyle of a student at Hogwarts, eventually voyaging on a "dangerous journey to uncover a hidden truth of the wizarding world." Players will be able to learn and master a variety of spells, upgrade their abilities, brew potions, and tame wild beasts as just a fraction of their exploration. The game is being developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Character Creation
One of the most prominent aspects of the game revealed at the Sony State of Play was how character creation would work and how it factors into the story of Hogwarts Legacy. The State of Play confirmed that players will be able to comprehensively customize their wizard or witch, who would then start gameplay in the fifth-year of Hogwarts, at around 15 or 16-years-old.
Players are then given full control of the house-sorting process, being able to join either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff. This will shape what colors are worn by the player's character, as well as the aesthetic of their respective Hogwarts common room and the nature of the NPC characters and companions within it.
Classes
As a part of student life within Hogwarts, players are expected to take full participation in a variety of classes. Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Potions classes are just some of the classes that were showcased within the presentation.
As well as meeting a diverse cast of personality-driven Professors, these classes serve to teach the player fundamental aspects of gameplay and to improve skills and abilities. Outside of class, Hogwarts is fully open to exploration by the player, boasting a litany of uncoverable mysteries and secrets.
Exploration
A variety of these aforementioned mysteries, especially within Hogwarts itself, are contingent upon solving a variety of puzzles to uncover secrets and unlock rewards. This level of exploration carries over to the expansive grounds around Hogwarts.
These forbidden areas surrounding Hogwarts possess more lucrative and appealing mysteries to uncover, at the cost of containing dangerous adversaries. With it being confirmed that players will have access to the killing curse in Hogwarts Legacy, the controversial spell may prove useful in these more dangerous areas.
In addition to this, the State of Play confirmed that broom flight will be available within Hogwarts Legacy. Broom flight will be a skill that needs to be developed and mastered, and will reportedly allow for much faster traversal of the game's open world.
The Story
Perhaps one of the most mysterious aspects of Hogwarts Legacy prior to the State of Play was what the main story of the game would concern. Thankfully, the more pertinent details of the game's plot were well detailed.
The overarching plot point of the game's story is that there is a potentially sinister plot being hatched by the goblins of the magical realm, who are attempting to stage a rebellion. In addition to this, a dark form of magic is corrupting witches, wizards, and beasts, with these hostile foes being the main adversaries of Hogwarts Legacy's combat and dueling. Players will be tentatively led by Professor Fig, who will act as a guide and companion through the untold dangers that this malicious controversy holds.
Spells and Combat
Of course, one of the primary appeals of any Harry Potter game is the game mechanics behind spell casting and combat. Knowing this, the State of Play predictably covers this aspect of gameplay in quite serious detail.
There is a huge array of fan-favorite spells available to players in Hogwarts Legacy. Spells can be used in a non-combative manner to aid in exploration and puzzle-solving, with Lumos and Accio being available to players to illuminate the environment and bring objects within grasp respectively.
It is within combat, however, where spells really come into play. Players can utilize a variety of charms and curses in combat, to immobilize and stun enemies, or even deflect their incoming spells back at them. Other spells were shown in the trailer, repairing objects and inflicting elemental damage to enemies. As previously mentioned, there is also the presence of the "unforgivable" killing curse Avada Kedarva, although it is not known in what capacity the player will be able to utilize it.
Beasts are also available for interaction and taming throughout the world. Whilst these beasts offer different utilities, many can be effectively utilized during combat to gain a serious advantage over any potential adversaries.
Talents, Abilities, and Gear
Players have a swathe of different talents and abilities available to them within Hogwarts Legacy, which act as skill trees. These talents and abilities can be carefully curated to cater to a chosen build or play style, and will provide serious variation to Hogwarts Legacy's combat.
Players can gain experience to unlock and develop new talents and abilities by completing a variety of challenges available throughout the game world. In addition to this, players can craft, loot, or earn different magical gear to boost their stats, which can in turn be upgraded to further suit a chosen style of play.
Hogwarts Legacy is coming Holiday 2022 to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.