Thankfully, combat is robust, and surprisingly challenging once the core mission-set settles into its rhythm: inquisitive exploration of environments, interspersed with high-energy action. So if Hogwarts Legacy isn't a simulation of life as a student of Hogwarts, what is it? It's an action role-playing game where you role-play as a witch or wizard with a strong propensity for action. That you aren't able to enjoy the atmosphere of these spaces in character - or even dip into a photo mode - is a missed opportunity. So I stood there awkwardly for a spell, opened up the map, and fast-traveled to some undefinable corner of Upper Hogsfield – a trader needs me to find his missing Mooncalf. It's here where I realized that there is no option to just sit down and spend a little while in the world, soaking in the ambiance beside my fellow Hufflepuff classmates. When the autumnal decorations went up, I rushed to the Great Hall and promptly located where I was seated when Professor Quirrell disrupted All Hallows' Evening celebrations with claims of a troll in the dungeon. I was a background actor in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and I was keen to use Hogwarts Legacy to explore some vivid memories. If ever a game was crying out for incidental minigames – Exploding Snap, Wizard's Chess, Gobstones – it's Hogwarts Legacy, although it offers few opportunities to simply exist outside of the adventure. For a school of 1,000, the hallways, classrooms, and common rooms are surprisingly sparse, and the students you do come across have infrequent points of dialogue and interaction. Hogwarts Legacy cares little for the rules that underpin the wizarding world, and does a poor job of communicating what is and isn't allowed. Hogwarts Legacy isn't a simulation.Īt times you'll wish it was – I know I certainly did. Hogwarts has a curfew, but it only comes into effect to support intolerable stealth missions. Excursions to Hogsmeade aren't restricted to weekends, which diminishes magical fixtures like The One-Eyed Witch Passage. Students will often speak about punishments that never come your way, regardless of whether you're farming resources in the Forbidden Forest or throwing Unforgivable Curses against anything with a health bar. Professors speak to the importance of studies, but there are few opportunities to engage with schoolwork outside of core questlines. It's a busy narrative premise even before you factor in the rising threat of corrupted beasts, dark wizard poachers, and rumors of a goblin rebellion. Save the wizarding world, and get your act together before the O.W.L. This long-dormant energy has the power to create or destroy, and your potential gets you shipped off to boarding school as a late-admission fifth-year. You're a custom-created character with more clothing and hairstyle options than the average student, and the power to tap into an ancient form of magic. But these sessions are fleeting – rare opportunities to feel like an ordinary student of Hogwarts before a hidden truth of the wizarding world demands your full attention. There is truth to this, as you're able to attend a selection of wonderfully-scripted classes: Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration, and electives like Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Hogwarts Legacy nails this part of the fantasy with an ambitious recreation of the school grounds, but you have to go out in search of interaction eventually.ĭeveloper Avalanche Software promised that Hogwarts Legacy would let us "experience life as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". To chase apparitions, hunt for secrets, and listen to students bicker about House Points without interruption. Why you're free to marvel at the grand old architecture. It's why you can spend hours idly walking labyrinthian corridors. Hogwarts became an avenue for adventure and weird homework assignments, where chosen children could master spellcraft and unravel mysteries woven through the fabric of the castle.Īt a surface level, Hogwarts Legacy understands this entirely. We explored this from the perspective of the Boy Who Lived, though it's really the School He Attended that attracted attention. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and the works that followed it, established a fascinating fantasy world full of magic, monsters, procedures, and politics.
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