Hogwarts Legacy Review: The Harry Potter Game I've Always Wanted, But Not Quite the One I Needed

I solemnly swear this game is not as good as I wanted it to be. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. Hogwarts Legacy is a good game, and there are moments when it comes remarkably close to delivering the Harry Potter experience that fans have been dreaming about for years. But after spending time exploring Hogwarts, learning spells, flying around the Wizarding World, and getting into magical duels, I came away feeling like Avalanche Software had built an excellent foundation for something special without quite figuring out how to turn it into a truly great game.

Going into Hogwarts Legacy, I was hella excited. That might honestly be an understatement. This was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and I don’t think I was alone in feeling that way. The excitement surrounding this game was palpable because Harry Potter fans had spent years hoping for a modern video game that would finally let us experience the Wizarding World on a grand scale.

We’ve had some enjoyable Harry Potter games over the years, including the LEGO adaptations, the movie tie-ins, and Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. But I don’t think the franchise had quite delivered that definitive, must-play video game experience that could stand alongside the best games based on other major entertainment properties. Think about what Batman: Arkham Asylum did for superhero games. It arrived and demonstrated that a superhero adaptation could be a genuinely excellent video game in its own right, rather than simply an entertaining way to revisit a familiar franchise. I wanted Hogwarts Legacy to do something similar for Harry Potter, and I wasn’t approaching this as someone who casually enjoyed the movies. I’m a legitimate Harry Potter fan. I’ve read the books, watched the movies multiple times, played the older games, and even spent time reading Harry Potter fanfiction. At one point, reading through the books every summer was practically a tradition. I’ve got a Harry Potter robe, and I’ve spent enough time in this universe that I’m probably about as invested as you can get without tattooing the lightning bolt on my chest.

So when Avalanche Software announced an open-world RPG that would let players create their own character, attend Hogwarts, learn magic, and explore the Wizarding World, I was ready to throw money at the screen.

The Steam description makes a pretty straightforward promise: an immersive open-world action RPG where you take control of the action and become the center of your own adventure in the Wizarding World. That is the heart of what Hogwarts Legacy is trying to accomplish. The question isn’t whether exploring Hogwarts sounds exciting. Of course it does. The question is whether the game turns that fantasy into an engaging adventure that can stand on its own, even after the initial excitement of finally getting to explore this world begins to wear off.

My answer is complicated. Hogwarts Legacy gets a remarkable number of things right. Hogwarts is beautiful, the music is wonderful, and there is a genuine thrill to walking through places you’ve previously only encountered in books and movies. But its story, repetitive gameplay, underwhelming RPG systems, and questionable handling of the franchise’s established lore prevent it from reaching the heights I was hoping for. 

This is a good Harry Potter game. I just don’t think it’s the great Harry Potter game I’ve been waiting for.

Set the Scene

One of the smartest decisions Avalanche Software made was setting Hogwarts Legacy roughly a century before Harry Potter’s story begins. Rather than forcing players into a retelling of the original saga, the game introduces an entirely new protagonist and builds an adventure around an earlier period in the Wizarding World.

You play as a student who begins attending Hogwarts as a fifth-year, an unusual situation explained by your character’s late development of magical abilities and subsequent training. Your character also possesses a rare connection to a mysterious form of ancient magic, which quickly becomes central to the larger conflict.

It’s an interesting premise because it gives the developers room to tell an original story while drawing from the familiar mythology of the franchise. You’re not constantly waiting for Harry, Ron, or Hermione to show up, and the game doesn’t need to recreate events that longtime fans already know by heart.

Instead, you get to create your own character, choose your Hogwarts house, attend classes, learn spells, meet fellow students, and establish your place in this world. You can also develop the Room of Requirement into your own personal space, complete with customization options and a collection of magical creatures. For the first several hours, the novelty of all this is genuinely wonderful.

Walking through Hogwarts is a special experience. The moving staircases, the Great Hall, the Astronomy Tower, the familiar classrooms, and the countless little details scattered throughout the castle make it feel like a place that exists beyond the boundaries of a video game level. There is a real sense of discovery in turning a corner and finding a location you recognize from the films or remember from the books.

