4/5 ★ – hbarnes55's review of Hogwarts Legacy.

Pleasantly surprised by how good this was I had this game on my radar for a while before it came out because Meg is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and she was desperate to play this game. I was excited but hesitant, expecting it to be kinda mid. To my surprise it wasn’t, it was actually really fun. They build out Hogwarts and the surrounding area in impeccable detail. Not only is it very intricate, the graphics look amazing so the whole environment is breathtaking. The combat is surprisingly fluid, there are a ton of spells that you can mix and match however you like. In addition, the potions and botany mechanics add another dimension to every fight. My only complaint about the combat is that there weren’t more opportunities for 1v1 duals; the “fight club” quest line was awesome, it was a shame it ended so quickly. I’m also a sucker for character customization and there was a lot of it in this game. It’s a little funny how much your (male) character sounds like Daniel Radcliffe but every other customization option was very detailed. A great feature that they didn’t have to add (but I’m glad they did) was the accessory options. Like in a lot of games, different accessories give you different perks BUT you’re at mercy of the game in terms of aesthetics. HL gives you the option to take those perks/stats and apply them to any article of clothing you’ve previously collected, allowing for better customization and a more cohesive look. If I had a complaint, the story isn’t that interesting. I didn’t understand what was actually wrong with the “ancient magic” the game revolves around. The whole plot revolves around your character and some ancient wizard having access to the dark side of the force or something. The game explicitly tells you it’s bad but it’s not really clear why that is, what is the threat or consequence (literally and narratively). I don’t know why your character ought not use this power or why you ought to reject it. It feels like “ancient magic” was something they wrote in the first draft and meant to revise later but they never remembered to.