Hogwarts Legacy: About as charming as a Harry Potter game could be, it's certain to satiate fans of the series and strong enough on its own to satisfy even those - myself included - who never got very into The Wizarding World. It's not perfect, but it's good. TL;DR at the end.
The setting is masterfully done thanks to a very talented art team: you're in the world of magic and there's simply no doubt about it. This game is overloaded with details, like lively and imaginative animations, that keep the charade up from start to finish. It's easily the strongest aspect of this game.
Not quite as strong, but still better than expected, is its plot. The introduction is enticing and deadly, the ending is explosive, theatrical, and emotional. The entire middle is... well, it's there. Certain characters you meet or learn about in the story are pretty interesting and probably deserved more focus, but unfortunately, a good portion of this game is just going through the open world motions. I cared way more about Sebastian's saga than whatever that boring, boorish Ranrok was up to.
The way you progress is pretty smart from a design perspective, with a book filled with various challenges that'll give you experience upon completion. This'll get you doing the chores you'd otherwise ignore for the chance at another talent point, which you'll definitely want if you're playing on Hard like I did. Before you get all four rows of spells and can fill them, the combat may infuriate you for a while, but in a pretty good way. Eventually, like all of these games of course, you'll be a Magic Elder God slinging death from your wand's tip and drowning in health potions you no longer come close to needing.
On your ascension to godhood, you'll zip around Hogwarts and the surrounding countryside via Floo Flames (the statue talks to you every time you travel and you'll wish painful death upon her; of course only after beating the game do I find a mod to shut her up) killing wolves, wizards, trolls, and goblins galore. There're side quests in addition to the challenges that'll help flesh out the world and have you meeting some real whacky kooksters. The conversations in this game reminded me of Horizon: Zero Dawn's system where you're basically just rushing to get through it because it's painfully robotic and fails to make you give a shit about what they're saying. Sure, you can ask for more details about the person or their quest, but that would mean talking to them for longer. Is it worth it? Never.
Honestly, and I feel silly typing this, I think one of the biggest issues with the game may be there's just too much here. The entire Room of Requirement probably didn't need to exist and stopping by always felt like a chore, and as the room expands to house more items and creatures, the chore got longer in duration as the game went on. Someone may love stuffing it with furniture and covering the walls with pictures, but I never felt inclined: the room had a purpose, get in and get out, it wasn't fun to hang out there.
An entire new section of map opens up at a certain point and by the time it does, you'll probably just sigh as you were happy having the old one figured out; now, with your max-upgraded broom, you can remove the fog of war over this new chunk in mere minutes. There are far too many “treasure vaults” with only a couple design variations and they almost always house junk to clutter your inventory. Garbage gear to sell later for pennies isn't “treasure”, everything under Legendary is a waste of time.
You will pick hundreds of monotonous locks and advancing the skill requires finding stupid statues only acquirable at night (you can shift the day/night cycle any time, but... why?). Merlin Trials are about as complex as a shape sorter and you have to watch their 'building' animation every time you complete one; these are tied to expanding your inventory so you're going to do them. After all, don't you want to carry more “treasure”?
Overall, though, it's hard to deny that this game is a real triumph for the Harry Potter franchise. I shit-talked a lot of it, but really, the game is quite solid. The pleasant mood of the world is infectious. Snobbish students with quests telling you “I'd go myself, but I don't want to,” will have you laugh and hearing Sebastian say “Very well,” when you propose goblin slaughter rocks. Big props to them for letting you learn Unforgivable curses. The combat's learning curve is a pretty good one before the inevitable “Now I am become Death” point. There's a student offering lore quizzes for the military-grade Harry Potter nerds. Professor Fig is instantly a ride-or-die homie.
I didn't really care about wizards and witches and this game entertained me for ~40 hours, so I can only imagine fans of Harry Potter liking it even more. This thing made over a billion dollars, so we're getting sequels, and I'm looking forward to them. It's not the best, but it's better than what I would have imagined a Harry Potter game could be and the groundwork is now there for improving in the future. I recommend it.
