The Hogwarts Legacy Critique

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Hogwarts Legacy is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label. The game is set in the Wizarding World universe, taking place in the late 1800s, a century prior to the events chronicled in the Harry Potter novels. The player controls a student enrolled in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who learns to wield an array of magical abilities and objects. With the assistance of fellow students and professors, the protagonist embarks on a journey to unearth an ancient secret that has long been concealed within the wizarding world.

Hogwarts Legacy marks Avalanche's first release since their acquisition by Warner Bros. in 2017. The game's development commenced in 2018, while pre-release gameplay footage was leaked onto the internet in the same year. Following its official announcement in 2020, the game garnered significant anticipation. Prior to its release, it attracted controversy due to Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling's views on transgender people and accusations of including antisemitic tropes, leading to calls for a boycott. Following some delays, it was released on 10 February 2023 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One in May and Nintendo Switch in July 2023.

TIME STAMPS:
Introduction - 0:00
Expectations/Skepticism - 11:22
Early Hours - 26:02
Dementors? - 1:01:25
Characters - 1:07:30
Hogwarts & Hogsmeade - 1:38:04
Mid-Game - 2:00:40
Combat - 2:36:30
Late Game - 3:10:49
Consequences - 3:15:53
Random thoughts - 3:33:58

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#harrypotter #hogwartslegacy #gaming

[KwonFrFx]

Shout out to luke for trying to reach the 10 minute

[jdbbgotskills]

Quidditch, house points, and morality system. I hope the sequel has these. It would make it feel a little more like you’re a student at hogwarts.

[fenrirthedreadwolf]

One of the things I missed in the game was definitely the feeling of consequences not just with the unforgivables but also just roaming the castle at night there are a few missions where you can get caught but I would have loved there to be patrols of teachers and perfects so that the castle 1 didn't feel as dead after dark but also make me feel like I'm breaking the rules of the school

[edwardelric]

The severe lack of student life was my biggest disappointment. When it set in that we were no longer really students halfway through I wasn't all that motivated to continue.

[vegardhuse]

What I find most hilarious is that you cast the Unforgiveable Curses WAY MORE then Dark Wizards do

[johncra]

One thing about this game that's pretty underrated imo is the music. They could've just made a number of whimsical magical Harry-Potter-y tunes and called it a day, but much of the music that plays when you're out exploring the world is varied and very beautiful in a somber kind of way that reminds me of tracks from games like morrowind and civ.

[itsme]

it was hilarious to me when i played it and used unforgivable curses in a combat encounter, but in cutscene a minute later, when Sebastian uses a curse front of his uncle he gets yelled at and its suddenly a big deal

[trashxraccoon]

following the butterflies always made me chuckle cause it immediately popped that scene into my head where Ron whines about having to follow spiders... why can't it be butterflies?

[Incognito]

The most galring issue, which impacted my enjoyment, was the voice acting. Almost everyone, minus the villains, spoke such proper and calm language despite the situation they were in, that I began wondering whether the VA's are simply reading from the script without being aware of the scene itself. This really took a point or two for me from the overall score.

[jubs]

My absolute favourite moment in this game was when I opened the decorate room of requirement menu, and I saw I could hang up mounted house elf heads….right in front of a house elf

[herovill]

8/10 being “Good not Great” feels so wrong. I feel like 7/10 is the highest a “Good not Great” game could get

[itsjusteddie]

1:15:46 the biggest thing about Figg I found really lacking was how his wife plays such a massive roll in the backstory of the game but we never actually see her. You don’t even really get the sense that he’s sad that she’s dead? Which felt incredibly strange. And in a world full of magical portraits of dead people you can talk to… Im not sure why she didn’t have a portrait.

