Hogwarts Legacy player spots 'major difference' between PS4 and PS5 open world

Hogwarts Legacy has finally been released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which means we have only the Nintendo Switch launch left to go on 25 July. Tomorrow will mark one week since the previous-gen version launched and while players were impressed with the game’s performance at first, some have noticed a couple of major changes made to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts Legacy is by no means a perfect game. Fans are disappointed with the lack of a companion system and the fact that you cannot play Quidditch, but many players did highlight the colossal success that is Hogwarts itself, hailing it as their favourite video game location of all-time. It’s a vast building, filled with seemingly endless nooks and crannies to explore. Many wondered how this would perform on older consoles and while fans were initially floored by the game’s performance, it’s now been discovered that major concessions had to be made to reach that point.

Enjoy a tour of Hogwarts’ four house common rooms below.

As pointed out by Reddit user Eudon, the PlayStation 4 version of Hogwarts (assumedly the Xbox One version is the same) is heavily simplified in places. Eudon posted four screenshots, comparing one location in the PS5 version to the same location in the PS4 version. Upon first glance, you may think that these screenshots show two utterly different locales, but that’s not the case at all.

In the first PS5 screenshot, we see a large archway leading to an exterior bridge. In the second screenshot, we’re then positioned on that exterior bridge which is flanked by lush foliage. In the PS4 version, we look at the same archway but it’s much smaller and far more plain, and instead of leading to an exterior bridge with views across the Great Lake, this archway leads to a simply walled-in wooden clad bridge.

Essentially, this change will make it easier for the game to run on PS4 as an extensive outdoor environment will not need to be loaded when players move from one section of the castle to another. If this is what it takes to run the game well on PlayStation 4, devs made the right call, but PS5 players are in agreement that it’s a shame that not all players are getting the full experience.

Tek33 wrote, “Man, I love getting to a bridge to hop on my broom and gtfo sometimes. This would drive me nuts.” Others pointed out that many doors require button prompts in the previous-gen version if you want to open them, with some players saying that it can take up to two minutes to load the map’s exterior when you do finally venture out of Hogwarts. I do wonder how this game will run on Switch.