Hogwarts Legacy

 PlayStation 5
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3361 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,798 out of 3361
  2. Mixed: 286 out of 3361
  3. Negative: 277 out of 3361
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  1. agent13
    Jun 11, 2023
    7
    Hogwarts Legacy could be one of the best games ever made but it wastes most of its potential by bad gameplay decisions and a bland story, as a harry potter fan i couldn't wait to play hogwarts legacy the game at least looks like a dream came true you can create a student and start exploring the unexpectedly huge but kinda lifeless world of hogwarts and its vicinity the graphics lookHogwarts Legacy could be one of the best games ever made but it wastes most of its potential by bad gameplay decisions and a bland story, as a harry potter fan i couldn't wait to play hogwarts legacy the game at least looks like a dream came true you can create a student and start exploring the unexpectedly huge but kinda lifeless world of hogwarts and its vicinity the graphics look amazing and the environments look breathtaking. However even though the game starts with a rather exciting plot, the story and the narration starts to become boring with bland charachters and tedious quests.
    the biggest problem with the game's gameplay is requiring you to reach a certain level or do some extremely confusing stuff or find a scarce item to unlock a quest!!! but I often couldn't understand how to even progress in the game which makes the game a tedious chore. 6.75/10    … Expand
  2. benprofessional
    May 22, 2023
    7
    Decent game, but have a lot of bugs and feels a bit cardboard like ubisoft games, overrated 100%.
    Combat system is decent, story is boring,overall activities like planting seeds and potion craft feels like a mobile game :D, graphics are okay.
  3. pmrooter
    Mar 5, 2023
    7
    The first 10-15 hours fascinate and enchant. But after you feel more and more of routine, repetitiveness and Ubisoft-like open world gameplay.

    It's so sad that they put so much heart into Hogwarts, and then you spend most of the game fighting 4 different enemy types in 2 different dungeon types outside the castle or doing dozens and dozens of boring trials, or switch to the side quests,    The first 10-15 hours fascinate and enchant. But after you feel more and more of routine, repetitiveness and Ubisoft-like open world gameplay.

    It's so sad that they put so much heart into Hogwarts, and then you spend most of the game fighting 4 different enemy types in 2 different dungeon types outside the castle or doing dozens and dozens of boring trials, or switch to the side quests, but most of them quite mediocre too.

    However, the main story is almost meaningless and your friend's quests turn out to be the most interesting and plot-deep things in Hogwarts Legacy than this whole "epic" around ancient magic.

    The most annoying thing for me (and I wonder why practically no one mention this), it's how empty our protagonist is. He has absolutely zero backstory. How he got here, where he was before, who he is, etc.

    Even Mary Sue Aloy from Horizon has her origins, her upbringing history and still feels like more or less a living person.

    On the other side, our protagonist from Hogwarts Legacy is just a dummy, a mannequin for wearing different robes, doing other people's errands and listening to other people's stories.    … Expand
  4. jcvandan
    Mar 9, 2023
    5
    The devs have obviously put a lot of care and love into the recreation of Hogwarts. The music/graphics and environmental details around the world are absolutely great and in the first few hours it gave me the same sort of cosiness I got from the movies when I was a teenager.

    However, the same care has not gone into the gameplay design. They've basically just cribbed gameplay systems    The devs have obviously put a lot of care and love into the recreation of Hogwarts. The music/graphics and environmental details around the world are absolutely great and in the first few hours it gave me the same sort of cosiness I got from the movies when I was a teenager.

    However, the same care has not gone into the gameplay design. They've basically just cribbed gameplay systems from many other games and slapped them all together. Not only that, they have taken what I consider the worst most hand-holdey aspects of game design. It's like they think the players are total morons. A perfect example of this was when I was asked to solve a 'puzzle' which was a blank picture frame on the wall. I spoke to the NPC who told me the exact spell to cast on the picture, which revealed a scene of a place in Hogwarts that you obviously needed to find. "Nice I thought, I'll keep an eye out for that when I'm wandering" and took a screenshot. But no...it immediately gave me a quest marker to the place I needed to find, which was about 10 second walk away. Incredibly poor game design.

