I may sound like a bit of an ingrate for saying it but; It's about darn time, don't you think? I've personally been a huge fan of Harry Potter since I was a child, I grew up on the thing. I remember that the only competition I ever won was for the complete collection of Harry Potter books, (Which at that time only ran up to 'The Order of the Phoenix') and I read those books to tatters. Absolutely destroyed them with how much I read and re-read those stories, enthralled by the world of Harry Potter and ever hopeful that one day my owl would show up at the window. Well, needless to say that never happened and now we're living in an age where many kids haven't even heard of Harry Potter let alone read the books or watched the movies, so it almost feels as though the moment has passed to get a darn good game based on this franchise. Even the loyal fans of my generation are starting to feel their goodwill ware thin after countless self-assassination attempts by the book's author J.K.Rowling and those two abominable prequel movies her and Warner Bros. spat out. Thus it was wonderment, shock, awe and any other emotion I could drudge up, that I saw the promise of a proper Harry Potter game coming our way through 'Portkey Game's Hogwarts Legacy'.
Now, of course, this is by no means the first Harry Potter game, just the first with any actual potential to be worth a damn. Back in the day there was a pitch by Nintendo to turn the Harry Potter books into one of their notoriously well-made franchises, but Rowling and her team opted to go for EA instead and what we got was a deluge of movie tie-in games that ranged from 'average' to 'what is this abomination and how can you call yourselves publishers after making this!?" It's stunning to think that these games literally got worse as they went along but they did! It defies all logic but they absolutely did. Would things have been different if Nintendo got the deal? Who kno- actually, scratch that: Yes, things would have been so much better. But we don't live in that reality so we had to wait until just a few days ago to see something worth getting excited over. An actual game, that doesn't look like it's just leveraging the licence in order to get away with half-assing a game. (Looking at you, Avengers.) This here's what's called a promising title!
Far from the straight adaptations that we've been forced to swallow in the age of EA's Harry Potter, or the crappy mobile titles that have dominated the first few years of Portkey's Games' existence, Hogwarts legacy is a brand new story that promises to take us all to the, as-of-yet unexplored, days of the late 1800's. Of course, Hogwarts being Hogwarts this doesn't mean a great change for the aesthetics of the world we'll be entering, but it does mean an entirely fresh cast of teachers because these are the years before even Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall were part of the staff. Could we still perhaps be privy to a visit from Albus or Grindlewald as students? I don't know, can't be bothered to do the maths, but I'd imagine they'll be room for Easter eggs here and there. Especially as this title is reported to be an open world game wherein the whole of Hogwarts will be explorable for the first time ever!
Now the trailer that we received for this dream potter game was, to but it mildly, pure fan service goodness. From being welcomed into the iconic grand hall (Which, to be honest, looks smaller everytime I see it) to wondering the every reforming staircases, walking past the living portraits and exploring the grounds, to partaking in potions lessons in that dungeon which will one day be Snape's, herbology classes and, undoubtedly everyone in the school's favourite, defence against the dark arts. But where the concept truly started to stand out for me was when they spoke about going beyond the school and we saw glimpses of Hogsmeade and even just general country fly-bys on the backs of Hippogriffs; I don't know if we can actually be that free with our exploration in the game but that's a pretty heavy-handed promise to not live up to, Portkey Games, you'd better deliver! My only gripe with the trailer was the way we saw the player wearing School robes even when delving in deadly dungeons and facing traps, (don't they have travel clothes) but beyond that I was bouncing off the walls.
What makes this especially as cool for me is the way that there does not appear to be some boring fixed character for us to follow which will only make us wish we were still following Harry. (Sorry, Newt Scamander, but literally the most interesting thing about you is that oddball name.) Every single action shot from this trailer featured a vastly different school member which means either this game has a hardcore permadeath system for it's students or there's a character creator coming our way. (I'm going to assume it's the latter but I'll leave the door open for the former) Finally, after all these years I can just make-believe that I got my arrow and am living it up in Hogwarts in my house of choice- I don't remember. (I've literally been picked for every house apart from Hufflepuff, god knows where this game will place me.) I did note that every single player face in the trailer looked particularly lifeless, but I'm hoping that's just a quirk of early footage and not the first signs of the possibility that this game will be another low-effort nightmare like Portkey Game's other titles. No, that's out of the question. Those were mobile games and this is a real game... right?
I suppose what I'm trying to underline is my chief concern with the way this game appears to promise so much without any of the credential to back it up. I mean I hate to beleaguer a point, but Portkey Game's Mobile outings were so bad, and so derivative, that I can't help but wonder exactly what they have in mind with an apparently unique story and concept for the series. What's more some of the wording in the trailer and the screens active some dormant warning gland in my brain that hasn't sounded for a while. Something about the way they decided to show off 'outside the school' with one recognisable location in Hogsmeade, and then a unidentifiable ruin with very generic looking traps. And then there's the name, 'Hogwarts Legacy', very nonspecific and doesn't appear to hint to a situation that the game could possible cover in anyway like the book titles do. In fact, all of these little quirks together sort of sound like the warning signs that we might be looking at... god I don't want to say it... a live service. (Egads! Say it's not true!)
Of course, we have no idea as of yet what in all the world this game will end up shaping like, and I tend to be the apocalyptic type when it comes to predictions, but then I did predict that Avengers was going to be a live-service mess so it's not like my predictions are without any merit. Whilst I want to smile at the very idea of a open-world Harry Potter game, I'm just so used to getting absolute crap out of this franchise that I physically cannot accept something wholesome and good being presented to me without sniffing it for poison. Why wouldn't Warner Bros. and the Rowling pin be interested in milking the most profitable entertainment medium in the world with their highly recognisable brand? I'd honestly be more surprised if it turned out that this game is entirely on the level and doesn't have some super exploitative plans on the horizon.
But I'm fretting over nothing right now, all we have is a trailer that looks positively fine to gawk at and dreams to weave in the distinct hope that they don't get crushed come launch day. In the spirit of positivity, I will say that I hope this a single player RPG will oodles of freedom, but I'll take an MMO like some rumours are claiming that it is. If this turns out to be little more than a slice-of-life wizard simulator through the HP world, I will be chuffed beyond compare. (Although it's almost certainly going to not be that. Can't wait for this story to reveal how there was yet another Dark Lord before Grindlewald. It is Morgoth? I bet it's Morgoth...) I suppose all that's left is to enjoy what we've seen and live in bliss for the next few months until more info starts to trickle out. (Fingers crossed it's good news.)
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