This is a pretty much perfected Harry Potter video game formula. On the technical side, bugs and glitches have been ironed out (unless you're playing on a modern system but you can't fault the game for that), but even aside from that, I think every change made is somehow beneficial to the overall experience.

The major change comes from the fact that the castle is opened up. Instead of the ever-changing areas from the first game, you get a set of sprawling areas, spell challenges (which you can go back to at any time to earn more house points) and a couple totally unique levels which you can visit only once. The reason this particular development works is because it creates this addicting loop of traversing the castle grounds, seeing an area you can't access without a spell, and then remembering it once you've learnt it. You familiarize yourself with not only the layout of the castle, but also its secrets, and I think that makes for the most enjoyable and memorable version of Hogwarts yet. Especially since you have some spells at your disposal from the previous year at the beginning (Flipendo, Alohomora and Lumos), meaning you can go exploring immediately upon reaching Hogwarts and actually find quite a few secrets you can access that early. This castle is not as large as the one found in the PS2 version, but it's so much more intricately designed, not to mention that you later unlock ways to traverse it even faster, making it a joy, rather than a chore to explore.

All the secrets are much more clever than they were in any other iteration as well. There is so much variety in the approach to what is a seemingly simple point-and-click mechanic. Most, if not every area has its secrets, so you get all these satisfying realizations by just scanning a room, being observant about a specific amount of paintings or a different colored patch on the floor, remembering a Lumos statue that you could access previously, noticing a small button hidden behind an object or realizing that the game threw one extra enemy than is required for a particular puzzle. Chamber of Secrets for PC is a genuinely satisfying puzzle platformer, its mechanics are simple but it knows how to trick a player into complacency, throwing new types of secrets or placing them differently, and with each new spell available and each different tileset, you can once again find yourself having to work harder to find some of the secrets the game throws at you.

But it also never punishes you for not finding them. It is very fun to find these secrets, but if you don't discover all on your first run, you can either go back to certain challenges, or you can purchase them from students in the school for beans. Beans are far from a rare commodity—especially after you unlock the dueling club, where you can get well over a thousand if you just spend a little bit of time—so while in the beginning you can't get, for example, the best quidditch equipment, later on you should be able to buy that, as well as all your missing Folio Magi spots without any issue (I heard there are two fully missable ones that you can't buy, the ones from Dumbledore's Office, so be sure to explore that fully before approaching Fawkes and the Sorting Hat). While you will still likely have a lot more beans than you need by the end, it feels like there's a purpose to having a decent supply, just in case you miss more cards than you expected.

While there's no PS1 Hagrid in this game (he's still huge though and actually walks around the castle grounds to jumpscare you sometimes) this game has its own grand meme with the inclusion of the BONUS BEAN ROOM. Should you collect enough house points, after each spell challenge you are able to enter a large area where you can run around and use your spells to collect a large amount of beans. I love that this game adds this mythical room to the Hogwarts lore, especially since everyone seems to be aware that they are a form of currency inside the school. Remember, do well in class kids, maybe one day you can get rich and buy yourself a sick fucking broom from a shady dealer.

The game is very easy, and becomes even easier when you unlock potions. Any and all difficulty comes from insteadeath pits, which send you all the way back to your last save. It's not often you'll fall into one, but you'll occasionally get baited into jumping on a Spongified space (Spongify is a spell unique to this game, used to make an area bouncy, and is one of the best spells in the entire Harry Potter universe) which will lead you to your doom.

While the game's Basilisk fight is rather simple, and the snake itself seems rather puny compared to some of the other versions, the actual way to the Chamber is really cool. This is the only game that really adapted the fact that it is pipes which lead to it, and that's exactly what you travel through, with some occasional openings.

In general the aesthetic is super nice, varied; the music only elevates it. These PC versions just freaking get it, the castle is always populated, kids are running around, the soundtrack is magical but it knows when to disappear and let everything else take center stage. I mentioned it previously, but all the tilesets allow for additional creativity in hiding secrets, but it's also just so much more interesting and adds to all that I mentioned above.

There's more enemy types than ever, even if you get some returning ones like the snails, they all get a little change to make them feel fresh. The goblins and imps are my favorites, you have to throw them inside their holes or use them to eat these mushrooms which spawns more beans. Sometimes, when you throw them into said hole, you can hear a bowling strike sound. Just brilliant.

Perhaps I'm overrating it a tad bit, but it's just such a solid title within this niche that the HP games carved out for themselves. I really enjoy the style of these games, maybe parts of it are nostalgia, but I do think they are a genuinely unique experience, and they surprised me many a time with just how clever they can be once they find their stride. This one in particular makes such a great use of its foundation, the PC version of Sorcerer's Stone, and just improves on it so much. This is an experience I would gladly come back to, and it made me understand exactly why I came back to these games, what I wanted out of them and why I remembered them so vividly.

The first game I ever played on the PS2 and I hate to admit it but it was appropriately magical. Easily the best Harry Potter game, it's one of the few that has its own art style - granted it takes the majority of designs from the movie, but a large portion of the levels and characters evoke the cartoonish artwork that sold the original books. The first time you have to use stealth (à la Metal Gear Solid) it is terrifying, the first time you duel with Malfoy it is exhilarating and the first time you fly your broom freely around Hogwarts it is liberating.
I understand a lot of this comes from nostalgia but I replay Chamber of Secrets often and it always remains one of the few entries that capture intended charm and escapism of the original stories.

Wonderful Zelda-wannabe (apparently), that aged like a fine wine.
Even after 20+ years, it's still very fun to play.

Also, after finishing the game you are completely morally allowed to turn on the Debug Console, and do A LOT of fun things. Such as:
1 - Giving yourself a Sword that evaporates everything, from candles to Dumbledore.
2 - Playing a completely finished level that's unavailable in a normal playthrough.
3 - Become any character, from gnome to Basilisk. Or Goyle, wielding the aforementioned Sword of Gryffindor

Anyways, the game's quite easy, so it's a must-play for everyone

As a kid, this was safely my favorite Harry Potter game. I'd argue it still holds up quite well. Spells feel good to use, the book/movie's main events make for strong set pieces, the expanded Wizard Card system is a lot of fun, the open world is a lot smarter and more deliberate in its design. This isn't yet the most interesting version of Hogwarts, but you're starting to get the picture here: it's expansive and full of secrets, with more of it opening up as you learn more and more spells ("Metroidvania" is maybe a slightly disingenuous descriptor, but it's not far off). The Bean Bonus Room is a really really cool novelty, a microcosm of the overall experience, and it's smart of the game to limit your access to it (though it makes absolutely no sense in the world of the game itself - why's Harry the only Gryffindor who gets to go in? Ah, well).

A novelty I completely missed before this playthrough is that this is the only game (at least in its American release) to have Jim Dale as narrator. As someone who spent a lot of time as a kid listening to (the American version of) the "Goblet of Fire" audiobook, no other narrator would feel more appropriate for me. I understand other games have Stephen Fry as narrator, so it's really cool that British kids got to experience that elsewhere, too. This one's for me, though.

MI VERSIÓN FAVORITA

Desconozco las versiones de 128 bits de este juego, solo jugué la de PS1 y esta, definitivamente me quedo con esta.

Hogwarts es inmenso, eres libre de explorar donde quieras y encontrar todo tipo de secretos, realizar los minijuegos y actividades que desees. Mucho más largo que el de PS1 y con misiones y retos más interesantes.