The second-floor girls’ bathroom, for example, carries an entirely different significance when you know its connection to the events of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The castle is full of these little reminders, and the developers clearly understood that the appeal of Hogwarts isn’t simply its architecture. It’s the history and memories attached to those places.

Hogsmeade is another highlight. The charming village gives you somewhere to shop for ingredients, potions, equipment, and other supplies while reinforcing the feeling that you’re participating in everyday Wizarding World life. The surrounding landscape also offers plenty of opportunities to fly on a broomstick, discover hidden locations, and encounter magical creatures.

Visually, the game remains impressive. I played on both PC and PlayStation 5, and the presentation does a fantastic job of bringing the Wizarding World to life. The castle is particularly striking, but even the smaller details, from the architecture to the environmental decorations, help establish a sense of authenticity.

The soundtrack deserves special recognition, too. The music draws inspiration from the cinematic Harry Potter scores while allowing its own compositions to establish an identity. When the familiar musical language of the movies blends with the game’s original score, it can make an ordinary moment of exploration feel surprisingly magical.

These are the moments when Hogwarts Legacy feels like the game I always wanted. Unfortunately, a beautiful setting can only carry an experience so far. Once the initial excitement of exploring Hogwarts begins to fade, the game needs a compelling story, engaging activities, and meaningful progression to keep the adventure moving. That’s where some of its biggest problems begin to emerge.

The narrative in Hogwarts Legacy puts you at the center of a conflict involving goblin rebels led by Ranrok and dark wizards led by Victor Rookwood. Both groups have an interest in the ancient magic your character can perceive and wield, and the story gradually reveals why that ability could have significant consequences for the Wizarding World.

On paper, there’s plenty to work with here. The decision to set the game before Harry Potter’s era allows Avalanche Software to explore unfamiliar corners of the franchise without constantly running into established events. The ancient magic concept also gives the developers an opportunity to introduce something new rather than simply repeating the same conflicts we’ve already seen.

Unfortunately, I never found the main story particularly compelling. The biggest issue is the protagonist. Creating your own character is an important part of the game’s appeal, and I understand why Avalanche Software chose to let players shape their own Hogwarts experience. But that freedom comes at a cost when it comes to storytelling. Your character is central to an enormous conflict, yet the game never gives them enough of a distinct personality to make that role especially interesting.

The story wants you to feel like an ordinary student who has been thrust into extraordinary circumstances, but it also needs you to be an unusually powerful figure capable of confronting dangerous enemies and uncovering a mystery that could change the world. Those two ideas aren’t inherently incompatible, but the game struggles to make them work together.

I would have preferred a more deliberately written protagonist with a specific personality, stronger relationships, and a more defined personal journey. That might have limited some of the freedom to imagine yourself as the character, but it could have given the narrative a stronger emotional foundation.

Instead, the story often feels like a framework designed to justify the next adventure. You learn about ancient magic, investigate dangerous goblins, confront dark wizards, and gradually uncover the mystery surrounding your abilities. These events give you a reason to visit different locations and engage with the game’s combat, but they rarely reach the emotional heights I was hoping for.

The villains don’t help matters. Ranrok and Rookwood provide recognizable threats, but neither stands out as a particularly memorable antagonist. They feel more like traditional video game villains than characters with compelling motivations and personalities. I wanted a stronger sense of what made these individuals tick, why their goals mattered beyond the immediate conflict, and what made them particularly interesting figures within the Wizarding World.

Instead, the antagonists largely serve the purpose of giving the player something to fight.

This is especially disappointing because Harry Potter has always been a world where personal motivations, moral choices, and the consequences of using magic can carry significant weight. The original books are full of moments where the rules of the Wizarding World aren’t just background information; they shape the characters’ decisions and determine the consequences of their actions.

Hogwarts Legacy understands the appeal of that world, but I don’t think it consistently understands what makes its rules and mythology so important.

The biggest example is the handling of the Unforgivable Curses.

The Unforgivable Curses and a World Without Consequences

One of my biggest problems with Hogwarts Legacy is how casually it handles some of the darkest magic in the Harry Potter universe.

The game lets you learn and use the three Unforgivable Curses: Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse; Crucio, the Cruciatus Curse; and Imperio, the Imperius Curse. These aren’t just powerful spells. They’re among the most serious magical offenses in the Wizarding World, associated with murder, torture, and the violation of another person’s free will.

