Hogwarts Legacy: A Spoiler-free review

This game hits on all thrusters, all of the time - and just keeps turning up the juice. (10/10)

Look, this game is probably as close to perfection as is possible. It’s so good, it’s one of the rare gems that defines a genre. To be clear - it has some bugs and glitches. It has some less-than-optimal force-fed pandering nonsense that when you actually contemplate - feels incredibly out of place, if not wildly inappropriate (a fully transitioned m-t-f 11-year-old in the mid-1800s who had no idea of magic when they transitioned is kind of a really dark and harrowing concept - because it implies they’re a castrated abuse victim). But look all that aside - the game overall - is phenomenal. The team that made this needs to be commended for their work - because this thing is pretty close to perfect.

Let’s get the techno-babble out of the way: Playing this on XBox Series X, with Razer Chroma controller, 4K samsung TV…yadayada…

Hogwarts, at last!

I could probably write paragraphs about the special place in my heart for this world. So it was with great trepidation that I even contemplated entering this game. (To say that the movies have let me down greatly, is an understatement…we all know they deserve to be full seasons of HBO-quality show material, with each season dedicated to one book. To relegate book 5 to the 3D pandering sideshow it was…was terrible. I digress…) So, in that context, I preordered this game expecting to be let down greatly. I wasn’t let down. I was impressed. I was captivated. This game is nothing short of magical.

Combat, movement, and well, exploration.

Its fantastical. Go where you want, do what you want. The game has certain boundaries tied to story progression - but, on the whole, this map is your oyster…and it keeps getting bigger the more you play and unlock.

The combat is fluid and once you get used to it, completely custom to however you want to fight. Sneak around and take out enemies in true stealth, or go in guns blazing, slinging curses, hexes, and jinxes. After a few hours, you’ll feel like a fully qualified ministry wizard dropping shield charms, teleporting around the battlefield and defeating foes in a variety of fantastical ways. Exploding spells, freezing spells, levitating spells, unforgivable curses, slicing spells, fire spells, ice spells…the list goes on. And it’s a fast-paced high-octane combat system. Battles are smooth - like a wizarding version of the Arkham games, but much more diverse. There are challenge arenas with waves of powerful enemies, where you’ll need to use every trick in your arsenal just to survive.

But the thing is - there’s so much to this game than just slinging spells at dark wizards and trolls (which in itself is just crazy good fun). There’s all of Hogwarts to explore and unlock mysteries in. You move smoothly everywhere…with only a few exceptions - like fast travel - there were NO LOADS. Just run around the walls of Hogwarts, step into a courtyard or outside, grab your broom and take off for…wherever. Explore the castle, the forest, the ridiculous larger-than-life countryside with Goblin mines, little towns, farms, seaside castles, mountain castles, troll lairs, dark bogs - whatever is your heart’s content. Because everything you do unlocks all kinds of upgrades and skills. And flying around on a broom is lots of fun. Rocket around close to the ground with unlimited boosts, or sail up high above everything and cross safely around the map. Dip, duck, and dive under the bridges and turrets of Hogwarts…its just a fantastic world to explore.

Upgrades

Your looks are whatever you want them to be. Anything you find, can basically be hot-swapped in appearance (once you pass the first mission in Hogsmeade). So it really doesn’t matter what gear you are wearing - you can look however you want. And upgrades…well the system works. Basically, gear you find becomes better currency than any gold you find. And as you progress challenges and complete tasks, you’ll unlock the ability to upgrade your gear and equip powerful traits to your items of clothing. Happily, resource availability isn’t really restricted either...buy it, find it, or make it.

Without spoiling too much, you get a room in the castle you get to level up and customize…a LOT. You even eventually get outdoor areas inside the room (I mean, they take “magical world” to a whole new level). And your room constantly is at work making and growing things for you. Plus there is an element of Fantastic Beasts here, where you can unlock a magical briefcase and rescue/carry around a whole menagerie in your pocket.

Graphics

This game looks GOOD. Like really good. Even better when you realize just how expansive it is - and how smooth it plays. The spells are crazy cool looking. (You can even unlock the ability to transfigure an enemy into an exploding object to throw and detonate on another enemy - all smoothly done as part of combat.) There are some skins that are recycled a bit and do feel a bit old if you’ve been crawling the map to achieve EVERYTHING, like I did. But there are literally close to a hundred different enemy skins in the game, not counting the 50 or so elite “named” enemies you encounter. The world just constantly feels alive, and everything is on point to the Wizarding World’s theme.

Plot

Look - I won’t say too much here, but your choices start to matter. The house you choose impacts your quests, and how your gear looks. It also impacts how people react to you. So do your choices (felt expressly when contemplating the dark arts). Overall, the primary plot device is still singularly threaded, but how it plays out is directly impacted by how you’ve chosen to interact with the world around you.

And, not for nothing, it’s a damn good plot. I won’t say too much, but you are in the middle of goblin rebellions, all tied around old Hogwarts and wizarding secrets. Its compelling for both avid fans or newcomers alike. For the avid fan, you’ll see house and family names you recognize, but largely the main characters/families of the modern series aren’t anywhere to be found (I’m pretty sure Dumbledore and Grindelwald haven’t even been born yet - and won’t be for several years).

Overall

Look - this game is like Fable-meets-Dragon-Age-meets-Breath-of-the-Wild-meets-Horizon - but more..and crafted in a hand-written love letter to the Wizarding World. It’s done magnificently well. For me, every time the gameplay began to feel stale, I would progress the story and it just went bigger and better.

There’s some weird boycott going out there - and I don’t want to get into that - because the bottom line is this game is a masterpiece all on its own. And the team that made this should be commended and rewarded for how well they did and how much attention to detail and love they gave to this IP. You do a disservice to gaming and entertainment in general by not giving it a shot. This is simply the best game I’ve played in a long time.