Short answer: It's a mixed bag of a game, with an open world that could feel fantastic but mostly just feels like sparsely populated locales with the same rotational stuff from one location transposed over another.
I'll try and avoid significant spoilers and mark where they are as necessary.
The game definitely has its moments -- there's a huge charm to Hogwarts (and to Hogsmeade, to a lesser extent), with lots of things that feel right at home in the HP universe making themselves known in both brazen and subtle ways.
I think that once I got to Hogwarts, I spent probably near four hours just wandering around and searching out all the experiences there are to find -- some of which come courtesy of a guidebook that's supposed to help your character out with their time in Hogwarts for this particular school year. The charm hits hard in the school and the promise of learning some really slick spells and putting them into practical application (read as: getting rid of baddies and solving puzzles) becomes tantalizing.
Once you've chosen to undertake the quests necessary to get yourself out of the school and gradually begin arming yourself with spells, combat seems like it might be an enterprising challenge that could make for a grand experience. Some enemies protect themselves with certain barriers, and you need to use spells relative to that barrier type to null the barrier in order to damage them, which complicates an enemy duel in an interesting way, as you need to be properly prepared to dispatch your enemy. But that's where the fun ends at with combat.
Spells do enough different stuff that they warrant being their own spell identity, but the damage spells definitely feel like damage spells and the "status" spells (for a lack of a better name for stuff that impedes your enemies) feel like more cleverly usable damage spells. But when you're fighting a number of enemies, some of which might have different barriers up, you're going to largely be focused on just casting the right color-grouped spell to disable an enemy and try and wail on that enemy while dodging other enemies before the one you're working on throws a barrier back up again. It's serviceable, if not a little annoying because the game seems to love throwing numerous enemies at you at once (this was on Normal difficulty for me, I don't know if enemy presence is more or less on Hard or the easier difficulties), so you're just committed to doing maintenance in battle instead of really engaging in experimenting with spells in fun ways. Or maybe that's just me!
Enemies scale with your level in all encounters I've had with the exception of one of the earliest main story quests, so there's no grinding levels to overpower your enemies as far as I can tell. Levels are basically HP and Talent Points, the latter of which can be used to mostly bolster spells and their effects, though one of those talent branches is quite busted.
Equipment loots can be acquired by searching locales or by defeating enemies, and loot has its own level to it and is nearly always found at the same level as you or one level higher, with stats generally around the same stats as what you already have, though maybe slightly higher or lower. You're always going to be roughly where you should be with encounters you happen upon, even without upgrading your equipment, unless you travel to certain parts of the world earlier, as enemies in certain parts of the world seem to have higher levels in order to discourage exploration before you're ready to go to said areas.
The worst thing about enemies is something that I think shouldn't be spoilered because people should know this -- there are very few enemy types, so with the meat of the game being focused on combat or just uncovering puzzles in tombs or Hogwarts or anywhere else, you're going to see a lot of repetition in short order once you get your freedom. Yes, the enemy typings come in multiple flavors, but they're not nearly diverse enough to overcome the fact that they really are just...more of the same thing. Even with specialized enemies you're treated to, you get a little profile notice that they're a unique enemy, but they look just like everyone else and might have a minor quirk about their combat tactics, but it's really just the same fight as everything else you've done, with one extra flourish involved, generally.
I encountered several bosses and I may have cheesed some of them with a very brutal one-shot tactic, but the major ones where I couldn't do that with were mostly just larger versions of enemies you've already seen with 1-2 extra moves based on the progression of the boss fight.
If you're searching for side-objectives just to complete, the game has you covered with so many options, but that's the main reason you're incentivized to wander the countryside. Because once you really travel around, you start noticing how insignificant other hamlets are as you discover them -- my favorite point to this is my character making the same "it's right out of a storybook" comment each time I enter one and in the case of a particular quest that had me traveling to each hamlet to acquire a particular item, I realized that some of them had VERY similar plots for how the hamlets were laid out.