I’m not opposed to giving players access to these spells. In fact, I think the opportunity to explore the darker side of magic could have been one of the game’s most interesting features. The problem is that the game rarely gives those choices the weight they deserve.

In the established lore, the use of an Unforgivable Curse on another person is treated as an exceptionally serious crime, with severe legal consequences. Yet in Hogwarts Legacy, you can use these spells in combat without any meaningful systemic repercussions. The game doesn’t meaningfully react to your decision to embrace magic that should fundamentally change how other characters perceive you.

I understand that this is a video game, and I don’t expect every spell to trigger a lengthy trial or force the protagonist to spend the rest of the adventure in Azkaban. But there should be some acknowledgment that you’re doing something fundamentally different from casting a basic defensive charm.

Imagine if using an Unforgivable Curse in front of witnesses triggered an investigation. Perhaps your classmates would react differently to you. Maybe professors would confront you, certain quests would change, or the game would offer a darker path with consequences that extended beyond combat. Even a relatively simple morality system could have given these spells a greater narrative purpose.

Instead, the game lets you indulge in some of the most dangerous magic in the franchise while largely ignoring what that choice should mean. 

For a Harry Potter fan, that can be immersion-breaking. The series established rules around magic for a reason, and those rules help define the moral boundaries of its world. When the game allows you to disregard them without consequence, it weakens the sense that you’re actually inhabiting that universe. This isn’t about demanding that the game follow every detail of the books with absolute rigidity. Adaptations need room to make changes, and a video game needs to provide players with freedom to experiment. But when a game invites you to inhabit a world with such a well-established mythology, it should make an effort to respect the significance of that mythology.

I wanted Hogwarts Legacy to reward me for understanding the Wizarding World, not simply use that knowledge as a collection of references to recognize. The game occasionally feels as though it wants to have it both ways: it wants the dramatic appeal of forbidden magic while avoiding the complicated consequences that make that magic meaningful in the first place.

At its best, Hogwarts Legacy has a surprisingly entertaining combat system.

Rather than relying on a traditional sword or gun, your character fights with a wand and an assortment of spells that can be combined to manipulate, disable, launch, burn, freeze, and otherwise incapacitate enemies. You can disarm opponents with Expelliarmus, lift them into the air with Levioso, blast them backward with Depulso, and use Incendio to set them on fire. Protego provides a defensive shield, while a well-timed counter can send Stupefy back at an enemy. The fun comes from combining these abilities.

There is a satisfying rhythm to blocking an incoming attack, countering with a spell, launching an opponent into the air, and following up with another attack before they can recover. The combat has a theatrical quality that fits the source material, and the visual effects help make each spell feel distinct. For a while, I genuinely enjoyed it.

The problem is that the combat starts to feel repetitive after you’ve spent enough time with it. Many spells ultimately fall into familiar categories: push an enemy, pull an enemy, lift an enemy, freeze an enemy, or deal damage with a blast of magic. Those are useful tools, but the variety begins to feel less impressive once you’ve unlocked most of the spells and figured out the basic rhythm of combat.

I wanted more opportunities to experiment with the broader possibilities of the Harry Potter magic system. The franchise has a wealth of spells with different purposes, and I think the game could have done more to make those differences meaningful beyond the usual combat effects.

The talent system and equipment progression provide some additional options, but they don’t fundamentally change the experience. You can improve your character’s abilities and customize your approach, yet the core combat loop remains largely the same throughout the adventure.

It’s fun enough to keep you engaged for a considerable amount of time, but it doesn’t have the depth or variety to sustain that excitement indefinitely.

And that’s a recurring theme throughout Hogwarts Legacy: there is a good idea here, but the execution doesn’t always go far enough.

Life as a Hogwarts Student

One of the biggest selling points of Hogwarts Legacy is the opportunity to experience life as a Hogwarts student. You’re not simply visiting the castle as an outsider; you’re enrolled in classes, learning spells, meeting classmates, and gradually developing your magical abilities. Unfortunately, I don’t think the game fully capitalizes on that premise.

You attend classes in subjects such as Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures. These sequences introduce spells and gameplay mechanics, giving you an opportunity to learn how different aspects of magic work.

