10 things you need to know about “Hogwarts Legacy.”

[Falcon] There’s a new Harry Potter game, and well, there’s actually a lot to it.

Hi, folks, it’s Falcon,
and today on Gameranx,

10 things you need to know
about “Hogwarts Legacy.”

So starting off at number 10, the basics.

The official marketing
materials, website, et cetera,

describes this game

as an immersive open-world action-RPG

set in the 1800s Wizarding World.

Now, that in mind, it’s single player.

There’s no multiplayer elements, no co-op,

no nothing like that.

It’s really straightforward

in terms of what kind of game it is,

not a ton of genre mixing going on here.

It comes to us from Avalanche Software,

published by Warner Bros,

coming to the PS4, 5, Xbox
Series X, and Xbox One.

I don’t know how it’s going
to be on Nintendo Switch

from the looks of it, but it
is gonna be on Nintendo Switch,

and it’s also gonna be on PC.

Now, we’re gonna see the PlayStation,

Xbox, and PC release is gonna
be on February 10th, 2023.

It is geared towards the PS5

in that it’s using some
of the exclusive features,

haptic feedback, adaptive triggers,

and even the dynamic light bar.

I don’t know if that
matters to you or not.

And there’s gonna be a Deluxe Edition

that includes the Dark Arts
Pack and some other goodies.

But the big thing here is you get 72 hours

of early access to the game,

so you get the experience
before anybody else does.

Good for you.

So at number nine, you
create your own character.

Now, it’s an action-RPG,

and that’s pretty standard
with action-RPGs nowadays,

but I think with a
franchise like Harry Potter,

it’s really good to
have something like this

because that’s kind of the point.

It’s for you to kind of feel

like you’re part of the
Harry Potter universe.

So creating a character
seems like a no-brainer.

You customize your own witch or wizard.

Apparently, there’s a lot of depth.

You’re not locked into Gryffindor either.

You can pick whichever house you want,

which is obviously not how
it works inside the world,

but whatever.

It would suck if they just
randomly assigned you one.

There are no moral choices in the game,

but you do have choices

that can have an effect on your character

as implied by the most recent
trailer about the Dark Arts.

I don’t know to what extent
that is or means, though.

At number eight is classes.

No, not RPG classes, but school classes.

Remember, this is a Hogwarts game,

so you got most of the
classic Harry Potter classes.

You attend them. That
increases your skills.

I assume that’s probably not the only way

to increase your skills,

but it’s probably the way
that unlocks the most stuff.

The FAQ says you get Charms,
Defense Against the Dark Arts,

Herbology, Potion classes,

where you learn to cast spells,

grow magical plants,
brew potions, and more.

The gameplay trailer also
mentions all these classes,

as well as gives us the
“to name a few” line,

so there’s probably quite a few more,

or at least they want you to think

there are quite a few more.

I don’t know.

So it’s not entirely even clear

how these classes are gonna work,

but from the trailers it looks
like you’ll be doing things

and engaging in practice combat,

playing mini-games like brewing potions.

But we do wanna see more

before we say this is a good
idea or this is a bad idea.

It does seem like it’s an
interesting idea if it works

and it’s fun.

I kind of think it’s a good idea

in terms of this type of a game.

There’s also a side assignments
option you can do as well,

which is apparently meant to
help your character catch up

to the other fifth-year students.

So I guess you’re a slacker.

At number seven, this is a full-blown RPG.

You can level up your character,

and it’s all the kinds of
upgrades and talents and skills

and stuff you’d expect in
any other role-playing game.

The upgrades seem to be presented as cards

in this talents menu.

There’s a space that allows
you to sow and harvest plants.

You can craft potions. You
can upgrade your equipment.

Challenges can be completed
to earn experience,

and your magic gear is
upgraded and changed

to better fit your play
style through this process.

So it sounds like in terms of RPG classes,

not school classes,

it doesn’t sound like
that’s how this game works.

It sounds like you can pretty
much build your character

however you want.

I’m sure you can probably emulate a class

if you really want to

because you can approach
different situations differently

based on play style.

So you could fight enemies head on.

You could turn invisible.

You could take ’em out
of action with a spell.

So depending on your play style,

you may kind of emulate
a class, so to speak,

but in terms of school classes,

they’ll apparently break up
the quests and side quests,

et cetera.

Also, there’s loot to find, stuff to buy,

crafting to do, basically
everything you’d expect in an RPG.

And at number six, there are companions.

You can make friends,

and apparently these characters
can become companions

that travel with you and assist you.

So you can also expand their abilities

as you become better friends
and learn more about them.

We kind of know this in
general terms at the moment,

but obviously, making friends
is gonna be beneficial here

’cause also they can
teach you new abilities.

The trailer called Sebastian
Sallow’s Dark Legacy

shows this specifically.

You help him,

and he allows you to learn
some of the Dark Arts.

I don’t know if we’re gonna see

a full-blown social link system
like the “Persona” games.

The trailers and the
FAQ make the implication

that you can build your relationship

with companion characters,

but to what extent, it’s not really known.

They haven’t really put
forward an exact formulation

of how that works yet,

but some of the characters they highlight

during the reveal trailer are
Natsai Onai, Poppy Sweeting,

Sebastian Sallow, and I’m
sure there’ll be plenty more.

At number five, and I
think this is obvious,

based on the game being set in the 1800s,

but it’s set way before the
Harry Potter book series.

Most of the characters are different.

Some who were around during the books

will be around during this
game, like Nearly Headless Nick.

He’s the ghost guy in the
official gameplay trailer.

Your character joins Hogwarts
late as a fifth-year student.

So again, you’re gonna have to catch up

to the other fifth-year
students, you slacker.

