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Hogwarts Legacy Review

Zachary Baxter

Mar 18, 2023 • 3 min read

This review was done on a PS5 and was a 100% run. I also started the game with all four different houses in order to get the platinum trophy. It took me around 65 hours to get the platinum trophy.

Gameplay

The combat in Hogwarts Legacy was interesting but unrefined. The spells feel powerful, and you can create good combos, but I never felt a reason to combo besides changing the repetition. That is the main issue of the combat, how repetitive it is. It feels like all the enemies fight the same where you just dodge everything, break their shield, spam damage spells or the basic attack. I wish that I felt differently but after 60 hours of this combat I stopped being amazed by it. Eventually I did learn the forbidden spells and that was fun, especially Avada Kedavra because of how quick it made fights. That was easily the best part of those spells, the way that you can instakill multiple enemies, this helped speed up the tedious grind at the end of the game. In order to 100% the game you have to collect hundreds of items in this huge open world, it was very similar to a Ubisoft game. I will admit that the collectibles were somewhat better in Hogwarts Legacy because of how they fit into the wizarding world.

World

Hogwarts is clearly the best part of the world and got the proper treatment that it deserved. Secrets are around every corner in Hogwarts but the same can not be said for the rest of the world. There are towns scattered throughout the world, but nothing ever captured me like when I was getting lost in Hogwarts. Another location is that of Hogsmeade, which was similar to Hogwarts with how it had references to the books and movies. It just wasn't interesting to walk around, there weren't talking paintings or secret rooms in Hogsmeade. I just wish that there was more time spent in Hogwarts instead of all the other locations because flying around the world on a broom is fun but walking the halls of Hogwarts was much more memorable.

Story

Both the main story and side-quests lacked the heart of the original story. The created character did not have a compelling story like Harry did. The created character was someone who doesn't have to struggle a lot, without struggle characters have a hard time being compelling. The main struggle revolves around a goblin revolutionary who wants to destroy the wizarding world and establish Goblins at the top. The main character is never challenged on their beliefs or their world view. The game starts with a third year student suddenly discovering that they possess magic, we don't see this shock revelation that would change anyone's life, instead of backstory customization like in Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect, we instead are just empty husks that exist. The choices we make don't have any massive impact on the story or side-quests, the only changes are asking for money or getting to use forbidden spells. There is no truly evil choices and without this the choices just become stops in the dialogue, I didn't sit and ponder what the best choice for my character would be. The game featured roleplay features in gameplay because of the options there but not even remotely did I feel like I was roleplaying as a student at Hogwarts. If you wanted to feel like an actual student, I would recommend Bully. The best thing that could've happened for a Hogwarts game would be to allow players to experience being an actual student at Hogwarts.

Graphics and Technical stuff

The game had great graphics that really captured the magic of this world. The main issue is that there was severe pop in even some frame drops. When I say frame drops, I mean like 10 frames a second during some fights. It was brutal to see the game slow down so much as I try to make my character move in molasses. The pop in issue was not just for the open world sections but it even occurred in dungeons and Hogwarts. Moments like that made the game feel like it was held together with duct tape.

Summary

It may seem like I am being over critical about the game but I still believe it is a solid to great experience depending on how much joy you get from the Harry Potter franchise. I am someone who read some of the books and saw all of the movies except for the Fantastic Beast films. I enjoy the world, but I am not an uber fan like some people. If you are someone who enjoys Harry Potter and would love to explore Hogwarts and cast spells against poachers and spiders, then this game could be the one you've been waiting for. As someone who just really likes video games and the stories that can be told with them, I'm giving Hogwarts Legacy