By Brennan Holmich
Editorial Writer
“Hogwarts Legacy” is the Harry Potter game I’ve been craving since the movie tie-ins turned third-person shooters. Avalanche Studios have really managed to shine with this title especially compared to their portfolio of mostly small Disney games.
Right off the bat, it’s obvious the developers love the Wizarding World. The level of detail in Hogwarts, from its smallest side corridors to the Great Hall, is exactly what I imagined when reading the books.
The movies pale in comparison to this version of Hogwarts. That’s not even including Peeves the Poltergeist, making his first real ‘on-screen’ appearance since the first Harry Potter movie game, and he’s not boring.
“Hogwarts Legacy’s” Peeves is a colorful, endearing
and malicious entity that wanders Hogwarts
almost as much as the player.
Exploration is tremendous. This game features hundreds of collectibles, puzzles and easter eggs. The characters, from background NPCs you can’t actually interact with to the supporting cast, bring this already vibrant world to life. No one feels fake or shallow. Everyone and everything they say seems to have a purpose.
Whether that changes further on in the game is yet to be seen, as this review is coming out with only ten hours of gameplay. That alone should tell you something since I’ve barely scratched the surface with that much time.
The combat is seamless and incredibly fun. Gone are the old hold trigger button to machine gun Stupify someone. Now we’ve been given a huge list of spells to choose from, alongside the basic filler. Changing between targets is so smooth it’s almost annoying. There are times when you’ve got someone stunned, only to accidentally bump the thumbstick and start attacking someone else. It’s not really a bad thing, but it can be annoying.
While the player’s attacks run the full gamut of the rainbow, enemy
attacks are usually boring, repetitive and predictable.
Upgrades and equipment are everywhere, almost too much and easy in their accessibility. There are times when you’ll have super nice gear only to complete something hard to find out you struggled for nothing, as the rewards are worse than randomly generated gear found while exploring the castle.
Though that is a small problem, since every piece you pick up can be used to cover whatever you’re wearing, allowing you to look however you want.
“Hogwarts Legacy” is looking like a strong gaming experience, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The story struggles with pacing and a bit too much telling instead of showing. Also if you’re playing on PC, be prepared for framerate issues as there seems to be a memory leak affecting cutscenes.
My time so far has been wonderful, and I can’t wait to explore
even more into the story.
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