But it’s not all just homework, I guess.

As you get further in the game,

your skills get tested in the
areas surrounding Hogwarts.

Your character gets caught up
in a dangerous mystery as well

and works with this new character,

the accomplished and
enigmatic Professor Fig.

Apparently, you’re investigating

a potential goblin
rebellion, at least at first,

but the trailer makes it
clear that there’s more darker

and complex things that are at play

and a mysterious magical power

that the professors themselves
don’t even understand,

so plenty of intrigue.

At number four, Hogwarts
is fully explorable.

Now, for a lot of Harry Potter fans,

that’s probably something
to get pretty excited about,

maybe even enough to play the game itself.

Getting the chance to explore
a bunch of iconic places

from the books and movies in 3D,

like the Great Hall, the clock
tower, the hospital wing,

and also unseen areas
in any of these series

like the kitchens, to just
have free reign over that,

people who love this series
will probably be in hog heaven.

Get it?

According to the FAQ, Hogwarts
Castle can be explored fully.

You’ll be able to attend
classes, find dungeons,

secret passageways, uncover
puzzles, blah blah blah.

And each of the common rooms

seems to be an important location.

You can talk to fellow house members,

and it’s all really detailed looking.

It’s definitely the most
beautiful version of Hogwarts

we’ve seen in a game.

I don’t know if that’s fair per se

’cause this is definitely
the largest project

where they’ve really actually done this

and other games going back quite a ways

are a fairly non-advanced, let’s say.

But along with the school,
there are other locations.

The FAQ mentions Forbidden
Forest and Hogsmeade Village.

So you’re not limited to just Hogwarts.

In Hogsmeade, you can buy
magic items and resources,

recipes, clothing, et cetera.

But I guess there’s also other towns

like smaller little hamlets
to find all over the place,

and they do have shops and side quests.

So there’s a lot going on,

and as the school year progresses,

there’s, I guess, dynamic weather changes.

So that’s cool.

Different seasons, I’m up for that.

That helps make it seem like
there’s time passing, you know?

At number three, you can fly.

Yes, broom flight is possible in the game,

and there are broom races
you can participate in.

However, it seems like there’s
not gonna be Quidditch,

which is either a good
thing or a bad thing

depending on your opinion
of the fictional sport.

I honestly couldn’t care less.

But there’s also a class
specifically for flying,

which gets you accustomed
with the flying in the game.

Kind of seems like it
might be your main way

to get around outside Hogwarts,
but it also doesn’t seem

like it’s your only
means of transportation.

There are magical beasts.

The reveal trailer shows your
character riding a griffin,

which kind of looks a
lot cooler than a broom,

I’ll be honest.

At number two, just
mentioned the magical beasts.

They can apparently be fought and tamed.

So the FAQ tells us that you can tame,

mount, and ride certain creatures.

So it sounds like it’s
a little more involved

than just getting them.

Also, in terms of school
classes, again, not RPG classes,

you can attend one to
learn about magical beasts

and how to tame them.

So I mean, that seems like that might be

a really interesting part of the game.

How far into monster taming
and catching, et cetera,

we’ll get, I don’t really
know, but apparently,

you can find menageries that can be placed

in the room that are fully customizable,

and you can use those
to tame magic creatures.

Not every creature’s
for riding, apparently.

You can also capture
creatures that are hurt

or in danger from poachers

just restore them to
health in your menagerie.

But along with creatures you can tame,

there’s plenty of enemies to fight,

like supposedly creatures
that are corrupted

by a magical force.

And then there’s of course
sinister witches and wizards,

there’s goblins, there’s the undead.

It’s a magic world.

In the reveal trailer, we’ve
seen centaurs, ogres, a dragon,

a Graphorn, which is a horned
creature with tentacles,

some frog thing, not really
sure exactly what that is,

and a Jarvey, which looks like a ferret.

And finally, at number one,

we know a lot about spells and combat,

but we still need to learn more.

Looks like combat’s a pretty major focus,

and it’s primarily done
through casting spells.

There’s a dodging and a shield spell

that you can activate to
defend against attacks.

You can levitate objects. You
can hurl those at enemies.

There’s stunning charms, so
you can do counterattacks.

We’ve seen what appears
to be spell combos,

so that seems like a way to
really lay on the damage.

Enemies don’t just directly attack you.

They also use enchantments to stop you,

like dead in your tracks,

or give you negative status effects.

So combat is the area we’ve
probably seen the most about

without actually learning
a whole lot about it.

We haven’t even really seen the HUD,

so it’s hard to really
say how any of this works.

The gameplay trailer
describes dozens of spells,

so it sounds like
there’s a lot of variety,

so that’s good.

And you can also brew potions
that help you in combat.

You can grow magic plants.

And all of that can be
utilized in battle for help.

Quick bonus, apparently
no microtransactions.

Chandler Wood, the community
manager who works on the game,

said there are no microtransactions
in “Hogwarts Legacy.”

Now, “are” is a present-tense word,

and we are talking about Warner Brothers,

who’s pretty infamous
for microtransactions

in games like “Middle Earth.”

But the FAQ also restates

that there are no microtransactions.

That doesn’t mean there’s
gonna be no monetization

in the game, but at least
no microtransactions.

Right after this,

they do mention the Dark Arts Pack,

which is a special edition bonus

that you can also buy
in-game, but that’s it.

So I guess depending
on what’s in that pack,

maybe they just mean that
there is a microtransaction,

like they’re getting by on a technicality,

like microtransactions is a plural word.

So there are no microtransactions.

There’s a microtransaction.

I don’t know. We’ll see when it comes out.

That’s all for today.

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