Hogwarts Legacy

The game that Wizarding World fans have waited for. Finally, you can experience an open world game that keeps you hooked for hours.

I enjoyed the story a lot - I will not spoiler here, so I am just going to say that it was exciting. I also liked the relationship stories as well, with Sebastian's clearly standing out. The side missions were fine as well.

What I loved is the amount of detail that you will find while going and exploring through Hogwarts Legacy. So much lore, so many collectibles - if you are into that, then you will find yourself having countless hours of fun.

But even if you are not a big fan of the books and movies, you will enjoy your time in this game. It is positively one of the better open world games.

It feels like I've been waiting for this game for more than 20 years. I was ready for it since I read the first books as a child, but technology wasn't ready at the time.

I will not spoil anything, the story is more than decent though nothing extraordinary. However that matters very little. All that matters is that you get to live out your fantasy of attending Hogwarts and practicing magic!

All the locations, be it Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest and the surrounding countryside feel alive in a way you can't even imagine! Through many segments, I was honestly smiling like a small boy out of sheer joy and I'm a grown man. Simply put, if you too have enjoyed the wizarding world, then do not miss out on this experience!

PS: Only reasons I gave it 9 stars and not 10 are because the facial expressions could use a little more work and mainly because Quidditch is missing. If they add that in a dlc, we are talking the perfect game!

I'm currently 25 hours into the early-access stage of the game and it's fair to say that this game is incredible. Despite not having received a day one patch yet, I have barely encountered any major bugs or issues that caused my immersion to fade away.

I'm slightly biased when it comes to open world RPG's games with plenty of customization and exploration options, but nonetheless that genre is easy to get wrong. I'm happy to say that 'Hogwarts Legacy' got it right. I also get huge "Elden Ring" vibes but with a sweet and cosy swing to it. Obviously the duels and enemy encounters aren't as difficult (at least not at the point I've reached), but they feel uniquely similar which is cool.

The world design is breathtaking. Every time I'm looking at Hogwarts or another beautiful landmark, I find myself taking a screenshot and uploading it to my Steam account. The graphics are butter smooth and well optimized, which makes this game a joy to play - even on a somewhat mid-range PC like I have myself.

Some spaces in the open world are certainly empty, but there is still so much to do. I'm quite overwhelmed by how many different side-quests and places I can visit. There is so much lore to dive into and characters to meet. I don't think I'll ever run out of adventurous fun.

The combat features are brilliant and don't get tiring for me, at least not yet. With the regular introduction of new spells and ancient magic, you constantly have the ability to create unique combos and make each duel feel somewhat authentic. Flying on a broom or magical creature feels very smooth as well, I can tell they really optimized this feature. Perhaps it is because I play with a controller.

I'm also glad they created an original soundtrack with a touch of the original theme of Harry Potter. Anyhow, I can probably say a lot more but that would transform this review into a novel. There is simply just so much to do, it's insane! So far, game of the year for me. I can't wait for more patches and updates that make this journey even longer. Well done!

Hogwarts Legacy was an incredible game that lived up to the hype. From the moment I loaded it up, I felt like I had been transported into a magical world of adventure and exploration. The graphics were stunningly realistic and brought Hogwarts to life in ways that no other game has ever achieved before. Every mission felt unique as you encountered new challenges while exploring this captivating world filled with secrets and surprises around every corner.

The gameplay was also top-notch, allowing players to customize their character's abilities in order to find success during battles or puzzles they may encounter during their journey through Hogwarts Legacy's story mode campaign missions or side quests. The controls were intuitive enough for even novice gamers, yet still provided some challenges for veterans who wanted a bit more depth out of the experience when playing on higher difficulty levels.

Unfortunately, though there is one glaring issue with this otherwise masterful title - its lack of online features such as co-op play or photo mode which would have made it much more enjoyable for those looking for an immersive multiplayer experience with friends from across the globe. Despite this setback however, Hogwarts Legacy remains one of my favorite games released so far in 2023 due to its beautiful visuals, engaging storyline, varied gameplay mechanics, and overall level design.

RL.

One of the biggest games to be released this year is the Harry Potter spinoff Hogwarts Legacy. It came out to some positive reviews and as a fan of the franchise, I thought I would give it a playthrough and even though it took a long time, I have finally finished the game. The premise of the game set in the late 1800, sees a new student join Hogwarts where they have access to ancient magic and must learn to harness it and stop the dark forces.

Characters This game has a main character that the gamer gets to create. I created a male wizard and used him throughout the game, I mostly played as a heroic wizard and chose the dialogue to meet with that. The character is okay, there are a few interesting things about them but I always feel with your own protagonist there isn't enough depth put into them. I never really cared that much about the lead character and the voice acting didn't help at all.

There are so many characters in this game but one in particular stands out and that is Sebastian Swallow. A member of Slytherin, he is easily the best character in this game. His story is fascinating and the voice acting is great, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with this character instead the main story.

Professor Fig is a decent mentor for the main character, he kind of drifts in and out of the game but I thought he had a fun dynamic with the main protagonist and was a nice part of the game.

But the majority of the rest of the cast aren't great, the villain Ranarok is one of the most dull that you will ever see in a video game and is barely given anything to work with. Other class mates and teachers are just pretty dull and I can't really remember any of them or their personalities. I mean they waste the great Simon Pegg who plays the headmaster but is a small part of the game and doesn't really add anything.

Main Story The main story is average at best. It sees the Goblins basically try to take over Hogwarts and steal magic. It is interesting how it looks through the past of the wizarding world and what the characters motivations are but the rest of it is dull. The main character is not interesting enough and the villain is incredibly mediocre with this being a pretty big let down that had potential to be so much better.

Side Content As I mentioned above, the Side Content involving Sebastian is the best part of the game and I really enjoyed it, it had emotion and depth to it. There were a couple of other side activities that worked as well with other students. But there was also others that were a waste of time, the usual fetch quests that seem to be in every RPG are overwhelming here and I skipped the majority of them. Plus why was there no Quidditch, it is one of the most popular thing in Harry Potter but the game creators didn't put it in the game.

Gameplay The strength of the game is that the gameplay is fantastic. It flows incredibly well and allows the player to use plenty of spells that are from the books and films. The battles are a lot of fun and taking advantage of the spells that you learn and develop over the game is really fun. It is where the game thrives and I am happy that they really invested time into making this part a real highlight.

Graphics The game looks really good, it represents the Wizarding World really well. Hogwarts looks just how I imagined that it would, it nails its atmosphere very well and I really liked how the use of spells and design of characters feel natural to this universe that the game is set it.

Overall Overall, Hogwarts Legacy is a good game that does plenty of things right, especially its gameplay and graphics. But it it also fumbles on things too, I think when a game links to a film or book series it needs to have strong characters and story and for the most part this game doesn't have that. I still think it is an enjoyable game worth buying but definitely more of a desire for big fans of Harry Potter.

Rating - 7/10.