Video Game Review: Hogwarts Legacy

Release Year: 2023
Reading Year: WI2023
Developer/Publisher: Avalanche Software/Portkey Games
Time to Beat: 28 Hours

Thoughts: So, this is obviously a controversial game. While that controversy has mostly died out, it is still important to make a measured decision on where your money goes. I will link a few articles that discuss the controversy and analyses so you may self-inform. My reasoning is two-fold: First, my dad plays one-two video games per year. Before Hogwarts Legacy it was Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, games I have no interest in. I want to stay connected with him and this game is the way. Second, I bought it through Humble Bundle (a charity game store), am within the targeted community, and realize there is no “right” decision concerning giving money to a bigot versus supporting a studio. Fuck J.K. Rowling and I played this game. Okay, here is the review!

As a child, I was the target age for Harry Potter. My mother read them before I could read, I saw the movies when I was still in single-digits, and read through the books front-to-back and back-to-front. While I don’t care for the franchise as an adult, it meant a lot to me and my family growing up. So, I am infused with nostalgia with this franchise. Even though I hate J.K. Rowling, I would be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t hoping to relive a bit of that magic in what has been a tumultuous half-decade. I will start with the good.

This game is gorgeous. I played on PC and was wowed every step I took. Whether in Hogwarts or out in the world. Whether walking, on a mount, or on my broom. In a cave or in an open valley. I was constantly in awe of the beauty of this world. Cut-scenes also keep pushing the envelope. Whether bleeding in and out of the game world or cinematic moments, they are all magic. Nearly as beautiful are the animations. It feels so goooooood. I adore casting spells. They have that oomph and stringing together new combos feels euphoric. There are enough talent upgrades to keep early unlock spells fresh and I enjoyed setting up multiple load outs to play around with new enemy types. Combat is very difficult starting out, but the curve certainly dive-bombs later on in the game. Lastly, flying somehow feels just how it feels to watch it as a kid in a movie. Handling is tough but the feel of it is spot on. Truly magical.

Ha ha ha. Now onto the bad.

Oh, there is so much bad about this game. As with all reviews, they are subjective. As a gamer, I enjoy story, characters, and dialogue over most other facets. I am willing to put up with janky combat (looking at you Mass Effect) if the story keeps me enticed. I never thought a Harry Potter game, which has almost 30 years of nostalgia to use, could have me skipping cut-scenes and dialogue. This is practically unheard of. Where to begin. The characters are flat. Almost laughably so. They are one-dimensional with no charisma or intrigue. Every character you meet is laughably and over-the-top nice or evil. I found that if I skip through all of the dialogue and just read the last message that I get the gist of the conversation. Dialogue choices are not help. These too are overwhelmingly binary – too good or too evil. That’s no real choice. In times where you think you are making a meaningful decision it is often overridden immediately after. And, oh god, the story. I don’t expect a “good” story from Harry Potter. I expect a magical one. Coming-of-age. Heartwarming tropes. Friendship. SOMETHING. Not only is this plot filled with plot holes, but it lacks and feel. I don’t understand, or personally disagree, with my motivation. I don’t care what happens. The silver lining here is the voice acting. Big shout-out to the voice actor for Professor Fig. Though, it always falls short due to the dialogue and story. You simply can’t save it with just voice acting. Unfortunately these shortcomings make the whole game feel smaller, less interesting, and more grueling than it needs to be. I would also be remiss to not mention the handling of “diverse” characters. Especially the token trans character. While much critique has been writing about this character, I will add a sentence or two. It feels like all dialogue written about or from these characters were passed through a PR team. It was over-the-top how the writers hit you over the head with “diverse characters are good people.” Instead of showing, they kept telling which makes for awful and unconvincing interactions. Marginalized people are complex and have faults. Our plight comes from structures and cannot be solved by our individual actions. To paint them as such is an affront to our experiences and space in video games.

In almost 30 hours, there were 3 or 4 quests that will stick with me. Ones where I felt the magic of Harry Potter. Quests that tapped into the endless pools of nostalgia this game is sitting on, but seems to only ever make shallow fan-service references to. The quest-lines with Poppy and Sebastian. Freeing mythical creatures and watching Sebastian tear himself and his family apart actually felt like there were stakes. Or that there was something in the magic of this world. What is salvageable are the in-betweens. The gameplay loop is moderately fun. As you progress you get more base-building like features. The personalization and ability to invest in potions, herbology, and beast-masters feel genuinely pleasurable and attainable.

Overall, I am disappointed in this game. Much more so than I anticipated. I just don’t think they needed to work particularly hard to give Harry Potter fans something to believe in. It feels like the game designers were top-notch and created mechanics that were fun to play with enough light RPG elements, fun transmog, and base-building to create a deeper gameplay loop than anticipated. However, it is marred at every step by a story so safe and sterile that it removes you from the fantasy of being a witch or wizard.