Will the Hogwarts Legacy Game Be a Spell-Binding Adventure?

The release of a video trailer for the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game has cranked up anticipation levels as we wait for the release in 2021. What do we know so far about it and what are its chances of success?

The Story So Far

We fly into Hogwarts on a carriage as the narrator talks about the possibility of being able to “shape the future of the wizarding world”. From there, the trailer shows us the famous castle and some of the dangerous characters we are going to come across, such as a dragon, a giant ogre, and a group of skeletons.

This is an open world RPG from Warner Bros and developed by Avalanche that looks like being the most immersive adventure yet to tackle the Harry Potter universe. You control a student at the wizarding college and have to fight a series of outlandish creatures and cast spells as you go.

The student that you control gets a late acceptance letter from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once you arrive, you get to customize your character and upgrade your talent for magic as you progress.

You soon see that you hold the key to discovering an ancient secret that has the power to destroy the wizarding world. Players have the choice of using their magic for good or else joining the forces of evil. Either way, they need to fight their enemies and make the right allies to advance.

No exact release date has yet been revealed, but Hogwarts Legacy looks set to come out in 2021. The game will be available for the PlayStation5, Xbox Series X, and PCs.

The Popularity of Harry Potter and Wizarding Games

Even though Harry Potter doesn’t appear to be a character in this game, it is clear that the huge appeal of the wizard is crucial to its success. With more than 500 million books sold in over 80 languages, it is the best-selling series of books in history, and he even has his own store in NYC.

This means that it is perfect for turning in a game. To date, there have been several attempts to do this and arguably the best was 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets from Electronic Arts, where players got to explore Hogwarts and unlock new spells. Another attempt, called Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery by Jam City, was reviewed here in 2018.

Another interesting title is 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, also from EA. A variety of other Harry Potter games have been brought out over the years, but the general feeling is that there is still scope for a really top-class game to become the definitive version.

The massive popularity of Harry Potter is also partly responsible for an increase in the popularity of other games based on wizards. Magicka 2 from Paradox Interactive was released in 2015. 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from Bethesda Game Studios was another big success in this genre, with magic spells forming a large part of the gameplay.

We can also see the world of wizards and witches featured in online slots on the William Hill site. These include the likes of Blue Wizard and Halloween Fortunes, with the latter taking a humorous approach to the genre with glamorous witches, black cats, and magic potions among the symbols.

Will the Game Be a Success?

The trailer for Hogwarts Legacy makes it look like a slick, well-designed affair that should appeal to a lot of fans of the books and movies. We will need to wait a little bit longer to see the first reviews of the gameplay, but first impressions are that it could be one of the best Harry Potter-inspired games yet.