The second gameplay showcase for Hogwarts Legacy unveiled a plethora of exciting features that will allow players to truly immerse themselves in the wizarding world.
Players will finally be able to hop on a broom and set off to Hogwarts in Feb. 2023 on most consoles, so it’s time to see what they can expect to see when the game officially launches.
Here are eight of the most exciting features that were unveiled during the second Hogwarts Legacy gameplay showcase.
The open world is massive and varied
Players have known for quite some time the Hogwarts Legacy gameplay includes an open world, but many may not have expected this world to be so vast and expansive beyond the already immense Hogwarts grounds.
In addition to the massive, sprawling grounds of Hogwarts castle, players can also explore iconic locations like Hogsmeade Village and Diagon Alley but can also venture out into the unknown with locations like the woods surrounding Hogwarts and the hamlets situated around them.
Every area players may venture to in Hogwarts Legacy is packed with quests, characters, puzzles, foes, stores, and just about any other manner of gameplay that players can think of. The world is rich and alive no matter where wizards and witches choose to travel to. Ultimately, players are always rewarded for “poking around” the greater wizarding world.
The open world will become unlocked to all players fairly early on in gameplay and from this moment all players will then be able to explore the world however much they desire. Some challenges around the open world may be too difficult for players to successfully finish at first, but over time players will be able to conquer anything.
Hogwarts Legacy also features many dynamic environment types ranging from dense, foggy swamps to bright, open coasts. Players will come across many different biomes as they navigate around the open world.
Brooms are customizable and upgradeable
At any point when players are outside, they can choose to deploy their brooms for quicker and more efficient travel.
Because Hogwarts Legacy is set in the past, brooms aren’t quite as technologically advanced as they appear to be in the Harry Potter franchise. The Nimbus 2000 is years and years away, so players will need to traverse around the wizarding world on a broom that is very much still in development and comes with cooldowns to navigate.
Players can visit a broom shop in Hogsmeade to purchase other brooms. However, all brooms function the same and the difference is purely cosmetics that allow players to better represent and express themselves.
Brooms can be upgraded by talking with the Hogwarts shopkeeper. Players will need to help him out to unlock upgrades that will then help them improve the functionalities of their broom. The owner of the broom store is continuously working towards bettering brooms as a whole and players will thus continuously find that he has new upgrades in store for them for a price.
Flying mounts are different from brooms
Hogwarts Legacy players can choose to explore the world on a broom or instead choose a special flying mount. Flying mounts are an alternative form of transportation that comes with different mechanics for traversing through the world.
One example of one flying mount is a Hippogriff, which fans may recall is the half-eagle half-horse creature featured prominently in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban named Buckbeak. This flying mount can allow players to soar through the sky like an eagle or stick to the ground by embracing its inner horse.
Brooms are the best tool for navigating around the world as quickly as possible whereas flying mounts are better for slower and more detail-oriented exploration. Flying mounts also offer ground speed while brooms will never allow players to travel directly on the ground.
Currently, the only known flying mounts are the Hippogriff and the Thestral. However, the immense wizarding world is packed with magical creatures and players will thus likely learn about more flying mounts as the game gets closer to its release date.
Weather and holidays change the environment and mark the passage of time
Weather as an important aspect of Hogwarts Legacy is not a new feature, but its importance as a storytelling aspect is. The gameplay showcase revealed that, just as the weather is utilized in the Harry Potter films to help progress the school year and main storyline, so too is weather an important feature for progression in Hogwarts Legacy.
Players will feel the passing of time and experience progression in the storyline as the school year moves through the seasons. Along with the weather and the seasons are the holidays, which are another key feature of the Harry Potter franchise being carried into Hogwarts Legacy’s gameplay.
As the seasons change and different holidays take place, the entire environment will shift to reflect these changes. Players may find holiday decorations around the castle, Hogsmeade village reacting to the holidays, or otherwise experience environmental details that help to mark the passage of time in their gameplay.