The classes are enjoyable as introductions, but I wanted them to be a more substantial part of the experience. Attending Hogwarts should feel like a central activity, not simply a narrative excuse for your character to gain new abilities before returning to a much larger adventure.

I would have loved more meaningful interactions with classmates, more opportunities to develop friendships, and a stronger sense of progression through school life. Imagine if attending classes, studying, and building relationships were woven more deeply into the RPG systems, with your performance or choices influencing how other students and professors viewed you.

Instead, the school experience often feels secondary to the larger adventure involving goblin rebels and dark wizards.

There are still plenty of enjoyable activities to discover. Summoner’s Court is a particularly fun diversion, challenging you to use Accio to pull a ball toward scoring zones without sending it flying off the edge. The Crossed Wands dueling club offers increasingly difficult magical duels against other students, giving you a more structured way to test your combat skills.

These activities help the world feel more lived-in, and I appreciate that the developers included them. But they also highlight the gap between what the game promises and what it ultimately delivers.

I wanted to feel like I was attending Hogwarts and gradually becoming a capable wizard. Instead, I often felt like I was playing an open-world action RPG that happened to take place at Hogwarts. Those experiences overlap, but they’re not quite the same thing.

Where Is Quidditch?

I can’t talk about the Hogwarts student experience without bringing up one of the game’s most baffling omissions: Quidditch. Quidditch is one of the defining parts of Hogwarts culture. It’s a major sporting tradition in the books and movies, and it represents an entire side of student life that has nothing to do with fighting dark wizards or investigating ancient magic.

Yet Quidditch isn’t playable in Hogwarts Legacy. The game’s explanation is that Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black has canceled the season following an injury, leaving students without the opportunity to participate. It provides a narrative reason for the omission, but it doesn’t make the absence any less disappointing. I understand that building a compelling Quidditch system would have been a significant undertaking. Flying around a pitch, chasing the Quaffle, defending the hoops, and pursuing the Snitch would require a very different gameplay structure from the rest of the game. But this was an opportunity to give players something that felt uniquely tied to being a Hogwarts student. Instead, we get broom races, which are enjoyable enough and provide a reason to improve your flying equipment. They’re a fine diversion, but they aren’t a substitute for the sport that has been synonymous with the franchise for decades.

It’s particularly frustrating because Hogwarts Legacy already does such a good job of recreating the atmosphere of the Wizarding World. You can walk through the castle, visit Hogsmeade, learn spells, and encounter magical creatures, yet one of the most recognizable aspects of Hogwarts student life is missing entirely. I don’t think Quidditch would automatically have transformed this into a great game. But its absence is another example of how Hogwarts Legacy gets close to delivering the complete fantasy without quite getting there.

If you’re someone who enjoys exploring every corner of an open world and collecting everything you can find, Hogwarts Legacy offers plenty to keep you busy.

There are cosmetic items for your character, different broom designs, hidden collectibles, environmental puzzles, astronomy tables, flying keys, and Merlin Trials scattered throughout the world. The game also lets you customize the Room of Requirement and build a collection of magical creatures in your own personal menagerie.

The cosmetic options are particularly extensive. You can change the appearance of your robes, hats, glasses, and other pieces of equipment, allowing you to create a look that suits your character. Whether you want to dress like a traditional Hogwarts student or put together something a little more unusual, there are plenty of options to experiment with.

I appreciate the amount of customization available, even though I’m not someone who spends hours hunting down every cosmetic item in a game.

The same goes for the collectibles and environmental activities. The flying keys lead you to locked house cabinets, while Merlin Trials introduce small puzzles that require you to interact with the environment in different ways. Astronomy tables offer another type of diversion, asking you to align constellations against the night sky.

There’s a lot to do, and players who love checking off activities and completing every objective will find plenty of value here. Personally, though, I found many of these activities repetitive. I don’t get much satisfaction from collecting items simply because they’re scattered across a map, and I would rather spend my time on side quests that develop characters or reveal something interesting about the world. 

That doesn’t mean the activities are poorly designed. It’s more a question of what you want from an open-world game. For some players, these little diversions are exactly what make exploration worthwhile. For me, they often felt like additional tasks attached to a world I already enjoyed exploring for other reasons.