“Hogwarts: Legacy” is an action-role playing game developed by Avalanche Studios and Portkey Games. Taking place in the wizarding world of “Harry Potter,” “Hogwarts: Legacy” is an open-world game that takes place in 1890, 100 years before “the boy who lived” was born. The game allows the player to step into a magical world and make your own legendary wizarding story. 

“Hogwarts: Legacy” features a surprisingly large open world filled with side quests and new things to encounter every time. However, the most impressive location in the game is Hogwarts itself. The large castle features many hidden secrets and puzzles in every nook and cranny. The castle feels so alive and beautifully brought to life with the help of next generation graphics. “Hogwarts: Legacy” sports a performance mode which sacrifices graphics for a smoother frame rate or a fidelity mode which does the opposite. Having played multiple hours in both, I can say both make the game look and feel amazing. While exploring the castle you can also run into a numerous amount of different things. Whether it be the talking paintings singing a song, ghosts floating around the hallways or suits of armor fighting each other, the students are not the only inhabitants in the castle.

I found the game’s combat system to be super fun and rewarding for mastering certain spell combinations. With 30 different spells that can completely change the way the game is played, I found myself prioritizing quests that give spells in order to find new combos and fun ways to play the game. One of the quests I really enjoyed was learning the three unforgivable curses with one of your Slytherin classmates that becomes your friend in the game. Each enemy also might have shields which can only be broken by certain spells, which forces players to try new combos and pairing spells together you wouldn’t normally use in order to fight certain enemies.  

The story itself has its strong points, but overall is just alright. I enjoyed most of the student-led quests and teaming up with others to help them. The students have personality and feel real enough but not to the point where the attention stays on them and steals the spotlight from you, the main character. I found the “ancient magic” stuff to just feel weird and out of place, as well as starting the year off a fifth year. However, I understand why this move was made for the story as it would be boring to play a school simulator as a younger kid. I just wish it could have felt more incorporated. 

Overall, while the story might be a little messy, the game itself excels in its combat and exploration with new ways to fight enemies and new places to explore and things to do. I would highly recommend this game to every “Harry Potter” fan, as it really feels like your own special wizarding adventure. This is everything a “Harry Potter” fan could want in a game to live out their dreams. Even if you are not a “Harry Potter” fan, I would still recommend this game to anyone who seems interested as it really does live up to all the hype. I would give this game an 8.5/10.