“Wands and Wizards”: a Review of Hogwarts Legacy
By: Jack Denney
The Video Game community and Harry Potter fandom is in for a treat for 2023. The brand new open-world game “Hogwarts Legacy” has recently come out on February 10 (Feb 7 for pre-order), and it, for me, has exceeded expectations. The game is fantastic, and lets you explore the world of Harry Potter in all forms. Ranging from taming fantastic beasts, to dueling dark wizards, to even attending classes and visiting the famous hamlet of Hogsmeade. Although the game is based on Harry Potter, it has no attachment to the main Harry Potter timeline in the movies and books, and the game requires no knowledge of the storyline, (although it helps to understand some easter eggs!) which makes the game fun for everybody! I will be rating the Main Story, Side quests, Overall Gameplay, and Map on a scale of one to ten.
Main Story: 9.5/10
The Main Story of this game has been absolutely fantastic, and has been manufactured perfectly to take you through all of the main aspects of the Harry Potter world. Your journey in the game starts in the late 1800’s, with your mentor, Professor Fig, who will take you to Hogwarts, barring an unscheduled visit to Gringotts bank, the massive bank of the wizarding world. After your journey to Gringotts, you start your adventure as a fifth year student at Hogwarts, and you are allowed to pick your house that you want to be put into, with your choices being the traditional four of Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor.
Upon arrival, you are shown your common room, and taken to the small village next to Hogwarts; Hogsmeade. In Hogsmeade you will be allowed to shop for everything you need in a Hogwarts class. You will be allowed to customize your wand, your broom, and your own clothes. Through the progress of the main story, you attend classes, learn spells, and tame magical creatures. As you go through the game, your character will level up, and grant you access to new regions of the game. The main story will allow you to choose your own path, whether it’s as a dark and evil wizard, or as a hero and good wizard.
Your character possesses a unique ability to see and use traces of ancient magic, an ability only possessed by few in the wizarding world. This ability will help you throughout the game, as well as tying you into a large conflict between goblin and wizardkind. The goblin leader known as Ranrok is hunting you down, and his resources of search know no limits, even reaching out to you just outside of the school grounds. Your character will have to progress through the story and uncover the mystery of why the Goblin’s are after you, all the while having to deal with new friendships, enemies, and your studies at Hogwarts.
The main story earns a 9.5 out of 10 because it encases every part of Hogwarts, which is precisely what I was looking for when I acquired the game. You get to do everything that an average Hogwarts student can do, while also adventuring miles beyond the castle walls. The spells are so much fun to use, and the detail put into the game is amazing. The only reason for it not being a 10/10 is the withdrawal of the wizard game of Quidditch. While you are allowed to fly around the map on your very own broom, Quidditch is virtually the only wizarding game that the average Harry Potter fan knows of. However, I have heard that quidditch could be added into the game later into the year, which would increase my rating to a perfect 10 out of 10.
Side Quests: 9/10
If you enjoy side quests, this game is the game for you one hundred and ten percent. The side quests are absolutely plentiful, and rich in action. The side quests provide a ton of variety as well, whether it’s simply scavenging for stuff around the castle, or it’s competing in a secret dueling club in the school, the side quests are absolutely fantastic and provide an opportunity to use your newfound abilities outside of the main story.
The side quests pop up all over the map, extending from one end of the map to the other. The side quests offer rewards such as gold, clothing, or wand handles. And some quests allow you to overcharge your task-giver, and maybe even squeeze out a few more coins. However, every side quest comes with a bunch of XP that can help you upgrade your character and overall help you progress in the main storyline.
Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of side quests, but in comparison to other open world campaign games such as Assassin’s Creed, and Red Dead Redemption, I would rank Hogwarts Legacy’s side quests at the top. There are probably close to 100 side quests in the whole game, and the map is so huge that you can find something to do everywhere you travel to.