    The rest of the game is like this, it requires no thought or effort and even when doing main quests you tend to just be following a quest marker to the next spot which is literally a 2 minute walk down a linear corridor. It's such a strange decision to think players are so stupid and can't figure anything out themselves.

    Also, the voice acting and writing is absolutely god-awful. Watching the character interactions is like watching an episode of Love on the Spectrum minus all the heart and humour.

    I think this would be a great game for people who really love Potter and also don't play many video games but for everyone else, stay the hell away.    … Expand
  5. Wezers
    Feb 12, 2023
    6
    The gameplay itself is good exploring hogwarts and the surrounding area is great fun. But it is a bit of a woke fest. according to this game half the population of scotland is black asian ore alphabet, the writing is mostley sub par and the sound track is terrible, why they didnt use any of the music from the original movies is mental in my book. This could easily be better with a decentThe gameplay itself is good exploring hogwarts and the surrounding area is great fun. But it is a bit of a woke fest. according to this game half the population of scotland is black asian ore alphabet, the writing is mostley sub par and the sound track is terrible, why they didnt use any of the music from the original movies is mental in my book. This could easily be better with a decent soundtrack and zero forced diversity.… Expand
  6. ZekotTheHunter
    Feb 14, 2023
    6
    Sorry if my english is bad it's not my first language,that being said Hogwarts legacy is a good game but the hype is too much,the game has a lot of elements mising for a 2023 triple A title,like the interaction with cups or food is horrible,the character doesn't even hold the damn thing,you can't sit on anything(bench,bed,chair) but they give you the option to createa lot of them(why evenSorry if my english is bad it's not my first language,that being said Hogwarts legacy is a good game but the hype is too much,the game has a lot of elements mising for a 2023 triple A title,like the interaction with cups or food is horrible,the character doesn't even hold the damn thing,you can't sit on anything(bench,bed,chair) but they give you the option to createa lot of them(why even bother?),the facial animation and movement it's bad for 90% of the characters,the way your character moves his hands and body in some cutscenes is rather cringe and misplaced,the interactions with npcs lacks emotion and you can't relate with any of them,at some point in the story i got a npc showing up from nowhere and talking with me like se knew eachother from the start. The story is not bad,just average,nothing new or wow. The combat is nice the spells feel good and even if they are just a few they are enough to make you have a lot of fun. What i liked are the puzzles,they are rather fun to solve but after a while i got bored,there are to many and feel repetitive,the collectibles om the other hand where not fun to gather and there are way to many even if the game is open world. The RPG part is rather dissapointing,not even 1 choice you make changes something in the game,none. While the customization of your character is fun the item element is bad,very bad,the game doesn't make the iteme feel like they matter very much,or at all and the fact they make you complete a lot of puzzles and dungeons and stuff for verry little reward or any makes the adventuri element rather empty. The world is big, rather too big for the content they provide but is fun to Fly in your broom ore therestral to see it even if the graphics are not that wow like some people ar trying to tell. The last thing i want to say are the bugs,it has some anoying bugs,i got stuck in more the one mission because the npc wont spawn or because i got stuck in the wall,i even got stuck in the ball form when you dodge. Sometimes the textures are blurry or they don't load properly. In the end the game is good and fun to play but it's not something amazing or spectacular and especially not for a 2023 game. For me it's a 6.5/10 if you are a Harry Potter fan it might be even higher for you,i'm not a huge fan of the films/books but i liked the concept and the idea this beeing the reason i brought the game. After 35 hours and finishing the main story and the important side quest and reaching lvl 35 i can't really say it was worth buying the deluxe edtion.… Expand
  7. Sorredlog
    Feb 10, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Hogwarts has nothing new to offer. The graphics and magic are the only regent point of this badly exploited work. Trivial dialogues, trivial missions, enemies all the same and never interesting to face. Each dungeon contains a massive chest that only holds a pair of glasses or a scarf, pretty ridiculous. In the dialogues they talk too much and unnecessarily, forcing you to follow a path of a good person, taking away the player's possibility of creating a bad character. The idea is excellent but as always it is developed to please as many fans as possible, leaving out a good script and good characters.… Expand
  8. sonsofanarchy
    Feb 9, 2023
    5
    JUST OMG..graphic is awesome... i think i fell in love this game..so smooth so realistic and so good thank you...
  9. InnerBear
    Mar 31, 2023
    6
    Pros: Great design and sound. Visually, the game is stunning. Mechanics are OK, nothing outstanding, but solid. Spell layout system is pretty intuitive and easy to get into and there are quite a few spells that allow you to change up your strategy.

