Hogwarts Legacy
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
I always forget how you can check out games for free at my local library. They don't necessarily have a huge variety of games, but the ones they have do tend to be pretty decent. One of those options is Hogwarts Legacy. I remember putting this game on hold several months ago, and then just kind of forgetting about it for a while. All of a sudden in February I got an email that Hogwarts Legacy was ready for me to pick up, and I was like "oh, I forgot all I even put that on hold!" I went and picked the game up and immediately dived in.
While I am a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, I wouldn't say I'm crazy about it or anything like that. I didn't really care for the movies the first time I saw them, but then I read the books. I absolutely loved the books and read through them twice. I did eventually wind up going back and watching the movies again. While I still didn't like them that much, I was able to enjoy them a little better now that I was more familiar with the setting, the lore, the characters, etc.
To be honest, Harry Potter hasn't been relevant in my life for a while now. I'd say I last read the books in the mid/early 2010s. It's been a long time since I've seen the movies, too. And the Magical Beasts series? Haven't seen any of 'em. When this game came out, it piqued my interest, but I was in no rush to pick it up or anything. Harry Potter fever had long worn off for me. Still, I had high hopes for this game based on the things I'd read about it.
How would I like it? That's what we're here to find out!
Story:
You play as a 5th year student who is new to Hogwarts. You craft this character's appearance using a character customization system and give them a name. I named mine Rudy Boesch.
Rudy is flying in to Hogwarts on a coach, with Professor Fig and a few other people. He detects traces of a mysterious magic on an ancient artifact that is shown to him. All of a sudden the coach is attacked mid-flight by a dragon. The characters are able to escape via a Portkey that is removed from the ancient artifact, and it takes them to a vault in Gringotts.
A mysterious book is recovered from this vault and is taken by Professor Fig for examination. There are some fun action sequences that take place on the Gringotts mine carts. You're attacked, you get away. Eventually you wind up at Hogwarts, where you are sorted into a house (I was a Ravenclaw). From this point forward, the game opens up to you. You can advance the story by attending class and learning spells. As you take side missions for characters, you start to become immersed in the lifestyle of a student at Hogwarts. You learn all about your fellow students, taking part in quests with them that explore their backstories. The main quest of the game takes you into battle against goblins and dark wizards that are after an ancient magic that is more powerful than anything anyone has ever seen.
The game takes place DaVinci Code style throughout Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the surrounding lands. You uncover clues and penseive memories that lead you from place to place. You learn of the history of this repository of ancient magic and why the goblins and dark wizards are after it. You undergo trials to prove your worth. You defeat the bad guy at the end. I didn't think the storyline was anything too earth shattering, but I enjoyed it in the sense that it was more about the journey than the destination. The game as a whole delivered a pretty authentic Harry Potter (minus the actual Harry Potter character) experience.
Gameplay:
If you've played any recent open world 3D games, you should be able to pick up and play Hogwarts Legacy fairly easily. It takes place from a very familiar over the shoulder perspective. You run, you jump, you climb up on things, you use Revelio to make items that are hidden in the environment stand out. If you've played the Arkham series, the Horizon series, The Witcher, Assassin's Creed, any of these dang games, you've pretty much played Hogwarts Legacy.
You roam the grounds of Hogwarts, casting Revelio so you can uncover puzzles and solve them. There are hidden collectibles to pick up, such as flying books and hidden pages that can only be uncovered by the Revelio spell. Even if you put aside the main quest, you can always find something to do here. There are Merlin's Trials, which are little challenges or mini games you complete in order to expand your inventory slots. There are butterfly puzzles where you have to track down a butterfly that's shown in an image on a mirror, and then return it to the mirror. There are archways that contain hidden chests which can only be uncovered by solving math problems. There are raider camps to clear out. There are hidden caves filled with treasure. There are dozens of NPC side quests to take part in.
The world of the game is surprisingly big. For some reason, I was under the impression that this entire game would take place inside the walls of Hogwarts, but this is not the case. Not at all. Early in the game, you visit nearby Hogsmeade. I again thought - okay, the entire game was going to take place in the distance between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. But no. The game is much, much bigger. It may not be the same size of the map of Red Dead 2 or anything like that, but it is big.
Luckily this game lets you fast travel with relative ease, as long as you've come within walking distance of the Floo checkpoint. Just open the map to transport from Floo to Floo. The downside to this: the loading times. They are very, very long in this game. Sometimes it feels like it takes minutes to fast travel from one location to the next. Often I found myself just hopping on my broom and flying manually to the next location, even if it takes a little bit longer. At least I'm doing something and keeping my mind engaged.
