Hogwarts Legacy was a game I approached skeptically and with a lot of nervously excited apprehension. To Preface: I will acknowledge that I have read the entire series Of Harry Potter books by JK Rowling- excluding the spinoff stories, as I like to call them- from The Sorcerer’s Stone to The Deathly Hallows, at least once (or twice). I will not hide my excitement at the thought of immersing in the world of the books, and movies, of a series I literally grew to young adulthood and beyond with. The nostalgia is strong, but this is the world of Video Games; not books and movies. Salivating over Lore tidbits, gorgeous digital landscapes, masterful feats of world design, and flashy wand handles is only the icing on what needs be a solid foundation of fun and engaging gameplay; which invariably everyone will have a different opinion on. I myself am jumping into 1800s Britain after conquering Elden Ring and beginning the long slog of bashing my head against Dark Souls: Remastered; so when I say “Hogwarts: Legacy is following a hard act” those of you who have ascended to the level of enjoying souls-likes and having it ruin every other gaming experience ever again for you might piece together what I mean by “nervously excited apprehension”. I feel like my tastes have changed- like I am looking at these huge releases with a finer and more critical eye than ever (you’re 33 Speaker) sheesh- when am I gonna grow up? Hopefully never. So this review will save the gushing of a long-time fan and avoid using the phrase “The Game Harry Potter fans have been waiting for” as much as possible to provide you with a cool and objective look at the value you get for giving Avalanche games your money (what have they made again? Are they Nascent?) First off, most gamers may be disappointed to know that you can’t utterly explode every living thing you see; only the ugly magical ones. The other less magical forest dwelling creatures with the cute faces are under the strict protection of the game engine and have god mode. The force of my spells should be literally popping the seagulls I aimed at out of the sky, but alas my basic casts and even more advanced damage spells, will pass right through. Alright yes yes Harry Potter game blah blah blah. I should’ve known I can’t burst a Puffskein like a furry little meat balloon, but I still held out hope. Moving On! On Gameplay I have heard a few people compare the combat of Hogwarts Legacy to the combat of Forspoken, and while I see some similarities in HUD design and layout, the feel is vastly different. The parkour-magic-shooter feel of Forspoken contrasts to Hogwarts legacy in a peculiar way. Movement is more on the level of stealth/adventure games while combat is a push and pull tug-of-war-of-attrition. I would almost hazard to say the combat has more in common with World of Tanks than Forspoken, a game whose demo I just couldn’t get past. You start the game with only a basic cast, the essential equivalent of having a glowing red pool noodle to slap your enemies mercilessly packaged up in a neat, spammy and satisfying 4 hit combo. In the course of the games introduction you are granted more utilitarian spells such as Lumos and Revelio- a spell that is essential to revealing the many hidden secrets throughout the world, and discovering loot- but more on that later. The games pace throughout this extended tutorial varies wildly from absolute insane action movie to intriguing mystery to a few tepid bits where I could only roll my eyes at a few choice dialogue lines that amounted to generically setting up the overarching plot of “There’s a big mystery at Hogwarts”- but that changes dramatically when our hero actually arrives at school. The story progresses and more utility and combat spells do become available including charms such as Leviosio and Accio that serve both combat and utility. An unsanctioned dueling club allows you the chance to learn certain multi hit combo’s which generate mana for “Ancient Magic” a sort of ultimate ability with entertaining animations that can turn the tide of a fight quickly by eliminating combatants from the field more swiftly. I have not mastered the art of the duel yet, but it is challenging especially in duels where you are outnumbered by multiple Beasts or Wizards. The Games answer to this is the Protego spell, a button you push when a weird gold spidey-sense appears around the player characters head to block incoming projectiles and fairy dust. Occasionally that spidey-sense-aura-thing glows red and that’s your cue to mash the dodge roll button lest you be seasoned with a particularly spicy dose of fairy dust that can’t be blocked with Protego. All in all, combat can feel a bit chaotic at times; I hardly found the time to cast the basic pool noodle combo let alone a ten cast combo with utility spells before some other beastie decide to gobble my balls off leading