Like every year, this September 9st, the Espresso started from platform 3 and 4/XNUMX of London packed with students eager to cross the threshold of one of the most prestigious schools of magic ever. If you think you have lost your place and do not find the letter marked with the scarlet sealing wax emblem, do not despair, because Hogwarts legacy has a well-articulated plan for you: a tangle of potentially dark situations almost as much as the adventures faced by the famous kid with the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
Appeared in a daring way about two years ago through a video posted online and then promptly removed, the action RPG that will transport fans into the Harry Potter universe, at the same time moving away from its adventures, seemed to have a solid framework even then, while not failing to leave some doubts about its actual yield.
The leak was then followed by a sort of Horcrux-game hunt carried out on the web, enriched by clues and conjectures. Well, only last Wednesday, during the PlayStation 5 Showcase, Warner Bros. Games and Avalanche Software have lifted the cloak of invisibility that hid Hogwarts Legacy from the Aurors hired to find it. Despite the stage chosen for this magic, it should be noted that it is a cross-generational cross-platform game, in fact foreseen both for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PC. Having set the necessary premises and made an excursus on what happened, it's time to grab the wands and take the Portkey to Hogwarts.
Long before Harry, Hermione, Ron and the others, different stories and protagonists left their mark on the wizarding world and for the team at Warner Bros. The time has come to bring them to light. "Live the unwritten" or "Live what has not been written" is the promotional message and at the same time a declaration of intent: starting and staying steadfast on the path of rules and canons built by JK Rowling, the authors intend to look beyond the boundaries of the famous saga - as well as beyond Fantastic Beasts - and expand the plots of the Wizarding World. The message is even clearer if you think about the fact that the English writer is in no way involved in the project. After all, the ambition is evident from the first seconds of the trailer shown during the event, where the words "late 1800" appear which immediately intrigued all Harry Potter lovers.
An era therefore far removed from Voldemort - sorry, the one who must not be named - as well as from Dumbledore's position as headmaster of the school of witchcraft and wizardry. The only element familiar to fans is dear old Hogwarts, with its huge library, Great Hall, stairways that like to change, as well as the Forbidden Forest and other outlying and neighboring locations. For now it is not known which characters we will meet. Leaving the imagination to speculation, and considering the information in our possession, we could for example see a young Dumbledore hanging out in the classrooms, perhaps in the company of his former friend Gellert Grindelwald, or meet Nicolas Flamel, who at that time was almost 600 years old, or it would be tempting to find out something about the Gaunt family, while the involvement of Tom Riddle, born in 1926, is excluded. In short, the material from which to draw is almost boundless and it is precisely the emptiness that characterizes the nineteenth century. magic to offer developers carte blanche.
The narrative incipit itself appears unusual compared to what we were used to, describing our alter ego as a student - completely customizable - who received the fateful letter late compared to the tradition that he wants to start at the age of 11, and should start classes with fifth year boys. At Hogwarts nothing is born of chance and the protagonist is a student in possession of the key to an ancient secret that threatens to destroy the wizarding world. Far from ordinary, the protagonist is capable of perceiving and controlling Ancient Magic. On paper, the concept of Hogwarts Legacy appears intriguing, also in the light of the freedom granted to the player, guaranteeing a wide-ranging adventure on this front.
Our avatar will be able to choose whether to join the brave Gryffindors, the loyal Hufflepuffs, the wise Ravenclaws or the enterprising Slytherins, then increasing his skills during the game by choosing to defend all the wizards and witches or letting himself be hypnotized by the dark arts . It would be interesting to have to deal with a series of exclusive missions and dialogues for each house, with the possibility of making friends with some dorm neighbors, totally excluding others. The leak dated 2018 described the existence of 8 distinct magical classes to be enhanced (also here, we specify, we move in the field of speculation), suggesting the use of some kind of skill tree to define the formation of our avatar, or to make the intrinsic properties of the wand progressively more dangerous. On the other hand, it is difficult to guess whether you will opt for a classic level system or a more hybrid one with other videogame mechanics.
Hogwarts Legacy is defined as an action RPG inserted in an open world, a description that to be honest matches an incredible plethora of titles already on the market and that for this leaves many questions open on the gameplay front. If on the one hand the past clues in the video suggest that the role-playing component will be very important, no less it seems to be the exploratory and action one. Players will have the opportunity to travel to the darkest corners of the castle, as well as explore the places adjacent to it and beyond: the presence of the village of Hogsmeade has been confirmed, while that of the Dementors attests a reference to the terrifying prison of Azkaban .
Speaking of travel, it's impossible not to make a stop in Diagon Alley, where you can gorge on +1 jellies before buying school manuals. It is confirmed that we will find several magical duels awaiting us, now with fantastic creatures like the Trolls, now with powerful minions of the Dark Arts. In an interview, the authors even talked about the possibility of choosing adventure companions: it is not yet clear whether we are talking about a real JRPG-style party, or if the allies will only be owls and other animals.
The pre-production of Hogwarts Legacy was launched more or less three years ago and, considering that it is a cross generational title, it is good to keep in mind that the graphic level will mirror that of medium or high budget productions for the current platforms. . Although its technical qualities will only be analyzed when we are in possession of more in-depth gameplay sequences, it is undeniable that the presentation video showed the side of a polygonal mass and general details that are anything but miraculous.
However, this does not exclude the possibility of taking advantage of the next generation consoles and in this regard Adrian Ropp of Avalanche promises that "with the innovative high definition graphics, a player can perceive the ground that rumbles below him as a horde of centaurs. angry surrounding him. Even the duel against a deadly dark witch takes on a new level of realism thanks to the controller's ability to communicate sound and tactile sensations at all times ”. In conclusion, according to the author Hogwarts Legacy will take great advantage of the features of DualSense, haptic feedback in the first place.
After having examined all the information in our possession, we just have to wait for the arrival of the fateful letter for Hogwarts, a promise for a generic 2021. Hogwarts Legacy carries with it a big burden, made up of constant attention due to the almost mythological name it bears and to the great potential that we hope it will explode like the Bombard spell. Packed up, we approach the London station eager to cross the wall that separates us from the magical world to take a seat on the Hogwarts Express.