    Cons: The main story is pretty generic and devoid of any surprise. The game itself is incredibly easy, even for a casual gamer. Doesn't have    Pros: Great design and sound. Visually, the game is stunning. Mechanics are OK, nothing outstanding, but solid. Spell layout system is pretty intuitive and easy to get into and there are quite a few spells that allow you to change up your strategy.

    Cons: The main story is pretty generic and devoid of any surprise. The game itself is incredibly easy, even for a casual gamer. Doesn't have to be Dead Souls level of difficulty, but come on, give us a bit of a challenge at least. Character development is awful, the devs were so bent on completing the diversity bingo card that they forgot to give us any reason to care about the characters. Missions are generic and get boring after the initial 10-15 hours of play, you just go through motions, fighting the same enemies over and over. Upgrade and progression model is laughable in 2023, removes any incentive to explore the vast world they created. There is no morality to the game, your choices don't affect anything and the game goes on in a single predetermined direction. I used unforgivable curses in front of professors and they didn't so much as bat an eyelid despite the severity of this actually being discussed in the game.

    Overall, it's a fun game for fans of the lore, but you'll find yourself wondering why you're still playing it after the initial shine wears off. Plenty of other open world games that can grip and hold your interest for way longer.    … Expand
  10. Yescun
    Feb 12, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Vraiment déçu, le potentiel de ce jeux est pourtant incroyable ! Étant un fan de l'univers d'Harry Potter j'ai trouvé Poudlard incroyable ! Visiter le chateau, se promener dans ses couloirs et découvrir ses mystères est tout simplement dingue, l'ambiance est folle et c'est un pur bonheur.

    Cependant j'ai beaucoup de mal à trouver d'autres points positifs au jeu, techniquement en retard pour un jeu qui sort en 2023. La navigation dans les menus est une purge, tellement lente avec un curseur libre à déplacer au joystick et des temps de chargement vraiment pénibles.

    La conduite au balais nécessitant 2 joystick n'est absolument pas instinctive à mon sens et empêche de fait l'utilisation du joystick de droite pour profiter librement de la caméra, et il est impossible de le modifier pour une utilisation classique (joystick de gauche pour se diriger et celui de droite pour la caméra). Cette configuration n'a pour moi aucun sens et me frustre beaucoup.

    En parlant de frustration le système de potion avec son cooldown digne d'un jeu de smartphone m'a également saoulé, ainsi que les missions principales et quêtes annexes que j'ai trouvé pour la pluspart sympathiques... mais sans plus.

    Il y aurait eu moyen de faire tellement mieux, mais au lieu de ca on est tenu par la main du début à la fin du jeu, allant de missions tuto en missions tuto.
    Seule l'exploration de ce monde et la découverte et résolution de ses énigmes a été pour moi source de plaisirs.    … Expand
  11. SebboBastian
    Jul 11, 2023
    5
    One more dull but beautiful open world game. A world filled with copy paste fetch side quests with super boring and anticlimax rewards, might as well be one more ubisoft game.
    Fun combat! Lovely detailed assets and textures. But, why so flat and basic? Why always so flat and basic when it comes to all these open world games. Missing all soul and love.
  12. DrownedLiberty
    May 16, 2023
    5
    The game is highly overrated. It's nothing special - gameplay is repetitive, the world is empty, the dungeons/caves are copy pasted, the story is meh, the graphics are nothing special. I spent 80+ hours into the game. HL has the worst volumetric fog implementation I've ever seen - it's complete garbage. The devs repeatedly lied about fixing it. If you're a HP fan, go for it but when it'sThe game is highly overrated. It's nothing special - gameplay is repetitive, the world is empty, the dungeons/caves are copy pasted, the story is meh, the graphics are nothing special. I spent 80+ hours into the game. HL has the worst volumetric fog implementation I've ever seen - it's complete garbage. The devs repeatedly lied about fixing it. If you're a HP fan, go for it but when it's on sale. It's not worth the full price.… Expand
  13. AigleAveugle
    Jun 7, 2023
    5
    Great aesthetics, graphics, music, torque and animation. Side-quests, characters and exploration is boring.
    Great game for a 14 years old who never played an open world I guess, but this is plain, soulles like other Ubisoft games. Disappointed, even the story is meh.

