Hogwarts Legacy

Review

You receive a letter that says that you’ve been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student. Starting Hogwarts as a fifth-year student is very unusual and while the use of magic outside of Hogwarts is prohibited you have been given special permission by the Ministry to hone your magic under the tutelage of Professor Fig. He will then escort you from London to the Hogwarts along with all your supplies in time for the start of term feast and Sorting Ceremony.

Before the feasting and ceremony can begin, you have the option to choose if you want to be a witch or a wizard, then customize your character, give them a name, and choose the game’s difficulty. If you wish, you can select one of the preset characters on offer, or you can customise your character’s looks using the customizer, where you can choose from different Face Wear (Face Shape, Skin Colour and Glasses), Hair Styles and Colour, Complexion (Freckles, Moles and Scars and Markings), Eyes and Eyebrows and Voice.

There are four game difficulties: Story (this is focused on the story with minimal gameplay challenge), Easy (which has a light gameplay challenge), Normal (your standard balanced challenge) and Hard (where you’ll receive a demanding gameplay challenge).

The game begins with both you and Professor Fig preparing to leave London in a flying carriage. A George Osric of the Ministry joins you both.  George and Professor Fig need to talk about something, however it would be better if they spoke enroute to Hogwarts rather than in the streets of London. After setting off, Professor Fig and George talk about the Ranrok threat; while some at the Ministry think that Ranrok is not a threat, others believe that he is a great threat. George had been in contact with Professor Fig’s wife about Ranrok’s activities before she died, and she was wondering if the Ministry knew anything. However, before he could reply, her Owl delivers a mysterious item that he cannot open.

The mysterious item has a glowing ymbol which only you can, and when you handle the item it opens, revealing a key. Then suddenly the carriage is ripped in half, throwing poor George to his death. The carriage is being attacked by a dragon.  Before it attacks again, you both jump, and as you fall you grab the key which then transports you both to a mysterious cave.  It’s from here that your adventure begins...

As you make your way from the cave and explore your surroundings, you’ll start to go over some of the basics of the game. You’ll eventually find yourselves at Hogwarts, although you will now have a mystery starting to unravel. You and Professor Fig will work together trying to solve the mystery, but first you must deal with school and the Sorting Ceremony where you will find out which house you will become part of.

You will play through a day and night cycle; in the daytime you can take various classes and at night you can do what you like (at least I did, although I was told at one point to head back to the common room at night, but that’s just boring). Taking classes will allow you to learn various things, such as botany, where you can grow your own plants to be used as ingredients for potion-making ,or you can grow some plants which will help you in combat. Spellcasting, Flying and other lessons can all help you as you progress through the game.

The teachers will set you extra assignments along with the main story quests, where you could learn a new spell or unlock something else. Gaining quests isn’t solely with the teachers, your fellow students can also give you quests to complete with various rewards for completing them. You can also complete Challenges such as Time Trials on your broom where you must beat a certain time to complete and earn rewards.

You are given a Field Guide by Deputy Head Professor Weasley, anything you find will appear in this guide and there are a lot of things to find. Using Revelio will reveal what is hidden, allowing you to collect the field guides. In the field guides you can uncover some information about what you have discovered.

Away from Hogwarts in the surrounding area you’ll find Hogsmeade, where you can buy items for potions and their ingredients, brooms, clothes etcetera. You can also sell any items here with any of the vendors.  You can find traders also out in the small hamlets which are dotted around Hogwarts surroundings. You can find areas of interest on your map and once you have visited an area and unlocked the Floo Flames Network so you can fast travel back and forth at any time you wish. To begin with you only have your legs to travel from one place to another, however, as you progress you will acquire a broom and later a flying mount, which are great, but not as fast as using the floo flames network.

Combat consists of you using what you have learnt.  You have a basic attack, but that’s not going to do you much good on its own. You will learn offensive and defensive spells, but you will also have at your disposal potions and even creatures such as the Chinese Chomping Cabbage and the Mandrake. Performing combo’s using your magic and taking damage will accumulate Ancient Magic which can be used in combat and can be very helpful, especially against the tougher enemies you come across.

You can have four quick access spells slots to begin with but once you unlock Talents (Skills) you’ll be able to unlock another three tiers of four slots. In total you have twenty-three spells to unlock but you’ll only be able to select sixteen for the quick access slots. This will allow you to sort out your spells how you like as not all spells are for combat so you can have a couple tiers for combat, one for conjuring items and one for whatever. You can switch between each of the tiers as required depending on your current situation. You will earn one Talent Point for each time you level up your character. There are five categories in which you can spend your Talent Points,;these are Spells, Dark Arts, Core, Stealth and Room of Requirements.

Out in the open world along with the Hamlets you will find some Merlin Trials.  These are some simple puzzles to complete and in doing so they will increase the size of your gear inventory. You find gear in chests, and you can also buy gear from shops or traders. The gear you collect will add protection and bonuses to your defence and attacking abilities, although to use some of them you may need to be at a certain level before being able to equip the gear to your character. You gain levels through collection of experience points as you defeat enemies and complete quests. The gear also comes in various rarities, and some can be upgraded with abilities.

There are also other places of interest and you should keep an eye out for caves with hidden loot. I was on one of my scouting trips when I found this cave system. I discovered a few knick-knacks and then I found this big empty room.  Well, it looked empty from above, but when I found the entrance and slid down this ramp, I was suddenly face to face with a butt ugly troll who didn’t take kindly to me entering their place without bringing a bottle of plonk. So, I got my botty spanked good and proper by this troll about twice my level, but don’t let this put you off from exploring as you never know what you’re going to find.

In Hogwarts you will eventually get your very own room, the Room of Requirements. You’ll be able to furnish it as you like with such things as potion brewing tables (so that you can brew your own potions), and potting tables so you can grow ingredients or plants like the Chinese Chomping Cabbage. You can also place rugs, chairs, paintings and a whole lot of other items and furnishings to create your own custom place.

In the settings there are various options for Display, Graphics, Sound. Gameplay, Controls (gamepad), PC Controls, Accessibility and User Interface.

I’ve really enjoyed playing Hogwarts Legacy.  The story so far is good, and I’ve enjoyed exploring everywhere looking for secrets. There’s plenty of quests to do and puzzles to complete. The combat is quite good also and can be challenging at times but still enjoyable.

The graphics in the game are fantastic and while I’ve heard that some people have had troubles with stuttering in the game, I haven’t had any such problems. I’ve been running the game with everything set to Ultra, no Raytracing on a resolution of 2560x1440.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com

Hogwarts Legacy Steam Store Page