Speaking of characters and their commentary, people are personable enough when you're introduced to them, but there are a couple lamentable overlaps -- first, you get to meet some seemingly unique characters in different hamlets or other locations, but they're almost always the exact same merchant types, so you get little variety in what you're purchasing from them, which makes them a bit less interesting beyond just asking them about what's going on in the local areas. Second, there's a weird issue with character models when talking, where between each sentence, their face reverts to the base character model "neutral" expression, which can lead to some very hilarious facial changes in conversations, which can really take you out of the moments.
High points for me?
Customizing the Room of Requirement whenever you unlock that is fun -- I went with a look that reminded me of Raya Lucaria from Elden Ring.
Also, I had a character at one point go, "There's something strange going on around here," and as she did, she rose about one foot off the ground and the table she was leaned against, which made her statement both hilarious and factual in the moment.
Exploring Hogwarts and its general grounds is a grand time and unlocking fast travel points (Floo Flames) makes the exploration feel extremely rewarding, especially given the the number of side quests you're thrown later on in the game as it finds ample opportunity to go, "Hey, have one more spell that may or may not have any impact on puzzles but will definitely be a separate option to ruin your same seven or eight enemy groups!"
Someone said it felt like an Ubisoft open-world game, and I kinda get that. For me, it's that Ubisoft level of open-worldness, but with a weaker WB-oriented combat system than Middle Earth or the Batman games. It feels very much like a game that belongs in the WB portfolio and if those games are your jam and you like the Harry Potter universe, it's probably a good fit for you and worth your time to check out. A friend gifted me this game and I was initially super-stoked to check it out, but I can't imagine buying it at full price with what I know now, as it just never felt like it kept my interest beyond that initial exploration of Hogwarts. I wasn't nearly as excited when I first left the grounds because it became very apparent that there just wasn't much variety in what you'd find when you started trying to dig deep into the exploratory side of the game. It's just a big world with some points that exist that you need to visit for reasons, and a lot of those points already reside in the two major areas of the game and the ones that don't, often have similar areas that feel somewhat copy-pasted, from hamlets to tombs.
How's that one spell go? Caveatus emptorum? I'm sure it's something like that.
I'll try and avoid significant spoilers and mark where they are as necessary.
The game definitely has its moments -- there's a huge charm to Hogwarts (and to Hogsmeade, to a lesser extent), with lots of things that feel right at home in the HP universe making themselves known in both brazen and subtle ways.
I think that once I got to Hogwarts, I spent probably near four hours just wandering around and searching out all the experiences there are to find -- some of which come courtesy of a guidebook that's supposed to help your character out with their time in Hogwarts for this particular school year. The charm hits hard in the school and the promise of learning some really slick spells and putting them into practical application (read as: getting rid of baddies and solving puzzles) becomes tantalizing.
Once you've chosen to undertake the quests necessary to get yourself out of the school and gradually begin arming yourself with spells, combat seems like it might be an enterprising challenge that could make for a grand experience. Some enemies protect themselves with certain barriers, and you need to use spells relative to that barrier type to null the barrier in order to damage them, which complicates an enemy duel in an interesting way, as you need to be properly prepared to dispatch your enemy. But that's where the fun ends at with combat.
Spells do enough different stuff that they warrant being their own spell identity, but the damage spells definitely feel like damage spells and the "status" spells (for a lack of a better name for stuff that impedes your enemies) feel like more cleverly usable damage spells. But when you're fighting a number of enemies, some of which might have different barriers up, you're going to largely be focused on just casting the right color-grouped spell to disable an enemy and try and wail on that enemy while dodging other enemies before the one you're working on throws a barrier back up again. It's serviceable, if not a little annoying because the game seems to love throwing numerous enemies at you at once (this was on Normal difficulty for me, I don't know if enemy presence is more or less on Hard or the easier difficulties), so you're just committed to doing maintenance in battle instead of really engaging in experimenting with spells in fun ways. Or maybe that's just me!