TL;DR Play it, it's pretty good.
The setting is masterfully done thanks to a very talented art team: you're in the world of magic and there's simply no doubt about it. This game is overloaded with details, like lively and imaginative animations, that keep the charade up from start to finish. It's easily the strongest aspect of this game.
Not quite as strong, but still better than expected, is its plot. The introduction is enticing and deadly, the ending is explosive, theatrical, and emotional. The entire middle is... well, it's there. Certain characters you meet or learn about in the story are pretty interesting and probably deserved more focus, but unfortunately, a good portion of this game is just going through the open world motions. I cared way more about Sebastian's saga than whatever that boring, boorish Ranrok was up to.
The way you progress is pretty smart from a design perspective, with a book filled with various challenges that'll give you experience upon completion. This'll get you doing the chores you'd otherwise ignore for the chance at another talent point, which you'll definitely want if you're playing on Hard like I did. Before you get all four rows of spells and can fill them, the combat may infuriate you for a while, but in a pretty good way. Eventually, like all of these games of course, you'll be a Magic Elder God slinging death from your wand's tip and drowning in health potions you no longer come close to needing.
On your ascension to godhood, you'll zip around Hogwarts and the surrounding countryside via Floo Flames (the statue talks to you every time you travel and you'll wish painful death upon her; of course only after beating the game do I find a mod to shut her up) killing wolves, wizards, trolls, and goblins galore. There're side quests in addition to the challenges that'll help flesh out the world and have you meeting some real whacky kooksters. The conversations in this game reminded me of Horizon: Zero Dawn's system where you're basically just rushing to get through it because it's painfully robotic and fails to make you give a shit about what they're saying. Sure, you can ask for more details about the person or their quest, but that would mean talking to them for longer. Is it worth it? Never.
Honestly, and I feel silly typing this, I think one of the biggest issues with the game may be there's just too much here. The entire Room of Requirement probably didn't need to exist and stopping by always felt like a chore, and as the room expands to house more items and creatures, the chore got longer in duration as the game went on. Someone may love stuffing it with furniture and covering the walls with pictures, but I never felt inclined: the room had a purpose, get in and get out, it wasn't fun to hang out there.
An entire new section of map opens up at a certain point and by the time it does, you'll probably just sigh as you were happy having the old one figured out; now, with your max-upgraded broom, you can remove the fog of war over this new chunk in mere minutes. There are far too many “treasure vaults” with only a couple design variations and they almost always house junk to clutter your inventory. Garbage gear to sell later for pennies isn't “treasure”, everything under Legendary is a waste of time.
You will pick hundreds of monotonous locks and advancing the skill requires finding stupid statues only acquirable at night (you can shift the day/night cycle any time, but... why?). Merlin Trials are about as complex as a shape sorter and you have to watch their 'building' animation every time you complete one; these are tied to expanding your inventory so you're going to do them. After all, don't you want to carry more “treasure”?
Overall, though, it's hard to deny that this game is a real triumph for the Harry Potter franchise. I shit-talked a lot of it, but really, the game is quite solid. The pleasant mood of the world is infectious. Snobbish students with quests telling you “I'd go myself, but I don't want to,” will have you laugh and hearing Sebastian say “Very well,” when you propose goblin slaughter rocks. Big props to them for letting you learn Unforgivable curses. The combat's learning curve is a pretty good one before the inevitable “Now I am become Death” point. There's a student offering lore quizzes for the military-grade Harry Potter nerds. Professor Fig is instantly a ride-or-die homie.
I didn't really care about wizards and witches and this game entertained me for ~40 hours, so I can only imagine fans of Harry Potter liking it even more. This thing made over a billion dollars, so we're getting sequels, and I'm looking forward to them. It's not the best, but it's better than what I would have imagined a Harry Potter game could be and the groundwork is now there for improving in the future. I recommend it.
TL;DR Play it, it's pretty good.