Hogwarts Legacy review | PS5

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After 11 films, multiple theme parks and countless games, the wizarding world of Harry Potter needs no introduction, and the release of Hogwarts Legacy has, hardly surprisingly, been hotly anticipated by franchise fans worldwide.

With great anticipation comes high expectations however, and to bring the world of magic alive in a way which feels immersive and brings players the sense of joy and wonder they’ve come to associate with the franchise as a whole is no mean feat.

​by James Michael Parry

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​@james_parry

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Developer: Avalanche
Publisher: WB Games
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
Players: 1

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Fortunately, the fidelity of its world is Hogwarts Legacy shines brightest, from the effect of the rising sun on the would-be Scottish landscape to the grand towers of the castle itself. The open world stretches far beyond the castle, but is generally populated fairly sparsely, as you might expect from the Scottish Highlands, with a few hamlets to visit and the odd castle ruin or dungeon explore.

Your introduction to this world in-game is through the eyes of a fifth-year student who is transferring to Hogwarts – presumably they’ve been truant from school for the previous four years as they don’t seem to know even basic spells a certain Mr Potter learned in his first year…

The details don’t matter in the end though, and being a teenager does make you feel a little more comfortable with some of the savage fights with goblins, spiders and the worst monster of all – humans – which you get into almost immediately.

Combat is a fairly significant part of the game, though there is a “Story” difficulty setting which cuts those interactions right down, and a really satisfying one. Your basic cast is a standard attack which you can spam to your heart’s content, but combining your learned spells in combat is the real trick to taking on the sometimes sizeable enemy forces.

​It is one area where you see the biggest difficulty spike, especially boss-level enemies, since most of the time the game is more puzzle or exploration based, so to be faced by a towering, bewitched suit of armour trying to cut you down to size can be a little imposing. Fortunately, the gameplay is easy to pick up, and you can use potions to buff your character for a limited time and stack the deck in your favour.

It’s exploration where the game puts its best food forward however, as you walk the perhaps familiar streets of Hogsmeade or step into The Great Hall and stare up at its enchanted ceiling for the first time, a wave of nostalgia pushes you to explore further. Even unfamiliar areas have little touches of environmental design which almost convince you they were put there just for you.

Hogwarts feels as sprawling as the films and books before them have shown, but the level of decoration and fidelity in some of the textures and small details really shine...

While the story doesn’t really delve into who your character is, other than they are special, the game starts dark and only gets darker, with the cancellation of Quidditch an early indication of the sinister events to come.

Narratively, the goblin rebellion takes centre stage, and the game revels in delivering a wink and a nod along with its history, giving familiar characters’ surnames to the ancestors of our favourites, since the game is set in 1890 – long before both He Who Must Not Be Named and Grindlewald.

Not having familiar faces around lets the game stand on its own though, and is a really good move on the part of developers Avalanche. Their version of Hogwarts feels as sprawling as the films and books before them have indicated, but the level of decoration and fidelity in some of the textures and small details really shine. It’s fair to say the titular school definitely got the lion’s (or hippogriff’s?) share of the effort however, as some of the countryside feels a little sparse and repetitive as, understandably, few locations are as memorable as Hogsmede or Hogwarts.

The visit to Azkeban, exclusive to players who are sorted into Hufflepuff – which I hopefully don’t need to tell you is one of the school’s four houses – is a little underwhelming, but feels like a location that could be built out with story DLC which sees you called to help a mass breakout, Arkham Asylum style.

Other areas where the game falls short are some of the quality of life options which you feel as though are expected these days. For example, the game’s gear system, which lets you equip a collection of different outfit pieces, to give you buffs to attack and defence, can’t be hidden in dialogue, which can undercut your character’s concern as they nod solemnly in a huge, fancy top hat the Mad Hatter would be envious of.

Dialogue in general could be a little tighter. Professor Fig, the main quest-giver and your mentor at school, feels well fleshed-out, but other characters have voicelines which have a hamminess, only exaggerated further by their over-the-top or just stereotypical delivery, which can cause some characters to grate pretty quickly.

Early on, you’re given the impression one or two students would often be accompanying you on your travels, and especially in the schools underground-but-everyone-knows-about-it dualling wands club, but after a quest with individuals their appearances are few and far-between, possibly to avoid comparisons to the original Potter trio.

When you do interact, you’re given options of how to respond, usually straight or sassy, but the outcomes are inconsequential. Perhaps a full morality system and branching dialogue and experience trees might be a bit much to ask for from a game already stuffed to the brim with systems and sub-systems, but something to give your character’s actions more weight wouldn’t go amiss.

In terms of technical performance, the PS5 handled the game’s dense environment well despite us pushing it with full HDR settings. Occasionally, your character isn’t very well-lit in dialogue, for example, and now and again you’ll get caught on some terrain or find yourself waiting for the room to load behind a giant castle door, but for an open world with flying incorporated the navigation ought to be a nightmare, so to find it is surprisingly good is a pleasant surprise.

Speaking of flying, the pure fun of just zipping around the grounds, looking to the beautiful horizon as the light reflects off the lake can’t be overstated. Broom flight, and, later, beast flight, in general does seem underused, though at the same time if it was more integral it could derail less experienced players, as the controls certainly take some getting used to.

As a great way to explore, and just a fun way to pass the time, just pick a floo flame – the game’s version of fast travel points – on the map and hop on the broom and head over to it to see what you can uncover. Occasionally you’ll find yourself exploring a ruin which ends up being used in a later quest, but usually it’s just interesting to see what potion ingredients, magical beasts or enemies you discover along the way.

There’s an awful lot to consider, as we haven’t even talked about the Room of Requirement, which gives you a sandbox to conjure items and brew potions, or the puzzle minigames which unlock stashes of gear around the castle, but if you want to know what Hogwarts Legacy is like to play, then it gives you a little bit of everything you’ve ever wanted from a game set in the Wizarding World.

It won’t be for everyone, and it doesn’t feel like a truly unique experience which redefines gaming – in fact you can see the influences showing through fairly overtly, from the Destiny aesthetic to menus, Dragon Age 2 in the combat and UI, Mass Effect or Skyrim with its approach to quests and dialogue and even BioShock in some of the minigames, but it’s the first time we’ve seen these elements brewed up in quite this way.

Given how difficult it is to tie in a franchise with a game, especially one which is such a worldwide phenomenon, it’s hard to see how the team could have done a better job, fundamentally at least.

This won’t be the last we hear from the Wizarding World, but it’s sure to be the yardstick used to measure all other Potter-relating gaming content against for many years to come.

Pros

• The immersion of the experience is everything you could wish for.
• Combat is simple but effective, puzzles are satisfying and flying is a joy.
• They included Flippendo as a spell. If you know, you know.

Cons

• Clunky gameplay in places, as you’d expect from the first in a new IP, in gaming at least
• Your character doesn’t seem well-developed or feel that integrated into the story
• The lessons experiences are a bit throwaway, you just want to be back outside

9/10


A note on J.K. Rowling: While the creator of Harry Potter was reportedly not involved in the creation of the game, it didn’t seem right to put this piece out without acknowledging that by making the decision to purchase and cover this game, I made a choice which does, however indirectly, financially support her and, by association, her views.

This hopefully goes without saying, but neither myself or anyone at Pass the Controller condones her outspoken views on gender, equality or feminism. Hopefully anyone part of or linked to the Trans community will appreciate that the decision to cover the game wasn’t taken lightly.​