Enemies scale with your level in all encounters I've had with the exception of one of the earliest main story quests, so there's no grinding levels to overpower your enemies as far as I can tell. Levels are basically HP and Talent Points, the latter of which can be used to mostly bolster spells and their effects, though one of those talent branches is quite busted.
Equipment loots can be acquired by searching locales or by defeating enemies, and loot has its own level to it and is nearly always found at the same level as you or one level higher, with stats generally around the same stats as what you already have, though maybe slightly higher or lower. You're always going to be roughly where you should be with encounters you happen upon, even without upgrading your equipment, unless you travel to certain parts of the world earlier, as enemies in certain parts of the world seem to have higher levels in order to discourage exploration before you're ready to go to said areas.
The worst thing about enemies is something that I think shouldn't be spoilered because people should know this -- there are very few enemy types, so with the meat of the game being focused on combat or just uncovering puzzles in tombs or Hogwarts or anywhere else, you're going to see a lot of repetition in short order once you get your freedom. Yes, the enemy typings come in multiple flavors, but they're not nearly diverse enough to overcome the fact that they really are just...more of the same thing. Even with specialized enemies you're treated to, you get a little profile notice that they're a unique enemy, but they look just like everyone else and might have a minor quirk about their combat tactics, but it's really just the same fight as everything else you've done, with one extra flourish involved, generally.
I encountered several bosses and I may have cheesed some of them with a very brutal one-shot tactic, but the major ones where I couldn't do that with were mostly just larger versions of enemies you've already seen with 1-2 extra moves based on the progression of the boss fight.
If you're searching for side-objectives just to complete, the game has you covered with so many options, but that's the main reason you're incentivized to wander the countryside. Because once you really travel around, you start noticing how insignificant other hamlets are as you discover them -- my favorite point to this is my character making the same "it's right out of a storybook" comment each time I enter one and in the case of a particular quest that had me traveling to each hamlet to acquire a particular item, I realized that some of them had VERY similar plots for how the hamlets were laid out.
Speaking of characters and their commentary, people are personable enough when you're introduced to them, but there are a couple lamentable overlaps -- first, you get to meet some seemingly unique characters in different hamlets or other locations, but they're almost always the exact same merchant types, so you get little variety in what you're purchasing from them, which makes them a bit less interesting beyond just asking them about what's going on in the local areas. Second, there's a weird issue with character models when talking, where between each sentence, their face reverts to the base character model "neutral" expression, which can lead to some very hilarious facial changes in conversations, which can really take you out of the moments.
High points for me?
Customizing the Room of Requirement whenever you unlock that is fun -- I went with a look that reminded me of Raya Lucaria from Elden Ring.
Also, I had a character at one point go, "There's something strange going on around here," and as she did, she rose about one foot off the ground and the table she was leaned against, which made her statement both hilarious and factual in the moment.
Exploring Hogwarts and its general grounds is a grand time and unlocking fast travel points (Floo Flames) makes the exploration feel extremely rewarding, especially given the the number of side quests you're thrown later on in the game as it finds ample opportunity to go, "Hey, have one more spell that may or may not have any impact on puzzles but will definitely be a separate option to ruin your same seven or eight enemy groups!"
Someone said it felt like an Ubisoft open-world game, and I kinda get that. For me, it's that Ubisoft level of open-worldness, but with a weaker WB-oriented combat system than Middle Earth or the Batman games. It feels very much like a game that belongs in the WB portfolio and if those games are your jam and you like the Harry Potter universe, it's probably a good fit for you and worth your time to check out. A friend gifted me this game and I was initially super-stoked to check it out, but I can't imagine buying it at full price with what I know now, as it just never felt like it kept my interest beyond that initial exploration of Hogwarts. I wasn't nearly as excited when I first left the grounds because it became very apparent that there just wasn't much variety in what you'd find when you started trying to dig deep into the exploratory side of the game. It's just a big world with some points that exist that you need to visit for reasons, and a lot of those points already reside in the two major areas of the game and the ones that don't, often have similar areas that feel somewhat copy-pasted, from hamlets to tombs.
How's that one spell go? Caveatus emptorum? I'm sure it's something like that.