Speaking of flying on your broom, it couldn't possibly have been done any better than it was here. You can hop off and on your broom with great ease. You don't take damage if you run into stuff, and the game is very forgiving with not slowing you down to a grinding halt if you bump into something. Traveling to an fro is fast and very efficient. It's smooth. Plus it just feels cool, kind of like swinging from webs through the city in the Spider-Man game.
This game is filled with so much other stuff that I can't possibly mention it all. Saving mythical creatures from poachers, breeding them, brewing potions, growing plants, assigning things to the spell wheel, leveling up, using Talent points, trading in old equipment, picking locks, all that good stuff. The nice part of the game is that it even though it is chock full of content, it is fairly user friendly and I rarely found myself wondering how the heck I was supposed to do something.
Where the game exceeded my expectations was the combat system. Battles are a ton of fun. You start out with simple spark damage, but as you progress through the game and learn new spells, they are added to your battle repertoire. There are several fire spells which come in great handy. There are also spells you can use to grab your enemies and lift them up into the air and other spells you can use to throw them around. You can use R1 to throw things in the environment. When your magic meter maxes out, you can press both shoulder buttons to do massive damage to one enemy.
There is a dueling system where sometimes enemies will use a shield that protects them from your basic attacks. These shields are color coded. If they have a red shield, use a fire spell. A purple shield, use a grab attack, etc. Once the shield it broken, you can unload on the enemy. Learning how to counter attack is key as well. If an alert icon appears dark red over your head while in battle - you should use a dodge move, as this indicates an unblockable attack. If it lights up orange, press the shield button to protect yourself. Continue to hold it down to unleash a counter attack which knocks your enemy off balance and makes him more vulnerable to your standard attack.
The difficulty balance of the game is fairly good. There were areas where I found myself dying left and right. And there are some very tough boss battles, particularly if you come into them low on healing items. But overall I found the majority of the game to be fairly easy. I always viewed the tougher battles as a welcome challenge considering the game as a whole isn't too overly difficult.
Puzzles are pretty simple as well. They almost never stumped me. Much easier than they were in Immortals Fenyx Rising or the new Tomb Raider series.
Graphics:
This game looks fantastic, even playing it on a regular 'ol PS4. Why exactly did we need a PS5 again? I'm sure it looks slightly better on a newer system, but to me that is not enough to justify going out and buying a brand new console - for a slight graphical upgrade and shorter load times. And they wonder why the PS5 has been a bit of a flop.
The landscapes of the game are big and amazing. Hogwarts itself looks terrific. So does Hogsmeade. So does everything, really. It does both the movies and the books justice. It really does feel like you are walking around in a living, magical world. I could dive into all the game's nice little touches, (like the authenticity of the details you see in the teachers' rooms, or walking inside Honeydukes and checking out the effects of all the candy you can taste) but there is simply way too much to list here. You're just going to have to "trust me bro" and play this one yourself.
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Sound:
The game sounds as good as it looks. You don't hear the classic Harry Potter theme in full, but there are small clips of it that play from time to time, like when you complete a task or uncover a hidden secret. The music in general is grand, sweeping, and orchestral - like something you'd hear in a movie.
The game can be quiet when it needs to be quiet, pulling you into its magical world with its atmospheric ambient sound effects. Voice acting is also top notch. This game does a really tremendous job bringing the world of Harry Potter to life, from top to bottom. The graphics, the music, the sound effects, the voice acting, everything.
Overall:
This game was a lot better than I thought it would be. If you want a full, complete adventure set in the world of Harry Potter, look no further. If you're a giant fan of the series, this game is probably a dream come true. It's so authentic an experience, down to the finest detail. Even a casual fan like me who hasn't consumed any Harry Potter content in nearly 10 years was quite impressed.
The only thing keeping this from being an upper echelon game is its repetitive nature. Yeah the world is big and there is lots to do, but it gets old quick. Maybe I'm just burnt out from all the open world 3D games I've played in the past few years, but there was not much new or innovative here that really blew me away. I supposed the combat was probably the closest thing, but even that gets old after a while. This is essentially Immortals Fenyx Rising/Horizon/Assassin's Creed/Arkham etc but with a Harry Potter skin. If that's what you are looking for - great. I do like these sorts of games (and in fact this used to be my favorite genre) but I am starting to tire of them. I didn't even bother completing all the side missions or going for the platinum on this one. Once I completed the main story mode, I was done here. I also didn't think the story was anything too riveting or compelling either.
So while I agree that this is a very good game, it comes up just short of A range for me. Is it worth playing, though? 100%.
THE GRADE:
B+
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