Always wondered what life would be like if the owl carrying your Hogwarts letter didn’t get lost while on its way to you? Well, Hogwarts Legacy is looking like it could be your chance to find out.
In development at Avalanche Software, Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world adventure that will take players into the Harry Potter universe, allowing them to explore within and beyond the castle walls of the famous magical school. While many of the locations in Hogwarts Legacy will be familiar to fans of the series, familiar faces will be few and far between. That’s because rather than delving into the timeline of the books and films, Hogwarts Legacy will take players back to the 1800s to tell its own story within the magical world.
Hogwarts Legacy was first officially revealed back in 2020 and while it was initially thought we would get to board the Hogwarts Express as soon as 2021, it’s now been confirmed that the game has been pushed to sometime in 2022. When it does launch, it’ll be playable on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Since the announcement of Hogwarts Legacy’s delay, we’ve actually heard very little about it. Right now, it’s looking like our next-best chance to find out more about it before the end of the year could be the Game Awards in December. That’s not stopping fans from getting excited about the game, though, and there’s plenty of rumors and speculation to delve into. Keep reading to find out everything we know and suspect about Hogwarts Legacy ahead of its release.
Hogwarts Legacy: cut to the chase
- What is it? An RPG title based on the Harry Potter franchise, set in the 1800s
- When can I play it? TBC 2022
- What can I play it on? PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Hogwarts Legacy release date
When Hogwarts Legacy first leaked, Bloomberg reported that it would come to next-gen consoles in 2021. However, the start of the new year saw an official delay to 2022, as publisher Portkey Games confirmed more time was needed to get the game in tip-top shape.
While the game was first announced at a PS5 event, it will be coming to the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, as well as PS4 and PC. It remains unclear if the PS5 version will have any kind of timed exclusivity.
Hogwarts Legacy trailer
We only have a single trailer so far, which was shown off at Sony's September 2020 PS5 price and release date reveal. It does, though, show off some magically next-gen environments, with fantastical creatures, plenty of wand-action, and hints at a mysterious power that your avatar holds...
Hogwarts Legacy gameplay and setting
Hogwarts Legacy is going to be an "immersive, open-world RPG" set in the wizarding world of the 1800s - specifically Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
According to the description of the game on its official website: "Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart." Having received a late acceptance letter for Hogwarts, the player discovers that they possess the ability to possess and master Ancient Magic. "Only you can decide if you will protect this secret for the good of all, or yield to the temptation of more sinister magic," the description reads.
Hogwarts Legacy will see players creating and customizing their own characters, creating potions, mastering spell casting, upgrading their talents, making allies and battling Dark Wizards to "decide the fate of the wizarding world". Players can also expect to come across fantastic beasts and visit both new and familiar locations, such as including the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade Village.
A morality system is also rumored to play a role in the game and the official FAQ certainly indicates that players will have to make decisions as they play, stating "players will also encounter missions and scenarios that will pose difficult choices and determine what they stand for."
Hogwarts Legacy news and rumors
Will it make an appearance at The Game Awards?
it's been a while since we've heard anything on Hogwarts Legacy, but a recent rumor suggests that the game will make an appearance at The Game Awards in December. The rumor comes via leaker Millie A on Twitter, who has previously accurately leaked that Insomniac Games was working on another Spider-Man-sized title (Wolverine) and that Bluepoint Games isn't working on Metal Gear Solid.
In response to a Twitter user asking when Hogwarts Legacy will be revealed, Millie claimed that the game will be revealed either "this month" (October) or at December's Game Awards. October has come and gone without a fresh look at Hogwarts Legacy (Sony's October State of Play would have been the best opportunity) so it looks like we'll need to set our hopes on December's Game Awards.
It's definitely worth taking this rumor with a pinch of salt, especially considering it's quite a wide net to cast and could be speculation rather than an actual leak, but a reveal at The Game Awards would make sense as we typically see the event showcasing plenty of world premieres.