[JLCosslett]

For me, I would have loved more RPG where you get to choose your background. e.g, orphan muggle born or a pure blood Slytherin family etc but start as a 1st year. This will give a chance to experience Hogwarts, the houses, teachers and students until 5th year begins. Maybe typical school stuff, like Bully, where the main character has a rivalry with someone in another house and trying to prove themselves. They build meaningful friendships and Professor Fig could become a mentor to the player because he sees something special within them. This isn't realised until 5th year when the player could stumble across glowing box. Maybe it was on Professor Figs desk?

And yes, for consequences to happen. I was really surprised how easy it was to use the UNFORGIVABLE curses. Like... It would have been great to have a morality chart, which I believe would add a lot more character development and playing as a good or an evil character.

I would also like the character to not be perfect at everything, like Harry, Ron and Hermione all had their own unique strengths. Maybe in 3rd year your head of house could ask what job you would be looking at doing. e.g Auror, Beast keeper, Quidditch player, Herbologist, etc etc etc. That way you could really focus on certain classes, and build up the character you wish to be.

That would be my perfect Hogwarts game.

[KenyouTV]

The game starts off really strong but the longer you play the worse it gets. In the beginning the classes are cool and immersive, you're running around the castle exploring, getting lost, solving puzzles etc. When you finally get your broom you just spend a while flying around doing random stuff and its really cool, the first 15-20 hours or so are really enjoyable. The combat is fun and feels good so running around the open world isnt the worst thing ever but it gets boring pretty fast. My playthrough was a little over 60 hours and the last 10-15 hours I kind of had to force myself to finish, especially when that last southern section of the map unlocked I couldnt imagine doing anything besides flying right to the quest marker and fast traveling away when the quest is over.

Most of the teachers were interesting, cool backstories and conversations for most of them. Sharp, Hekat, Garlick, Ronan, and Kagawa were the ones I enjoyed the most. Student companions were hit or miss. I really enjoyed all of Poppy's missions, Sebastian's quests were the peak of the game for a while and fell off hard at the end. The difference in how the characters in the game treat you and Sebastian is quite jarring honestly, you get treated like a saint while Sebastian is just the devil incarnate for saving his sister and protecting himself from someone trying to kill us. Natty I found kind of boring I didnt even finish her quests, the person she was going after I honestly forgot who it even was so I wasn't that invested. The poor Ravenclaw kid barely got anything besides showing us the telescope mini-game and coming along for that one mission.

Definitely not a bad game but overall I'd find it difficult to give it higher than a 6/7 out of 10, even as a fan of the books. Fun combat and the castle itself is genuinely amazing but theres still frame rate issues, the open world is way too big and repetitive (Ubisoft vibes), loot system is awful (the transmog is great) and theres no real reason to replay the game. The house you choose doesnt seem to matter and theres no real good or evil paths to mess around with. I honestly haven't even really thought about the game at all since I finished which is kind of sad, hopefully if this studio makes another HP game its more focused on being a student next time around.

[MrRaptoos]

As for professor Fig - he was so underdeveloped and missing from the whole game, I was convinced, he will betray me at the end, as so many situations were like I was sure Fig should be there, but was missing…

[KurosakiRuka]

The only character i was really interested to know more about was ominis gount. Too bad he didnt had an own quest line

[aerobibs]

The broom and wand made this game better then 95% of open world games. I’m sooo burnt out on sword and horse games

[alecbetz]

The game was basically what I expected. AAA open world, no consequences and RPG mechanics as deep as a puddle. But like you said I was one of the people who wanted the world more than anything. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan but a flushed out world is what keeps me into a game. And the world is 10/10 (castle and hogsmead anyways )

[cipherenigma]

I enjoyed the one cutscene we got for each professor. Shame there wasnt more than that. Bc the main quest was too boring imo. Omnious Gaunt was a character I was hoping to hangout with, but characters only became relevant if the main plot magically intersected them. Idk, I think I enjoyed the early game the most. It was more appealing for me to be treated as a fellow student and not a wizard who is secretly good at everything.

[Archangelm]

One game they should have looked to more for feeling is "Bully." In particular, the experience of simply being a student and attending classes seems very shallow compared to Bully.