    Collage for Harry Potter fans, cash-grab for the uneducated player...
  14. Boomcio
    Feb 12, 2023
    7
    Jest to z pewnością najlepszy Potter jakiego dostaliśmy,jednak nie jest to gra na 10tke.
    + Piękny zamek
    +Pokój życzeń +Latanie na miotle i wierzchowcach + Walka. +Eksploracja - Nudna fabuła wątku głównego (Niestety gra nie może dostać wyżej oceny przy tak słabym scenariuszu, fabuła jest raczej tłem do ekslorowania świata) - Zadania poboczne to zwykłe fedexy, przynieś    Jest to z pewnością najlepszy Potter jakiego dostaliśmy,jednak nie jest to gra na 10tke.
    + Piękny zamek
    +Pokój życzeń
    +Latanie na miotle i wierzchowcach
    + Walka.
    +Eksploracja
    - Nudna fabuła wątku głównego (Niestety gra nie może dostać wyżej oceny przy tak słabym scenariuszu, fabuła jest raczej tłem do ekslorowania świata)
    - Zadania poboczne to zwykłe fedexy, przynieś podaj,pozamiataj,questy powinny być ciekawe jak w wiedzmin 3.Niektóre lekcje zamiast bawić gracza to są pokazywane w postaci catscenki,chyba po to by npc się dobrze bawił a nie gracz.
    -Brak Polskiego Dubbingu, to Jest HP,który zawsze był zdubbingowany jak zwykle wydawca Cenega.... bez komentarza.
    -Brak mini gier jak szachy czarodziejów, kulki pod tym względem HP zakon feniksa był bardziej rozbudowany.    … Expand
  15. royalguy07
    Feb 21, 2023
    5
    Hogwarts Legacy is a decent open world game. Its main merit is for Potter fans who will love to fly around with Hogwarts in the distance and explore the castle itself which is extremely well designed. It does absolutely nothing inventive or innovative with its source topic. There are no new spells, creatures, locations etc. You would think that maybe wizardry would have evolved over theHogwarts Legacy is a decent open world game. Its main merit is for Potter fans who will love to fly around with Hogwarts in the distance and explore the castle itself which is extremely well designed. It does absolutely nothing inventive or innovative with its source topic. There are no new spells, creatures, locations etc. You would think that maybe wizardry would have evolved over the 200 years between this and the source material but not at all. The school element of the story disappears halfway through the game. It is a pretty shameless nostalgia bait with mid level combat and narrative.

    The decisions you make have no impact on your story or the story of those around you. You can be as big of a dick as you want, you can use unforgivable curses in front of students and teachers and nobody cares. You can state you want to wield the unknown power at the end of the game and rule, and then just nothing happens or comes of it. The ending and final quest in Hogwarts rip off multiple book endings in one go.

