Harry Potter has given us a variety of video games for all tastes. Who could forget the time when Hagrid asked us to cross a lake of burning lava and navigate shaky platforms to find some fire seeds in the wizard’s first game? Many years have passed since that initial release, and fortunately, it has evolved with more responsible adults and better voice acting.
Today we can enjoy the sensation of being a wizard, and luckily, it’s available for different consoles. Recently, Hogwarts Legacy has been released for Nintendo Switch. It is undoubtedly the best game that the magical world has seen so far. So, let’s talk about what we liked (and what not so much) about this game.
First of all, we clarify that we were able to test the game on the last generation, both the PS4 and Xbox One versions. However, the revised version of this game was Hogwarts Legacy on PlayStation 5. We can also acquire the PS4 version of Hogwarts Legacy, not to mention that the game is available on more platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
What we enjoyed the most
The story
*Warning: there are small spoilers that do not harm the reading experience, read at your own risk.*
This title is set in a time before the adventures of our beloved wizard, in a Hogwarts of the 19th century, where we will experience an adventure full of surprises that will make fans of this franchise smile with multiple references and iconic places to visit.
In addition to having an impressive and freely explorable world, we can experience the lessons, albeit in the skin of a student who did not know about magic until then. One of the most exciting things is to search for school supplies for the first time, including the materials from which our magic wand is made, which will accompany us throughout the adventure.
The main story revolves around ancient magic, a power preserved by the Guardians, and they will guide us in our adventure as we progress through the missions. In addition to a rebellion of the goblins and their desire to overthrow the Ministry of Magic, this story will keep us hooked until we see its conclusion, and the plot twists will leave us very satisfied.
We will also have magical duels, a small flying competition (Quidditch is suspended by order of the headmaster :c) that serves as a tutorial to get used to both attack controls and flying respectively, and to learn the combos we can perform in duels. Likewise, we will explore stories of secondary characters (some deeper than others) that will make us remember the early books of Harry Potter and the adventures of the golden trio.
Character Customization
For the first time in the franchise, we have the opportunity to customize our character with countless combinations and edit it to best identify with us, from hair to the type of voice and tone of speech that we like the most.
As the story progresses, we will be able to learn the spells taught at Hogwarts, but we will be able to master Unforgivable Curses, which brings us closer to the dark arts, although we may not become a dark wizard. We cannot fail to mention that we will have outfits for all tastes, including equipment class represented in colors depending on their level of rarity, which represents an important element for the increase in attack, defense, and life of our character.
As the story advances, we can obtain talent points that will allow us to level up skills in the 5 available spaces: Spells, Dark Arts, Core, Stealth, and Room of Requirement. This will give us new actions and also reinforce certain spells and give new effects to others, but it should be clarified that the points are limited, and we will not be able to take our character to the maximum with the points included in the first playthrough.
Secrets in the game
In the castle, we will find a good number of secrets, many of them distributed in fairly simple riddles to solve that open doors with secrets, also mazes made of leaves scattered throughout the world, and passages (including the famous One-eyed Witch secret passage) and transfiguration points in the form of toads that take us to another end of the room we are exploring.
There are some locked doors that we will not be able to open until we have the spell ‘Alohomora‘.
Room of Requirements and Fantastic Beasts
After some main missions in the story, we will unlock the Room of Requirements. There we can do many things, from brewing potions, having a small herb garden, to breeding animals, and collecting items to craft equipment upgrades, attack upgrades, and essential materials for our slot spaces (Merlin’s Trials).
We can customize the room with the colors we like, the type of architecture, and also the decoration inside it, and with the help of another character, we can have the ambiance we like (day or night) and customize the lighting.
The Room of Requirements will expand as we progress through the missions and will offer us the ability to breed animals, making us feel like Newt Scamander himself. In addition to dealing with animal breeding, we will have aerial and land mounts that we can use to travel the world.
Controls
In terms of controls, we agree that the implementation of a circle for spells is a success. There we can store up to 4 at the beginning, and as we progress, this ‘spell wheel’ can be expanded with talent points. We will have up to 4 different sets, meaning we can carry up to 16 spells for quick use.
With respect to the character’s movement, everything feels in order, and there are no issues with performing basic movements. However, there are negative aspects that we will delve into in the ‘What We Didn’t Like’ section.
Graphics
Before discussing the technical aspects, it’s important to highlight that both the environmental transitions and the magic itself feel very faithful to what we saw in the wizard’s movies, especially those of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There is a noticeable effort to be similar to the Harry Potter universe on the big screen.
The game offers us 3 different graphic modes: Quality, Quality with Ray Tracing, and Performance. In the first two options, we will play at a maximum of 4K at 30 FPS, and in the performance option, we can achieve 1440P at 60 FPS.
What we didn’t like
The dialogues
Our character is based on a 20-year-old boy in the 19th century. We express ourselves like old gentlemen, and this feels quite strange. Additionally, the animations and body language of the characters, in general, feel stiff.
The map is empty
Despite having iconic places to explore, there are flying areas filled with balloons to collect, and halfway through the story, it starts to feel a bit empty. This dilutes the initial sensations we had when exploring the video game. While there are random events, most of them are programmed for the castle, and when visiting certain areas, we notice that the rest of the map lacks that magical touch.
Repetitive duels
The battles are fun, but you quickly feel that many of them become nothing more than a formality, and you will start to wish to finish them quickly to continue with the story. There are a variety of combos to defeat an enemy, but when it comes to eliminating numerous enemies (along with having to deal with different types of magical shields that are removed with specific spells), the problem arises of not being able to target the correct enemy with the specific shield for which we selected a spell.
Uninteresting Side Quests
Despite having a vast world full of magical wonders, the game outside the castle missions, and specifically in the surrounding villages, tends to give us some boring side missions. Many of these are the classic ones of finding an object or defeating a specific enemy to return for a reward.
It doesn’t become too bad, but it is worth noting in what we didn’t like because of how repetitive it is.
Controls when using the broom
The flying mode, without being something impossible to handle, still falls short of comfort (as is customary in the wizard’s video games). It’s something that takes you out of the game’s immersion, of being able to admire the landscapes.
It’s a system that still needs work and undoubtedly can improve, but in this game, it can become frustrating.
In conclusion
It is worth noting that, with less power in last-gen consoles, the world of Hogwarts Legacy on PS4 and the Hogwarts Legacy Xbox One version gives us an acceptable performance to enjoy it, perhaps with some extra loading screens but without affecting the experience.
The world of Hogwarts Legacy is a love letter to fans of the magical world. Filled with references, iconic places, magical moments, and a story that keeps us glued to the game until the end, the love, and effort that the studio put into this game are evident.
For big fans of the magical world, it is highly recommended, and for those unfamiliar with it; it is also recommended, even knowing that it is not a perfect game and uses clichés from open-world games.
We want to emphasize that this was our opinion at the time of playing, so we invite you to experience this game personally and form your own opinion.
Greetings, digital legends! I’m Gabriel Gutiérrez, the backstage accomplice at Joystick Latino. A licensed musician with a photographer’s eye, I’ve been venturing into the gaming world from my Atari 2600 since the age of 6. I’m addicted to anime, a fan of the irreverent humor of ‘South Park’ and ‘Rick and Morty,’ and a fearless explorer of cinematic horror.