me to dodge directly into another baddie going for my eyes; not to mention the asinine targeting that after coming off of a souls-like is utterly infuriating. The camera follow is off-putting as well: I read some people on Reddit had come up with a solution that makes this and combat better by adjusting the in game settings but I have yet to attempt any such fiddling. On the whole I can see a way in which the right spells could provide a strange synergy to this wibbly-wobbly wand waving, but the combat and path to mastering it could be a turn off to many. Gear is functional: higher level gear pieces add defense and offense bonuses to your character Hats cloaks base clothing and of course- glasses- offer bonuses and modification slots to increase those bonuses, the typical spread of green to yellow gear tier system is neither revolutionary or groundbreaking but the choice to offer full and universal Transmogrification to all gear is a welcome feature. Reader- I cannot tell you how many times I have loathed playing a game and having to switch to an ugly as -blam!- piece of gear just to increase my item level. Letting me look the way I want while still being able to benefit from the stats of an ugly new gear piece is splendid and makes me feel spoiled. The game also offers the options to grow herbs and brew potions including the vital Wiggenwald potion, something I never seem to have enough of. Herbology amounts to Ronco Series rotisserie oven, “set it and forget it” as sitting and watching herbs grow- while possible- does not interest me in the least. Potion brewing is quicker and relies on your player possessing the appropriate ingredients that can be grown, found in the world or bought from certain vendors. These two activities feel more like chores than anything really engaging as the loop amounts to find materials, put them in a pot and wait 10 secs for a potion to brew or 10 minutes for a plant to grow. In general this side of the game- specifically potion making, missed an opportunity to be more hands on, or at the very least more interesting. The game is filled with collectibles that grant your player XP to level up. You also gain XP from solving puzzles, completing quests and defeating enemies. Level does seem to have an effect on your ability to defeat combatants and avoid damage and certain gear items will only be equippable once you’ve reached the prerequisite level. That being said; the RPG mechanics are a bit odd. I came to a point in this game where I had progressed along the main story and suddenly I was facing enemies that were 7 levels above my own, the game went from fun and challenging to the equivalent of smacking my face into wall multiple times in a row. The game expects you to spend more time finding secrets and solving puzzles and side-quests, rather than charging headlong through the story, a forgivable choice in terms of user experience but frustrating when you fall into the trap of getting too far ahead for your own good. Having to stop and grind up levels was a break in the action, and the average gamer might see it as an annoying diversion from the rest of the story. In terms of story, writing is a subjective matter and different people enjoy different things, There were definitely lines and sections of this game in the first few hours that felt well written and interesting, and a few times when the dialogue seemed shoved in; perhaps to meet a deadline- naughty naughty, writers. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I will just say, its got a lot of characters that talk like they were written as game NPC’s, just some of the things they say- no one talks like that. And I know blah blah blah- video game yadda yadda- I don’t care- demand better, sheeple. All of these criticisms are but details; the overall experience of Hogwarts Legacy is excellent. The world design, the goofy looking characters- peeves the poltergeist. I love Peeves the Poltergeist. The world is continuously populated, with loading times being very short- remember when you had to open a door in old resident evil games, yea the player character most of the time just whips those open in Hogwarts legacy and now you’re in a huge whole other part of the castle- barely took a second to load. Not to mention the world is big; there is going to be a point in this game where it will just make more sense to get on a broom and fly to Hogsmeade rather than walking like a peasant. The developers at Avalanche really have a product with endless potential here, only a few nagging things hold it back, and if this is the idea upon which they build- and I mean actually build, not turn out endless shitty sequels for- then they might really be onto something special. Rating: 7/10- Harry Potter fans will lose their -blam!-, and the game will draw you in. Blemished, but not unplayable; some mechanics are meh. Going back to playing it now.