    Playing on the PS5 I was littered with screen tearing and framerate issues, particularly in the later areas of the game.    … Expand
  16. Noxinthematrixx
    Feb 21, 2023
    5
    The game was a 10/10 in the first 10ish hours. That is when my imagination and hopes for the potential of the game were still intact. Everything looked beautiful, the visuals are top tier, incredible. And the music is just perfect. And so.. I hoped the story would captivate me, it did not. As I kept playing I noticed the game has no SOUL. It doesent make me feel anything. Not like aThe game was a 10/10 in the first 10ish hours. That is when my imagination and hopes for the potential of the game were still intact. Everything looked beautiful, the visuals are top tier, incredible. And the music is just perfect. And so.. I hoped the story would captivate me, it did not. As I kept playing I noticed the game has no SOUL. It doesent make me feel anything. Not like a student of hogwarts at least. You just do some mediocre combat and alot of fetch quests. The writing of this game is just trash, and for someone who waited years to play this, I'm very disappointed. I started skipping dialogue after a while. I don't even know why I'm playing it still to be honest. It's pretty. Flying is awesome. But the gameplay is lame. You cannot interact with anyone. There is no morality system. You can't be bad, you can't be good, and you have no personality. Students don't act like students, they all act like stuck up goodie goodies. I hate it. This game does not have the fun, wonder, DARKNESS and grit of the Harry Potter series. Most importantly it doesent make me FEEL anything. I'm sad and disappointed in this game. Looks cool though, but as the saying goes: looks are not everything.… Expand
  17. PapalPenguin
    Feb 11, 2023
    5
    I’m right now at level 21 and been playing so much that I spent most of my last two days off playing the game nonstop!
  18. Petyunya
    Feb 12, 2023
    7
    I honestly don't get why this game has so much hype. I'm ok wit the story about "ancient magic" and "the chosen one", i mean even kotor has similar themes, but everything else in storytelling aspect is really poor. These sidequests "collect this" or "bring this **** to me" are so dumb, characters are pretty shallow, eager to tel everything about themselfs because... because) Some gameplayI honestly don't get why this game has so much hype. I'm ok wit the story about "ancient magic" and "the chosen one", i mean even kotor has similar themes, but everything else in storytelling aspect is really poor. These sidequests "collect this" or "bring this **** to me" are so dumb, characters are pretty shallow, eager to tel everything about themselfs because... because) Some gameplay mechanics are really strange. I mean potions are literally missing "skip with emeralds" button. World is ok, i think it's the only thing that i liked actually… Expand
  19. FoamingStuff
    Feb 14, 2023
    6
    -NON political review, just the game -

    All those glowing reviews came in a matter of hours after release. I was similarly enchanted. Yes, Hogwarts looks *breath taking*. Like wow. -Checklist simulator- Sadly it didn't keep. The game is an open world checklist simulator. The idea that "people want to open menu buttons to collect things", that for whatever unfathomable reason actually    -NON political review, just the game -

    All those glowing reviews came in a matter of hours after release. I was similarly enchanted. Yes, Hogwarts looks *breath taking*. Like wow.

    -Checklist simulator-
    Sadly it didn't keep. The game is an open world checklist simulator. The idea that "people want to open menu buttons to collect things", that for whatever unfathomable reason actually finds an audience in microtransaction mobile games, is copied over so directly that at times I'm genuinely surprised it's not asking me for "diamonds" to "speed this up"; it's so sad that this is what I was reminded of. It reeks of poor game design.

    And that, at its heart, is what it is. While beautiful, that's where all the budget ended. Immersion is nowhere to be found, despite the intricate details of the castle. Classical RPG elements have been watered down so much that one can't help but wonder why they're even there. Loot - armor pieces - don't feel worth collecting with a poor itemization system, and they're the only tangible gameplay altering things to collect too. Oh a chest. Wonder what's in there? ...you guessed it, your 65th hat with no fun stats to speak of! The other collectibles ultimately all lead to those same armor rewards, and the way to get them is too similar, a string of unimaginative, repetitive tasks that bore after the third time. Move rocks from place A to B. Collect three floaty smoky things. And you get another check on your list- do it 16 more times! Now 25 more times! Add to that a sprinkle of unneeded inventory management just so it can add another "collect 95(! no exaggeration) of the same minigame across the world" to give the illusion of "something to do".

    -Combat-
    Combat. Initially fun, specifically in a more RP setting of dueling, it ended up being repetitive despite the effort to make enemies unique. Maybe it's the lack of variation in enemies. Or maybe it's because going to Hogwarts should not be about combat, let alone the main thing of the game. Anyway. You get talent points, and instead of using them in a fun way, they also gated basic quality of life behind talents, stuff that should be baseline to ensure a good player experience. As a result it just feels I'm getting cheated on my points when I can't put them in the cool places in the tree. Need to level some more first! It is yet another example of artificially padding the length of a game, the pitfall of poorly thought out open world games.