Avada Kedavra: Murder is an option
Hogwarts Legacy is all about allowing players to create their own story and forge their own path which means that it even allows players to venture down a dark path if they wish to do so. With this, all players have the option to explore and utilize the notorious unforgivable curses.
The three unforgivable curses Harry Potter fans will likely recall from the franchise are the Cruciatus Curse, which is Crucio and is an excruciatingly painful torture curse, the Imperius Curse, which is Imperio and allows the caster total control over the victim, and the Killing Curse, which is Avada Kedavra and immediately kills the victim upon contact.
While these curses are extremely taboo in the Harry Potter franchise, players will get to delve deeper into them in Hogwarts Legacy and can even choose to utilize them themselves.
However, these hefty curses come with long cooldowns are require immense precision due to their overwhelmingly powerful nature.
The nature of these curses is also extremely buildable and allows players to be as powerful and deadly as Voldemort if they dish out the spells just right. Cursing many enemies in a certain way and then dealing the Killin Curse against the final one can potentially lead to all of the cursed enemies falling at once in a grand powerful move remnant of Voldemort’s immensely deadly skillset.
Players possess an Ancient Magic skillset that grants them special abilities
In addition to the many levels of wizarding magic fans of the magical world are already familiar with, Hogwarts Legacy will also introduce special Ancient Magic that allows the main character to perform special abilities unlike anything seen before.
The mystery around these abilities is at the center of the main Hogwarts Legacy storyline but will also drastically affect the combat system as all players will balance their basic magic skillset with their immensely powerful and unique Ancient Magic abilities.
Ancient Magic has its own special meter that players will need to build up through various actions to perform their unique abilities. The meter can be raised by performing combos in combat until the meter has been filled enough to then be utilized.
Players will find blue orbs drop around them as they defeated enemies and these orbs can be collected for massive boosts within the Ancient Magic meter.
The Room of Requirement is your customizable home
Hogwarts’ Room of Requirement is a magical room that constantly shifts to fit people’s needs and Hogwarts Legacy turns this into an immensely powerful tool that players can customize to their heart’s content. Players can do everything from entirely changing the architecture of the room to adding various types of objects for decoration and function.
The various types of furniture that players can place around their Room of Requirement are called Conjurations and some recipes to create them can be purchased from Hogsmeade while others will simply be found by engaging with different types of gameplay.
Once an object is unlocked, players can change the color, size, and location of the object however they see fit. Certain objects in the Room of Requirement exist for gameplay function but even these can be altered to better suit players’ unique individual styles. Players can alter the appearance of previously revealed interactable items like their potion stations and planting pots.
Hogwarts Legacy players can also alter the loom which is a newly unveiled item that players can interact with to upgrade their gear. When new gear is attained, it will oftentimes not reveal its abilities which is why players will also need to utilize another newly showcased asset within the Room of Requirement called the identification station.
Over time, the Room of Requirement will develop further. It will add new rooms and advance overall as players unlock new recipes that they can utilize to better decorate and utilize it.
Beast care is essential for magical ingredients
Within the Room of Requirement is another area called the Vivarium. This is where players can take care of magical creatures they unlock and where they will need to regularly tend to them for important magical rewards.
Players will need to regularly pet and feed their animal friends until they feel safe enough to offer them magical assets in return. These magical items, such as fur, can be utilized for upgrading gear at the loom in the Room of Requirement.
The Vivarium area functions in a fairly similar manner to the Room of Requirement it lies within and allows players to build a home for the creatures that they find and rescue within it. Players can decorate this area as they see fit and visit it at any time by walking into its entrance in the Room of Requirement.
As players progress further in Hogwarts Legacy, they can unlock utility items for the Vivarium that will help them befriend and take care of their magical creatures more efficiently. Examples of these types of items include a food processor, which will work to keep animals fed, and a toybox, which will grant players the ability to pull out toys and play with their beasts.
Further progression will also lead to unlocking more Vivariums with very different environmental looks and more space for beasts.
