Hogwarts Legacy review: the game Harry Potter fans have dreamed of

Hogwarts Legacy has been out for just a few days now, and is already shattering records. Is it any huge surprise, given it’s the game fans of the Harry Potter series have been dreaming of since they were old enough to read about the strange bespectacled child from Privet Drive?

Here at GAMINGbible we wanted to hold off on sharing fuller impressions of Hogwarts Legacy until we’d seen everything the adventure had to offer. Now that we have? Well, it’s safe to say there won’t be a Harry Potter fan alive that will come away disappointed from what Avalanche Software has built for them.

The first thing to note is that the team at Avalanche Software know their shit when it comes to Potter. Every inch of the game is filled with that familiar magic, and it’s clear they were aware they had to deliver when it came to all the big moments. Moments like taking off on your broom for the first time, or exploring the nooks and crannies of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts itself is a magnificent creation, with all twisting corridors, hidden rooms, and moving staircases you could ever have hoped for. While there’s a generous fast travel system, I rarely used it. Simply wandering the corridors would often lead to me discovering an entirely new area of the castle behind a tapestry, or discovering some hitherto unnoticed side quest. There’s an awful lot to collect and discover, but wrestling every last secret from the ancient school was never anything less than satisfying.

The nearby village of Hogsmede is also a joy to explore, and it’s here that you’ll spend much of your time buying new clothes, upgrading your broom, or otherwise milling about. There’s no need at all for Zonko’s joke shop or Honeyduke’s to be accessible, since they offer nothing from a gameplay perspective. But you can go in and dick around until your heart’s content, because the developers knew these are places you wanted to see.

Warner Bros.

The rest of the game’s rather large world is considerably less interesting in comparison. In fact, it’s mostly battle arenas, bandit camps, and all the other mundane open-world busywork we’ve come to regard to a heavy sigh. I will say I enjoyed the various Merlin trials, which serve a similar purpose to The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild’s Korok challenges. There are some brilliantly smart puzzles to be found, even if the rewards aren’t always that enticing.

The game’s RPG elements were perhaps a touch exaggerated. This is hardly Skyrim for Harry Potter fans; characters react to you pretty much the same whichever House you start from, and the vast majority of key moments ultimately play out the same. Think closer to a standard action-RPG with a few branching choices here and there and you won’t be too disappointed. You can also equip whatever gear you want for the best possible stats and still dress exactly how you want thanks to a transmog system, although I confess I never really felt the gear system felt especially crucial.

Like the rest of the game, combat starts off promising enough then slowly wears out its welcome. There are a cool range of spells to unlock over the course of the game, but not nearly enough variety in enemies or available attacks. Higher-level encounters can become downright tiresome, tapping the same few buttons and waiting for it to be over. I would also recommend casting an invisibility spell and going in for a stealth approach, not because it’s that much better, but because it usually gets fights over with quicker.

Vaguely stale combat and an open world with little to offer beyond the castle grounds aside, it’s hard to consider Hogwarts Legacy as anything other than a success for the Harry Potter fans who have waited this long for their letter. This is a strong adventure with more than enough magic to ensure players will be attending classes long after the credits roll.

8/10: Excellent

Hogwarts Legacy is available February 10 for PlayStation 5 (version tested) Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. Code for review was supplied by the publisher.

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