I rank the side quests at a 9 out of 10 total points due to the fact that there are just so many that it’s almost too many in my opinion. However, the game gains 9 points because I do like the fact that you will never be bored in the game, and that the quests allow you to test new things that you have learned and acquired. I believe that upon completion of all of the quests (which could be months and months into the future) this rating could either go up or down. It could either go up because I already do love some of the adventures I’m led on from the side quests, but it could also go down because some of the quests have been a little pointless and unrewarding.
Overall Gameplay: 9.5/10
The gameplay has been absolutely fantastic, and has made me seriously consider giving it a 10 out of 10. The flying mechanics are fantastic, the dueling is difficult to the point where it’s fun, and the fast travel is an absolute lifesaver. On top of all of that, there is an element of stealth in the game that makes it feel reminiscent of the early Assassin’s Creed games, except you’re equipped with a wand, and can be completely invisible to the naked eye.
Flying is the best way to traverse the map if a Fast Travel location is not available. Early into the game you are rewarded with your very own broom, and even further into the game you can tame, and ride certain magical beasts from the world of Harry Potter. I personally enjoy riding on the backs of thestrals and hippogriffs rather than a broom, but I do enjoy the Quidditchy feeling I get from riding on a broom.
The dueling is absolutely awesome, and the fights typically have a large number of enemies that provide just enough difficulty that will seriously test your abilities. The dueling mechanics are fantastic, but there are a few things I wish were different. For one, only 4 spells are at your disposal for each spell “loadout” which is a group of four spells of your choice. This isn’t necessarily a problem but it does require a bit of tricky hand work to change which spell you would like if you were to want to switch a spell out for one in your spell collection. Besides that, the fighting is perfect and the actual fighting itself is easy.
Fast travel is the easiest way to access the entirety of the map. Due to joining Hogwarts as a fifth year student, you are privy to Apparition, the wizarding world's way of teleportation. While some of your peers in the sixth and seventh years can apparate, you are relegated to the traditional transportation of Floo Powder. Floo Powder allows you to travel to anywhere where a small green flame icon is located on your map, and grants you the ability to traverse the whole map in mere seconds, rather than walking or flying which might take a little bit of time.
Overall the gameplay is fantastic, and if I were to throw graphics into the mix of this rating, it would most likely reach a perfect 10 out of 10 rating. However, the gameplay is never repetitive and there’s always stuff to learn, but the weirdness of changing the spells knocks it down half a point to a very good 9.5
Map: 10/10
The map is the best part of the game for me. It is so vast, and it shows the player a new aspect of Hogwarts that isn’t shown very much in the books and especially in the movies. All the small villages, troll caves, and the infamous Forbidden Forest are easily accessible–and that is just near the castle grounds.
Villages stretch for miles on each side of the castle, and contain gold, and rewards wherever you go. The most well known village in Harry Potter is Hogsmeade, and although the books only contain a few visits to the legendary village, in the game you are blessed with the opportunity to visit whenever you would like to.
The map is also littered with fantastic beasts, and you are allowed to capture some of them, tame them, and then care for them. If you enjoyed the spinoff movie series “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, you will definitely enjoy this aspect of the game. Once you have tamed beasts, you can harvest their skins or fur and implement them into your clothing, to provide you with upgrades to your character.
The Fan favorite Room of Requirement, host of Dumbledore’s Army (which is not in the game) is also accessible to students and allows you to brew your own potions, and grow your own herbs and plants.
The map is awesome and has the best map out of any open world game I have ever played. It receives a 10 out of 10 because it is huge, but also not boring. I enjoy the aspect of learning stuff about the map that I never knew before the game’s release.
Overview: 9.5/10
I love this game, and it has easily entered my top three games I have ever played. The game can be found in Target, Walmart, GameStop, or in the Microsoft Store if you have an Xbox. If you don’t know anything about Harry Potter, that isn’t a problem in this game; if you love Harry Potter, this game is incredible and allows you to expand your knowledge on the fantastic world that we love so much! I truly enjoy this game, and I believe you will as well!