Hogwarts Legacy fans concerned killing curses are locked behind 'DLC paywall'

Hogwarts Legacy will give players access to the unforgivable curses, although it's worth noting that there are some pretty major restrictions on where and when you can use them.

The Harry Potter RPG releases for new-gen consoles 10 February, and one of the things fans are most excited by is the reveal that you can kill and torture fellow wizards. Yeah, you're a weird bunch.

Hogwarts Legacy will allow players to make use of the three unforgivable curses: Crucio, Imperio, and Avada Kedavra. These spells torture, control, and kill respectively. Not model student behaviour, I'd argue - but that's exactly why there are specific limitations on how you use these curses.

It turns out that you can't just walk right into Hogwarts' Great Hall and start killing people. That would be a bit much for a Harry Potter game. Instead, if you want to exercise your right to a bit of consequence violence, you have to track down the secret fight club in the middle of the woods at night. Wait... is this a Harry Potter game?

It's worth noting, however, that the Dark Arts Battle Arena (where you can go to use these dark spells as much as you want) is only available in the Deluxe Edition of the game. This, unsurprisingly, has led some fans to ask whether or not these dark curses have been locked behind a DLC paywall.

There's been plenty of confusion (and not a lot of straight answers), but the long and short of it is that you can and will come across the unforgivable curses just by playing the game. No paywall involved.

While the Deluxe Edition comes with a few special dark arts-inspired cosmetics, it's not the only way you can use the curses.

However, we still don't know exactly where and when you will be able to use the killing and torture curses in the course of the main game. It seems unlikely that they'll be available to use at all times and on innocent students, and there'll surely be consequences for using them even in combat. So if you do just want to fire off Avada Kedavras left right and center without worrying, you probably will need the Deluxe Edition and the Dark Arts Battle Arena.