Hogwarts Legacy Review

Hogwarts Legacy is a single-player, open-world, action RPG developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment based on the Wizarding World created by (sigh) J.K. Rowling. While it was officially revealed in September 2020, it was actually leaked back in September 2018 on Reddit with footage taken from a focus group. Many people became excited for a AAA game set within the Wizarding World without Harry Potter. Fast forward to the 10th of February 2023, and that very game is now out and available to the masses. Will Hogwarts Legacy leave a lasting impression, or is it doomed to fade into obscurity?

Considering the reception by various parties, I’m going to guess that it will be remembered.

And if you want my opinion on the absolute trash fire, please refer to the separate article I wrote about Hogwarts Legacy’s controversy because I am not wasting any more words here.

The story is set in the late 19th century, a hundred years before the events of the Harry Potter books. You play as a customisable witch or wizard entering Hogwarts as a fifth-year student; they soon discover that they wield an ancient and powerful magic not seen in a long time, and it’s up to them and their allies to discover this Ancient Magic’s secrets. However, there are dark forces at play who want that power themselves and will do anything to obtain it.

The main story is okay. It’s enjoyable with both likeable characters and hateable characters, but I wouldn’t say you should write a book about it. Still, going out on missions with companions and hanging out with teachers is one of the better parts of Hogwarts Legacy. Even listening to the idle chatter was entertaining enough and expanded the world of the game. I particularly liked in some side missions where you can just be a dick for no reason. I didn’t choose those options, but I thoroughly enjoyed the choice to screw someone over.

Welcome to Hogwarts.

Now let’s talk about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the surrounding area. The open world is vast and full of life with NPCs going about their day — you’ll often find students talking about the events of the story or the various ghosts doing what they do with their existence. Simply flying around the world once you can buy broomsticks makes the giant map much more enjoyable to travel around it. There’s also tons of stuff to do in that world, like gathering materials, playing mini-games, and finding collectibles. Hogwarts itself is a maze full of secrets to find and puzzles to solve — I often found myself forgoing fast travel and simply going on foot so I could look around for anything I hadn’t unlocked. I did get lost pretty frequently, but that’s probably the point.

However, you aren’t attending Hogwarts just for the sights. There are 23 spells you can learn throughout the game, from Wingardium Leviosa to Avada Kadavra. They all have their uses in combat, puzzles, or just exploring around the open world, and are snappy and fun to use. You're constantly learning them throughout the main campaign, so there’s always something to test out every few hours.

In combat, you have quite a few tools at your disposal. Your basic attack fires a shot of red magic and can be used to build up your combo, the shield spell Protego can also be used to guard against attacks and counter with Stupefy, and about 16 other spells you can use offensively. You also have access to the long-lost ability to wield Ancient Magic, allowing you to do things no ordinary witch/wizard can do, like quickly throwing objects and performing fantastical finishers. You will need to build up Ancient Magic for those finishers with your normal magic, but the animations are fun to watch and I never got tired of seeing them. However, if you don’t want to be flashy, you can sneak around with the Disillusionment Charm and stealthily take enemies down with Petrificus Totalus.

Like the clothes but hate the stats? You keep the look whenever you get something new, so you don’t need to sacrifice looks for effectiveness.

It isn’t all about spell-casting though. You can use potions to improve combat effectiveness, like boosting your defence or reducing your cooldowns, and use various plants to support you either by spitting acid at enemies or stunning them. You can craft your favourite potions on the fly from a radial menu, you just need the ingredients which you can find out in the open world or grow yourself in the Room of Requirement. Finally, after a couple of story missions, you can choose Talents to improve what you like. You'll have plenty of options and play styles to experiment with, and they're all enjoyable. However, I need to knock off points for being unable to respec your skills at the time of writing. Whatever Talents you choose, you’re stuck with them until you create a new character.

Now, I played Hogwarts Legacy on my PC, and it is not the most powerful machine you can build, so all my settings were set to low. I have seen much better performance and framerates (though not flawless) from others playing the game, but I will mention the issues I've encountered for those who have low-end specs like me. Right off the bat, on the first cutscene, the game stuttered and continued to stutter throughout my playthrough. Various critical NPCs needed me to reload to the last checkpoint to fix pathfinding, my character freezing in place (also requiring a checkpoint reload), and no audio other than music playing, which didn't get fixed until I exited the game. Combat was nearly next to unplayable due to such low framerates. From what I could see, my maximum was around 40 FPS, but my average was 30-15 FPS. I would like to point out that my FPS was capped at 60. Also, because of how slow the game was going, every door didn’t open until the next area was loaded, and loading screens can be aggravatingly long. And finally, there were egregious amounts of texture pop-in. That said, even at the lowest possible settings, Hogwarts Legacy is enchanting — the world is vibrant and the low settings were barely noticeable.

11th of February 2023 update: A patch came out that made the game run much better and took out some bugs. I still have to play on low because of my PC, but at least I can do combat encounters properly now. Still can't respec skills though.

As for general gripes, doing side quests and collecting stuff lets you overlevel very easily. By the fourth story quest, I was Level 11 when the game recommended I should be Level 5, so if you want a challenge, switch to Hard or avoid most of the side content until you finish the game. Some things, like Talents and the Room of Requirement, take a little too long to unlock for my liking. Fast travel within Hogwarts is more trouble than it should be to use — I generally don’t like 3D maps in games outside of just showing the floor, like in DOOM Eternal or Borderlands 3. It may be nice to look at and you can get used to it, but I'd prefer a proper map than an artistic one. Finally, whatever loot you may find around the world takes up inventory slots and you only start off with 20, so you’ll need to head to shops regularly to sell any unwanted items or destroy them. While you can increase your inventory slots, this isn’t the type of thing a game like Hogwarts Legacy should be making me do. These aren’t serious issues, more of a personal preference, so take it with a grain of salt.

Hogwarts Legacy is like a very good theme park ride,

At the end of it all, I quite enjoyed my time with Hogwarts Legacy, even though I’m not really into the Wizarding World myself. For fans, I'm sure it's a 20–30 hour dream come true short of going to Universal Orlando for the theme park. For the average player, it’s a fun time, as you’re always finding something new to do, with twists and turns at every corner. I cannot recommend this game enough for fans, and it's at least worth a buy on sale for anyone else interested.

Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. For the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, you need to wait until the 4th of April 2023. For the Nintendo Switch version, it will release on the 25th of July 2023.