Hogwarts Legacy 88% rated rival drops generous free new offering

The opening 10 hours of Hogwarts Legacy are easily the game’s best.

They allow you to experience what it’s truly like to live the life of a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as players attend classes, participate in extra curricular activities, befriend fellow students, and learn new spells.

Unfortunately, once you’ve learnt all the spells you need to know, you’re shepherded into the wider open-world where that school experience fizzles away.

If you yearn to experience more of that though then Wizdom Academy is definitely worth your attention, especially as it’s just dropped a generous new free demo.

Originally released last year, Wizdom Academy is a PC builder management sim where you step into the shoes of a headmaster of a wizarding academy.

You’ll train students, deal with relations with rival academies, and even see your school body through so-called “mana droughts”.

“Step into the role of Headmaster and build your wizarding academy from the ground up,” begins the synopsis.

“Design every room, recruit students from across the world, send professors on expeditions, and manage everything from mana reserves to staff ultimatums, all while the Directorium keeps a close eye on your results.”

Kipwak Studio

Of course, you’ll get to actually build your school, placing each and every classroom and corridor precisely where you want it before moving on to tackling decorations.

You can create towers, courtyards, lecture halls, secret passageways … everything you would expect to find in a wizarding school.

Once your school is ready, it’s time to recruit students. There are over 100 traits and 50 destinies that students can boast, so you’ll have a wide array of needs to cater to.

Wizdom Academy is a consequence-based game. Even when your students graduate, how you shape them could have an impact on how the world Wizdom Academy is set within evolves.

Naturally, you’ll need to make sure your staff are happy too while also competing for influence in local villages against rival schools.

READ MORE: Hogwarts Legacy players can now finally explore the infamous Chamber of Secrets

Play Wizdom Aacademy’s free demo and enjoy 20% off the full release

The full version of Wizdom Aacademy will set you back £16.99 / $21.99, although it’s regularly on offer, currently running a 20% discount on PC storefront Steam until August 11.

If you want to sample the game for free though first, you now can thanks to a hefty new demo which has just been dropped.

The demo introduces new players to Wizdom Academy’s core loop as they begin building, recruit new students, and manage both mana and resources. It’s the perfect way to see if the game is for you.

Wizdom Academy has largely gone well with players with a recent review score of 88% on Steam, correct at the time of writing.

“It gives a great feel to actually running a Harry Potter style magic school. The pace is slow, casual, so you can watch the students wander around and learn,” wrote one player.

“Picked this up on sale and I say it was worth it for the price. I got my fun out of it already,” added another.

Wizdom Aacademy does remain in early access so don’t expect a perfectly polished project, but that does mean that developers Kipwak Studio and Lake on Fire are actively listening to feedback.