Hogwarts Legacy Is Stunning!

I've had the pleasure of playing Hogwarts Legacy now for nearly 10 hours, and whilst the gameplay isn't exactly what I expected — it's definitely more of an adventure title than an RPG — many things have been a pleasant surprise! Among them are the graphics.

Whilst I followed the game throughout the development by watching some of the trailers and videos and saw how beautiful it was, they really didn't do justice to the raw beauty and wonder of the world!

For starters, I couldn't be more amazed at the amount of effort and detail put into Hogwarts itself. The portraits are plentiful and varied, there are subtle magical spells happening all around, and I am continuously surprised at how ginormous the castle is. Whilst I was excited to see and explore it, I could have never imagined how much effort would have gone into it!

Hogwarts Legacy really does do a proper homage to the movies’ school — the moving stairs, the portraits in the background, and all the secrets you can find really make it feel like you've been transported to another world. I was genuinely surprised at the amount of detail and effort that went into the world, whether in the school or out.

But despite how magical and enchanting Hogwarts is, what really took my breath away was the outside of the castle and Hogsmeade. The landscape is nothing short of breathtaking, with the healthy greens, the stunning sunsets, and Hogsmeade was a dream come true to walk through!

I had never realised how much of a difference watching birds fly around would bring to the setting of a game until I stepped outside of Hogwarts and into the landscape. The world feels so amazingly alive! I'd only wished I wasn't struggling with such low FPS due to the lack of patching pre-release.

Whilst you can't do much in all the shops — such as Zonko's and the cauldron one — there's still a lot of effort and attention put into them. And for someone who's a huge fan of aesthetic and witchy themes, it was an enormous pleasure to just walk into them and admire everything there was to see.

Not to mention the absurd amount of gorgeous colours in some of the shops, such as Honeyduke’s! I was surprised to see how much prettier it is in-game than in simple screenshots. Although, that could’ve been due to my ultrawide screen!

I am really grateful for the effort Avalanche put into all the details around, truth be told. I had very high hopes but low expectations for how magical the world would be, and without even properly being able to explore the open-world aspect of Hogwarts Legacy, I was already left breathless with the setting.