Hogwarts Legacy Deluxe Edition – PlayStation 5

This review might contain a few spoilers for those yet to play this game but I will try to keep it to a minimum as it is hard to not talk about the negatives without revealing some of the game play but I’ll avoid talking about the story and talk mostly about the in-game content.

I’ll stick my summary at the top. Game started off great and is visually impressive. But towards the end I was done with it and the many minor negatives became a little too many for my liking and is my headline suggests if you have yet to spend the cash on it just yet, hold off until Black Friday as the game at half price is probably worth it.

I have completed my first (and probably last) play through. Spent around 60 hours, which is probably longer than average and I probably got my moneys worth. I completed most of the side quests and for the most part I did enjoy the game. I am not a huge Harry Potter fan and there is ample in-game images, Easter eggs and such that will appeal to the die-hard fans out there. Hogwarts is impressive, and Hogsmeade is fairly decent and it was fun exploring those places in a PS5 environment.

For the first 10-15 hours there was plenty to see and do with a fair number of spells to lock. Combat is fairly simple, which I didn’t mind. But there really isn’t a vast number of enemies to kill. There’s only about 8 or so different types which when compared to other similar games is really low. So after a while it becomes a bit of a grind. As for non-combat skills, those first 10-15 hours I would spend going out of my way collecting potion ingredients on the ground only for that time to be completely wasted. I only ever made potions for quests, which wasn’t very many. I never needed to use any potion, at all! They probably helped buff your stats or something? But I never once needed that to assist me.

“Revelio!” The single spell I must have cast a million times! To help reveal chests, items on the ground, locked doors, enemies… over and over again. It just got tedious.
*Slight Spoiler*
One of the things I wanted to do most was unlock doors. Once that became an option there was a bizarre mini-game to unlock locks on doors/chests. I had to look up what I was supposed to do, but when I saw the video it really wasn’t that difficult. There are 3 levels of locks to unlock and there are probably around 50-75 locked places in total. Regardless of the level of the lock, it’s the same dull way you have to do to unlock each and every single lock. After the 2nd or 3rd time it just became dull. A minor annoyance but they could at least make it something different if it was a level 1, 2 or 3 lock. Nope, just the same. Or use a skill/talent point to make it just to skip it altogether once you could open that level lock.

*minor spoiler*
This also moves onto chests. So many chests. 95% of the time you “looted” a chest it was just worthless armor. Yes, you could sell it for coins. Which you don’t come by too easily. However, once you buy a couple of tables and things from your room of requirement serves little to no purpose. I ended the game with about 30k coins with absolutely nothing to spend them on and I must have spent 3 times that amount on new brooms (for no reason) and unlocking all the scrolls for the room (once again, for no reason)

Then there is the biggest problem of all, the map.
*more spoilers*
It’s big, not by other game standards I am sure. But fairly big outside Hogwarts. But it really shouldn’t have been. Because it was more or less the same enemies, the same small town, the same worthless chests, the same mini-games in the form of “trials”. Reminded me so much of a game called Biomutant. A game which started off fine, but repeated itself so much that it felt like the developers spent too much time on quantity over quantity.

*Spoiler*
This is probably the biggest spoiler but it has to be said.
NO QUIDDITCH! Why? Sure, there’s some in game reason why Quidditch just so happens to be cancelled. But if humans can walk between brooms between their legs in real life surely the developers could have at least attempted some form of Quidditch-like game, even if it was in the form of Blitzball, like in Final Fantasy X. Broom racing was fun, for the first race. But a mini-game that originally came from from a Playstation 2 console game far more enjoyable than broom racing.

I have seen other peoples reviews and I would have to agree with their criticisms. They perhaps should have spent more time focusing in the place where it’s most impressive, Hogwarts. So much of the map beyond those walls is dull besides the missions themselves. Regardless of choices you make it doesn’t really affect the overall outcome. Rivalries with other houses, taking part in more than 1 lesson of a subject. There’s so much potential for this game could have been that started off well but just faded into mediocrity.

Overall, it’s not a terrible game. I have played much worse and the story was ok and I really did like it at first. I suspect they might add some DLC to it later down the line that might bring some more life into the game (that I will no doubt pay for!) But honestly, if you have yet to buy this game but want to buy it just hold off for a sale and keep your expectations reasonably low and you will walk away happy.
I know someone that told me they have already completed the game with all 4 houses so there are people out there that must have really liked it but not me sadly.

Atmosphere is so dense, you can touch it