    -No character development or immersion-
    And I could have been ok with that, but it gets worse. The fantasy of Hogwarts is one where outcasts can still fit in. The escape to a magical place. Instead, I'm singled out all game. I'm a natural at flying, herbology, charms, and teachers don't hesitate to tell me again and again. Professors give me special attention, special classes, special tasks. I have a rare special power, rivaling or even one-upping Dumbelore's strength. I hate that. Let me be a Normal Student. Let me RP my way through, I can't even sleep in my own bed, I can't sit on a comfy chair in my common room, I can't talk to non-quest npcs, and the few npcs that I can interact with are bland. Spending the night is done literally on rugs waiting at the quest location. I want to do my Owls, suck at potions because I know I would, make my own friends, eat in the dining hall, and make my choices that impact the story.

    Instead I'm stuck with a lifeless character with terrible voicing, who literally murders other witches, wizards and goblins because they're... poachers? Oh and possibly a threat? Not sure, the story so far (20 hours in) is a 4/10. Despite being a RPG style game, I've about as much chance at character development as I did in Tetris.

    That's not the Hogwarts I wanted to go to.

    I feel they're trying to please too many audiences with this - the casual HP fans only used to mobile games, the Souls fans, the talent-tree fans, Assassin Creed players, the Sims players. You know what they say about Jack of all trades..... Fire Emblem, of all things, did a better job delivering on the school fantasy. Because really, that's what I firmly believe we are after with a game centered around Hogwarts School of Magic.

    -Conclusion-
    Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world checklist game made pretty. Remove the Harry Potter skin, and I'm sure the game would not have done nearly as well. Being carried by the franchise, rather than by its own merits, is a sad place to be for any game.

    That being said, on a personal note. I do love the excessive inclusivity in this game. They just went absolutely overboard and this works in representing an alternative world, of magic and wonder and love, where everyone can be how they are or who they want to be. In the world of Harry Potter, being just you, despite your past or struggles, is good enough. Shame I couldn't also be the witch I wanted to be.    … Expand
  20. VictorMenta
    Feb 22, 2023
    7
    Hogwarts Legacy no hace nada diferente que haga cualquier otro juego de mundo abierto. Las secundarias no aportan nada ni merecen la pena sus recompensas, la exploración no está lo suficientemente valorada, al tercer encuentro con los monstruos ya te sabes todos sus patrones de ataques y son todos similares,... Por lo que le pongo el 7 a este juego es por la ambientación que crea, por losHogwarts Legacy no hace nada diferente que haga cualquier otro juego de mundo abierto. Las secundarias no aportan nada ni merecen la pena sus recompensas, la exploración no está lo suficientemente valorada, al tercer encuentro con los monstruos ya te sabes todos sus patrones de ataques y son todos similares,... Por lo que le pongo el 7 a este juego es por la ambientación que crea, por los gráficos, y porque todos deseábamos un juego así del mundo de Harry Potter. Quitando los gráficos, los escenarios y esto, se queda en un juego mediocre.
    Falta el quidditch, algo de multijugador, y que dure un poco más el juego.    … Expand
  21. neurotix
    Feb 10, 2023
    5
    Game is a little bit boring very heavy and its made for everyone, its too lite
  22. Willmpdx
    Feb 11, 2023
    5
    The first few levels are boring. Going to class to learn skills is tedious at best. Was hoping it would get better once the basics are out it the way but it didn't. The open world isn't fun to explore outside main quests. Chests don't really have much interesting in them, few rewards for defeating enemies. After a big fight you get a scarf or something that's below your current level. TheThe first few levels are boring. Going to class to learn skills is tedious at best. Was hoping it would get better once the basics are out it the way but it didn't. The open world isn't fun to explore outside main quests. Chests don't really have much interesting in them, few rewards for defeating enemies. After a big fight you get a scarf or something that's below your current level. The map is awful. Gameplay is fun at first but gets old by level 20. Pick it up on sale, don't pay full price.… Expand
  23. Kojirohyuga40
    Feb 9, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Like an Ubisoft game, boring world, graphic issues, performance issues, old gen looking game but has a nice art design. .… Expand
  24. AxonYT
    Feb 9, 2023
    7
    This game is so beautiful.Good gameplay just say-must play.And of course i have already finished the game.And i wanna say this story is very bad and tyis why i gave this game 7
  25. itsoskej
    Feb 12, 2023
    5
    Hogwarts Legacy is good enough attempt of Avalanche Studio to make climatic wizard game based on books that lack enough depth and complexity to make full open world triple A game out of it.

