Illustrator by staff illustrator Sakura Siegel.
There’s how-to articles, TikTok memes and help guides. The latest “Harry Potter” game gives fans the wizarding experience that they’ve been waiting for.
“Hogwarts Legacy” is an open world action adventure role playing game that was released two weeks ago, on Feb. 10, for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with a later release date of April 4 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and a July 25 release for the Nintendo Switch.
It is an original game based on the “Harry Potter” intellectual property created by J.K. Rowling. Despite calls to boycott the video game, “Hogwarts Legacy” is already having record breaking sales, and the number is expected to increase as it releases on the other platforms.
The “Harry Potter” IP is one of the most well-known in pop culture.
The first book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” released in 1997 and to date has sold 120 million copies. There are a total of seven books within the “Harry Potter” series that have led to more than 500 million copies being sold.
The success of the books led to a movie franchise beginning with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in 2001, which grossed $974 million in total. This would lead to eight movies in total, culminating in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”
“Deathly Hallows: Part 2” would open to $168 million in the US alone, and would earn $1.3 billion in total and become one of the highest grossing films of all-time.
While there have been many video games on “Harry Potter” previously, a good majority were decent at best.
Perhaps the best of all the “Harry Potter” games was the “Lego Harry Potter Collection.” These games allowed you to play through all the movies, albeit with Lego shenanigans.
“Hogwarts Legacy” is – what many fans have called – undoubtedly the best “Harry Potter” game ever.
The game takes place 100 years before the time period of when “Harry Potter” would have taken place. It means in this game you most likely won’t see Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Professor Serverous Snape, Lord Voldemort or any recognizable characters from the books or films.
However, there are characters that have names that indicate there is a relation to some known characters, just taking place in the past.
“Hogwarts Legacy” is a game that encourages exploration and solving mysteries within the school and other areas. The Sorting Hat chooses which house you will join, but you can join whatever house you want if you are unhappy with the choice. You will use your wand and potions to combat enemies as they arise. The only noticeable omission from the game is the lack of Quidditch.
With no microtransactions, battle pass,or multiplayer in this game, the developer, Avalanche Software, is able to focus on the gameplay and story.
As a result, the game has a fun combat system, an interesting story and intriguing mysteries and puzzles to solve and collect. While it is possible that multiplayer is added later on with a patch or even a sequel game, “Hogwarts Legacy” has shown the gaming industry that a groundbreaking game can be created given the time and resources – without the need to emphasize battle passes or microtransactions.