This month or December’s Game Awards.October 1, 2021
Could the Dark Arts be an option?
Hogwarts Legacy might decide to show the darker side of the wizarding world. In a (since deleted) tweet from Hogwarts Legacy writer DC Allen, a discussion around the game’s potential age rating opened up possibilities for the Harry Potter title to include the book series’ Dark Arts – the forbidden magic that only powerful evil wizards use.
Asked whether or not killing would be possible in the new game, the writer answered (as preserved by Comicbook.com):
“Are they not allowed to kill in 16+ games? I feel like you could fully kill bad guys in Horizon Zero Dawn, it just wasn't bloody. I don't think I can answer your question directly but in the trailer you can see there is a lot of evil occurring in the wizarding world.”
It has, of course, been confirmed that evil opponents in Hogwarts Legacy will use Dark Magic after a PlayStation Blog post from Adrian Ropp, Head of Story at Avalanche, mentioned the game would feature “dueling against a deadly dark witch.” However, Allen’s comment is the first sign we’ve had that the game could make use of more mature themes and methods of attack for the protagonist.
Certainly, there have been mentions of a "morality" system in the game which could also leave the door open for the use of the so-called “Killing Curse”, Avada Kedavra, for players that want to take a walk on the Dark side of magic.
Missing E3 2021 and Gamescom 2021
Though it's been a while since we've seen anything from Hogwarts Legacy, the game was absent from E3 2021. This was to be expected as Warner Bros told TechRadar that its E3 2021 showcase, which took place on June 13, would only feature Back 4 Blood. The Summer Game Fest Twitter account also highlighted that Warner Bros' presentation is to be solely for Back 4 Blood with no separate event and the game didn't appear in any form during the presentations of other publishers or Summer Game Fest. The game was also noticeably absent from Gamescom 2021.
The Warner. Bros Games presentation is Back 4 Blood, there is not a separate event.June 4, 2021
You'll choose your house
It looks like there won't be any kind of elaborate sorting quiz at the start of Hogwarts Legacy. In an FAQ on the game's official website, it's stated that "players can choose their house at the start of Hogwarts Legacy." There's no details on how the choice will be made or whether houses will be able to be changed at a later point in the game but the page states that more details on this will be available at a later date.
Trans-inclusive character creation
Hogwarts Legacy will feature a transgender-inclusive character creator, according to a report from Bloomberg.
In the report, it’s said that sources “familiar with the game’s development” have revealed that the game will allow players to customize their character’s body type, voice and gender placement for school dormitories.
The sources also say that players will be allowed to choose a masculine or feminine voice, regardless of their character’s body type, and will get to choose whether they want to be a ‘witch’ or a ‘wizard’, with the latter choice placing them in the applicable dormitory and affecting they're addressed by other characters in the game.
According to Bloomberg, this inclusivity is the result of a push by some members of the game’s development team, following controversial comments made by J. K Rowling, the creator of the series.
“As a result, some members of the Hogwarts Legacy development team have fought to make the game as inclusive as possible, pushing for the character customization and even for a transgender character to be added,” the report says. “There was resistance from management at first, the people familiar with the project said, but currently the character customization is included in the game.”
Developed by Avalanche
Avalanche Software (the team behind the Disney Infinity games, NOT the Avalanche Studios behind the Mad Max and Just Cause games) is developing the game. So if you like the studio's work, you're in for a treat – and if you don't, what can we say?
JK Rowling doesn't have much involvement, apparently
According to the Bloomberg report, Rowling doesn't have much involvement in the game's creation and the game's official FAQ states while the game "is inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World", the author "is not directly involved in the creation of the game."
Harry Potter Magic Awakened
BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba tweeted about his knowledge of the project, revealing the mysterious RPG may be called Harry Potter Magic Awakened. He also hinted other Harry Potter titles could be on the way. We now know that the Harry Potter RPG is called Hogwarts Legacy.
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