    TLDR: The game probably is good enough for the fans of the Harry Potter series and there is no harm in enjoying art, even if questionable person is behind the pen. The main problems though, in my    Hogwarts Legacy is good enough attempt of Avalanche Studio to make climatic wizard game based on books that lack enough depth and complexity to make full open world triple A game out of it.

    TLDR: The game probably is good enough for the fans of the Harry Potter series and there is no harm in enjoying art, even if questionable person is behind the pen.
    The main problems though, in my opinion, are completely outside of the whole drama, and they will be addressed below. That includes worldbuilding, world design, interactivity, dialogue, Ubisoft open world, and fear of Warner Bros executives that the game will not be BIG enough to justify whatever original price they put on it.

    1. Worldbuilding
    The world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts Legacy has the benefit of the real world essentially creating endless possibilities to warp it and change at will fitting the fantasy world of wizards and witches endlessly trying not to bring muggles into their business. This alone should be enough to make one hell of a universe… universe that Hogwarts Legacy barely expands on, that Harry Potter movies altered to bare minimum, enough to make couple of movies out of it. The thing is, videogame is not a movie, and it requires quite a lot more work to create believable, enjoyable and well put together world that does not need explanation outside of environmental storytelling on its own.

    2. Ubisoft open world design

    Second most visible and painful problem is the checklist well known from Ubisoft productions like Assassins Creed, so called fillers that they’re giving players to sink hours into completion that has nothing of value, but cosmetics, upgrades, craftables.
    Hogwarts Legacy has quite a lot of them, and I can only assume that they were made purely to fit the popular world designs of triple A games that we were fed for past couple of years.
    Once you try any of those collectables once, all of them work pretty much the same, and there’s way more than enough of them to give you a headache, especially if you’re a completionist.
    What also stands out is that every cave has exactly the same design, every bandit camp is the same thing, and there is simply not enough unique locations to do something better with it.

    3. Dialogue

    I should put it in the first place, but considering that game with mute protagonist and NPCs that you can talk not even once to in order to complete the game, it lands on third place, just because it exists in this game and it is beyond annoying.
    Most of the characters are boring, and their dialogue is something you would see more in a parody of Harry Potter more than actual and serious game.
    Side-quest dialogue is stiff, and feels like not enough budget was put into minor background characters, while everything was pumped into cutscenes including characters vital to the main story.

    4. Speaking of side quests.

    Considering that I did not finish the game yet, and I’m probably not even halfway through it I can’t really have an opinion on main story, but so far every single side quests I completed was just a simple fetch, kill, gather quest that also feels like a filler, in addition to world design issues I stated earlier. I believe there are some quests that are interesting, but I am yet to complete them.

    5. Interactivity

    Nearly non existing.
    This one is essentially dropped from Avalanches to do list. You can spin the globe, pet the cat, have some beasts, whatever. Interactions with what matters are not there. You can get one liners from some students in the castle. Every interaction that starts the quest is something you would expect current AI robots to do. It is not believable. Characters just stand waiting for you to approach them, do your thing, come back and then never interact with them again. For a videogame following this design you would expect to find characters asking for help midway through the thing they ask you to do, not just stand and wait for their savior. If you take into consideration games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwarts Legacy is 10 steps back in terms of interactivity with the world.
    I will not mention the whole ‘choice matters’ thing, because there is no choice to nothing.

