Love letter to Harry Potter, fans

Hogwarts Legacy

(PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, S,

PC, Switch)

Rated T for Teen

Hogwarts Legacy is a love letter to Harry Potter and RPG fans. The developer created a not only enchanting world but a darn fun RPG with tons to see and do.

The visuals are straight-up a highlight of the game. The world of Hogwarts Legacy has a huge world to explore. The highlight in the game is Hogwarts itself.

The school has been painfully created with the Sun and moonlight coming through the windows with realism. The lighting highlights and reflections objects like you’d expect and looks great. The school is also alive with magic. There are statues that move, paintings are alive and staircases that appear as you walk, just to name a few things.

From the textures on the walls, buildings, even the vegetation everything looks next generation. The character models themselves, from the enemies to the Hogwarts inhabants, are detailed head to toe. It’s a testament to the developer that this game looks more next-generation then most titles.

The world outside is just as detailed, with small villages alive with townsfolk doing their things.

The voice acting is well done. Each of the different characters you run across has believable dialog and doesn’t seem out of place in the game’s world. The explosions and magic sounds also are a highpoint in the game. Even the music is fitting and sounds great.

The game has you starting out creating your character from the game’s varied options. The game really lets you create your ultimate wizard. The only limited option in the creator is the limited voice options. Once you’ve finished, your journey can begin.

On the way to your year at Hogwarts school you’re thrown into a battle between the wizarding world and the evil goblins. The game doesn’t really explain the game story to your character as to why you’re being transferred in your fifth year to Hogwarts. Once the player makes their way to Hogwarts school your true adventure begins. Hogwarts is a huge school. I am by no means a huge Harry Potter fan, but I even found myself lost in this world created.

Hogwarts Legacy is a third person action adventure RPG. With that mouthful out of the way, the combat is another highlight of the game. Players can use a variety of different spells to use in combat. You have spells divided into essential, utility, control, force, damage and transfiguration. These spells can be combined to have extra damage effects on different enemy types. Players have main story based missions to complete, wizard classes to learn new spells and to meet new characters. There’s even potion mixing classes.

The world of Hogwarts has no shortage of things to see and do. The world in this game is grand in scale. With most open world games there is always some busy work to keep the player fetching this or that. In this game that isn’t the case. All the things players can do from the Merlin Trials to magic hedge mazes, caves to explore everything feels like it’s meant to be in this world, not just as filler to pad the hours. Players will battle trolls, dark wizards, goblins and more. While the enemy variety could be greater, I still found each encounter fun.

The game has more than 20 hours of gameplay to keep the player busy. I enjoyed every minute of my time in the game. It’s still remarkable that it takes a Harry Potter game to show off the power of the new generation of systems. From the whimsy of Hogwarts school full of paintings coming alive and magical staircases to the small village of Hogsmead, there is always something new to see and do. If you’re into Harry Potter this game is an easy buy. Even if you just want a cool RPG this game is recommended. Hogwarts Legacy gets a 9/10.