Hogwarts Legacy New Game Review 2023

Hogwarts Legacy Game Review 

Harry Potter is a series of open world RPGs. Between the vast school grounds, the variety of spells on offer, and the comprehensive lore, perhaps the only surprising part here.

 Sure, we've got the PS1 movie titles, complete with wild Draco Malfoy and PS1 Hagrid, but other than that, Lego Harry Potter is the closest we've come to a free-roaming, broom-flying Harry Potter adventure game. a lot So Hogwarts Legacy, the world at your fingertips, and you can really feel that the creative team at Portkey have gone to great lengths to bring this world to life.

  Hogwarts Legacy is neither the best open world game on the market nor the best cinematic game. However, this is a beautifully realized RPG dripping in the familiar Harry Potter aesthetic that does its best to respect the source material and build an original story around it.

  Much of the main story is pretty elaborate and takes place back in the 1800s. In your fifth year, you take on the role of a new student starting at Hogwarts, complete with a wizarding field guide to help you catch up with the other students. As a fifth year, you aren't quite bound by the same strict rules that the younger ones are, but you still have to take classes to get the best spells.

Storyline

  This first part of the story (acting as a student, developing your skills, and building friendships with other students at Hogwarts) takes second fiddle to the larger plot line involving shadowy goblins and dark magic gone awry. I won't spoil what's going on here, but suffice it to say that the story turns into a fairly formal set-up for about 10 hours, requiring you to find lots of different trinkets and complete trials to gain enough intelligence and strength to fight it. dark powers are increasing.

While the story is a bit forgettable, the same cannot be said for the gameplay and the world itself. Hogwarts Castle is an absolute joy to explore, and between missions the game allows you to freely go out and wander the corridors, uncovering secrets and completing side quests for other students. These areas will be familiar to anyone who's played the games, and whether they're individual classrooms or an astronomy tower, there's a real thought put into giving a nod to useful exploration and book and game lovers alike.

  Hogwarts is only a small part of this game, because soon you will discover a bigger world outside the walls of the school. Not only can you explore the grounds of Hogwarts, you can also enter the Forbidden Forest, hike to Hogsmeade, or even visit small villages and towns around the world.

  To begin with, it's a bit slow going, with tons of tutorials and a good few hours dedicated to learning all of the game's mechanics. Once you've passed this, Hogwarts Legacy unlocks and continues to do so the longer you play. More mechanics and gameplay additions are locked behind the story progression, so you'll find yourself drawn into completing more of the story to unlock additional spells and find hidden places to explore. However, you also can't just blast your way through the plot, as some missions require you to attend classes to learn certain spells or level up.

Gameplay 

  The gameplay is pretty straightforward for the most part, with combat feeling like a polished version of Lego Harry Potter. You have four different basic spells tailored to R2. From here you can press any of the four face buttons to cast a spell. You have a simple blast by just spamming R2, while adding a protective shield to block the blasts that come just by pressing triangle. All of this works together with dodge (Circle) and jump (X) to create a pretty satisfying system, although combat never works as well as it does of late, especially when more spells are unlocked.  

 The only gripe here comes from not being able to jump and cast spells at the same time, which feels like a minor oversight as it prevents too much verticality when it comes to combat.

  The ability to switch spells on the fly (even in the middle of combat) is great and adds an extra layer of strategy to the deck. You'll need to adopt this quick-thinking approach against other wizards and goblins you encounter as well, since higher level enemies have a protective charm around them unless you cast a special spell to knock the guys down.

  Each individual race (spiders, skeletons, wizards, goblins) has a decent set of enemies to contend with, with different soldier types at these ranks. For example, spiders have an aggressive matriarch with more health, spitters who keep their distance, and soldiers who shoot projectiles at you and get up close and personal. All of this helps keep things interesting, and the game cleverly mixes up different enemy types during your action and story missions to keep things from getting stagnant.

  There is a lot to do in this game and besides the main missions and side quests, Hogwarts Legacy has many collectibles. There are more than 1,000 to be exact, and each one aims to upgrade your equipment or unlock additional gifts via the “Challenge” section of the menu. This aforementioned equipment is an essential part of the game and is both a strength and a weakness of Hogwart Legacy. Considering how much time you'll spend customizing your character's appearance, it's disappointing to find this score 5-10 hours into the game when you're decked out in big wizard hats, sunglasses, and giant scarves to boost your stats and disguise your appearance. .

  Each level gain also gives you Talent Points, and in true RPG fashion, you can use them to gain additional combat advantages, better stealth skills (which can also allow you to create a Petrificus Totalus), and better skills in the Room of Requirement.

For anyone familiar with the Harry Potter franchise, the Room of Requirement is a Hogwarts dream place to help you hone your skills, and comes with some Transformative magic that will allow you to grow potions, plants, and even animals using special tables or containers. . Each of these takes some time to unlock the story, taking around 15-25 hours to complete. That's only if you're going to focus on the story.

  If you detour, explore the basics, and try to collect everything, you're probably looking at upwards of 70-80 hours. It's a big game, but the open-world trappings show up here too, and can be a little tiring, especially as you near the end of the game.

  All the usual open-world suspects are here, including unlocking fast travel points, clearing out bandit camps, completing treasure hunts, and completing trials of Merlin that work to test your magical skills. Honestly, it's not worth doing near the end of the game when you unlock most of your spells.

 

 Hogwarts Legacy tries to add more layers to the established heritage, with plenty of nods to other characters from the books when you encounter early human ancestors like the Weasleys or the Slytherin clan. There are also three main side quests for each house with separate, long-running storylines for classmates. This work works to further flesh out your supporting cast and provides some of the best material. A personal favorite comes from the Slytherin missions, but I won't spoil what happens here. This is definitely not a side quest you should miss!

  I've said before that there's a lot of diversity in this game, and Hogwarts Legacy really embraces that idea of ​​community and togetherness. The only part of it that shakes up the experience is the gameplay lore surrounding the nighttime activity.

  Given that Hogwarts Legacy has multiple curfews and students can't be caught by teachers wandering the corridors or after dark, you can inevitably venture deep into the Forbidden Forest. and even flying around the grounds with your broom breaks the illusion of being a real student. This is especially apparent when you collect Demiguise Statues (another collectible) during a mission halfway through the game and your character is worried about being caught in bed.  

 There are plenty of easter eggs here, not to mention a vast world full of secrets and plenty of activities to keep you playing long after the main quest is over. Combat is pretty fun, especially when you can mix and match spells, and you can tell you put a lot of thought and care into it.

  Hogwarts Legacy isn't the best open-world game on the market, but it's an incredibly polished experience and the perfect thrill for Potter fans.