    6. World design and aesthetics

    The most important to me, certainly not to others.
    I will start by saying that designs in this game are wonderful.
    Ambience and aesthetics of the castles interior are on par with Elden Rings.
    The problem starts when you’re getting bored of the castle and you want to explore outside of it, because… there is not a lot to explore. If you take the checklist locations you’re really left with couple of places that shine the most.
    I think that while with real life locations, such as Hogwarts being in UK, worldbuilding gets the most opportunities to shine, while world design can get tricky to pull off, and you can clearly see that just flying around the map.    … Expand
  26. Blentz499
    Feb 9, 2023
    5
    The game is essentially a Ubisoft open world type game with a Harry Potter skin. It's a no way bad, but if it didn't have the Harry Potter theme a lot of the games glaring and tired issues it has with the presentation would be a lot more evident. If you're a huge Harry Potter fan, you can add a few points to this score.
  27. InvokeSymmetry
    Feb 8, 2023
    6
    Here's an actual honest review since everyone here is either heavily overrating the game or are just trying to "stick-it" to JK Rowling for her view and opinions and taking it out on the publisher.

    Firstly we need to get something out right away... graphically it is sub-par, looks like an upscaled PS4 game on PS5 and I was incredibly disappointed with this, and I tried every graphic    Here's an actual honest review since everyone here is either heavily overrating the game or are just trying to "stick-it" to JK Rowling for her view and opinions and taking it out on the publisher.

    Firstly we need to get something out right away... graphically it is sub-par, looks like an upscaled PS4 game on PS5 and I was incredibly disappointed with this, and I tried every graphic setting possible. Another jarring issue with the graphics is during cutscenes the lighting of the textures will just drastically change between camera angles on most occasions; it's just really overall not great.

    With that being said let's give a positive before getting back into it; the environment is phenomenal, and feels alive and you can tell they put a lot of work and passion into building the world.

    This is where the positives end sadly; the voice acting isn't great, and the character development is subpar as well, where I had no emotional connections to anyone whatsoever, and found the choices I made - who I fought duels with and such - didn't affect anything or grow any relationships.

    The quests are horribly repetitive and boring, it's mostly an egg hunt where you just get materials and then come back and the story is riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies.

    Overall it's a hard 6/10, where it's not the virtue-signalling 0/10 people are bombing it with and it's not the 10/10 that delusional people, ones paid off by WB, and/or the ones just trying to annoy the 0/10 bombers. I wouldn't recommend buying this game, and this is coming from a huge fan of the series, be it the books, the movies, and the universe of Fantastic Beasts.

    Thank you for listening to my TedTalk.    … Expand
  28. MisterMartins
    Feb 9, 2023
    7
    For non fans pretty average RPG.
    If you are a fan maybe an 8/10.
    Good game , just not Goty material.
  29. Niko007
    Feb 18, 2023
    6
    Really sad to see how fans will just eat anything up as long as it's their favorite franchise and then defend it till they die my question is don't you guys feel you deserve better ? This game is nothing but mediocre just development team playing with people's emotions and the sad reality is it works everytime
  30. Dominty
    Feb 11, 2023
    5
    Loving this game so much!! Really beautiful common room and the rest of the castle, fantastic storyline and great combat!
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Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2023
3
#3 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 96 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 96
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 96
  3. Negative: 0 out of 96
  1. Movies Games and Tech
    Jul 31, 2024
    85
    Hogwarts Legacy has a great character design and could have had a great story too but the story is not so strong. the gameplay feels great and exploration is so entertaining. visually its great and Hogwarts castle is so detailed.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 24, 2024
    80
    Hogwarts Legacy is definitely a beautiful-looking game that doesn't have a groundbreaking story, but does have a beautiful world, a fun combat system, broomstick flying, and of course an incredible amount of side quests and missions. [Issue#325]
  3. Pocket-lint
    Jun 23, 2023
    90
    It's been a decade since we've had a full Potterverse game, but the wait has been well worth it. Hogwarts Legacy gets just about everything right, with its involving storyline and myriad of main and side quests. Perhaps its finest feature though is Hogwarts itself, providing as much joy in just exploring the halls as performing set tasks. We doubt a single Harry Potter fan will be disappointed. We certainly weren't.
    Read full review
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