Oh, the Harry Potter games that could have been!

 Dumbledore said calmly

As a child growing up in the early 2000's, there are a few truths that I and everyone else within my age range held true. First, that we would all recognise a decade of genuinely trash-tier pop music; good lord what happened to everyone's taste? Secondly, that literally every single man, woman or child has at some point come across the Harry Potter world. Whether that be by reading the books, watching the movies, actively attempting to hide from both, or even just playing the games. Yes, there are apparently folk out there who's only introduction to the world of Witchcraft and Wizardry is from playing those movie adaptation games. Pity those people. Of course, in the age today there are less children with knowledge of Harry Potter, and though Warner Bros. are attempting some grand revival through the impressively boring 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to find' them movies; that's clearly an era that has passed us by and is starting to fade. But that doesn't mean we've forgotten it. Or at least, I haven't.

Because, you see, in my age it was the height of everyone's deepest desire to be whisked away to the world of Hogwarts. Everyone was waiting for that letter by Owl. (See what you did to an entire generation, Rowling? Got their hopes up for smoke and mirrors!) Little cathartic release substituted such disappoint when this never happened, but some could at least distract the misery by gorging on the world which had entranced them so. Watch the movies, read the books, go on Pottormore and take the test to discover which house you belong in for the fortieth time. (I've literally landed every house apart from Hufflepuff without even trying to meta-game. I guess the Sorting Hat's just confused these days.) As you likely have deduced; I was one such child. As was everyone in my school, mind you, I think peer pressure played her hand somewhat. I read every single book at least twice, got the games and watched the movi- well, most of the movies. (I still haven't see 'Death Hallows Part 2', maybe never will. Don't really care to. Movie didn't need to be split into two, Warner can go do one.) But it's the games that really have my attention.

Harry Potter games are something that I never really thought all that much about since the movie series ended. At least, I didn't until that 'Hogwarts Legacy' announcement came around to spark our imagination and hearts with promises that absolutely will never be lived up to. But what was it about that game which could win the Internet (or at least, the parts of the Internet from the same generation as myself) with such a bare-bones, introductory concept only, trailer? I'd say it's because that footage was filling the void we all wanted filled by the failure Harry Potter games over the years! Okay, I'm being combative... I'm sure the Harry Potter games sold well, and that their reviews from the time were decent, (They were, I looked it up) but not a single one was ever what we wanted it to be, and I need to vent. It only really hit me recently when I thought about it and realised that the perfect formula to make the ideal Harry Potter game was introduced to the world a year before 'The Order of the Phoenix' movie. And reiterated/perfected upon one year before 'The Half Blood Prince' Movie. Those adaptation studios had the materials there to draw from, they just couldn't be bothered to look around and find them. (for shame, team. For shame)

Before I get there, however, I'll talk about the games we wanted Harry Potter to be. Every kid out there wanted to be a wizard attending Hogwarts. (despite the obvious plot flaw that we all see in hindsight; there only actually being two or three career paths leading out of the wizarding world. Ministry member, School teacher and shopkeeper for Diagon Alley) We wanted to play out learning the spells, potions, creatures of this wild world, maybe delving into mysteries inbetween and saving the wizarding world a bit if we're lucky. But that sort of game wasn't going to become popular for a few more years, so the next best thing is playing as Harry Potter and living our fantasies even more vicariously through him. Thus, that was what every game did, and they did a wild job with it.

The game I remember the best from that time would be 'Chamber of Secrets', just because of how odd it was and the strange deviations it went for. It was a third person adventure game that tasked you quite often with platforming and simple puzzle solving in the same way that Conkers or Banjo Kazooie might. In fact, talking about Banjo Kazooie, Harry Potter also had a huge collectathon aspect to the game wherein you'd run around picking up floating pieces of 'Bertie Bott's every flavour beans' for some incomprehensible reason. There was a duelling minigame thrown in there which tasked you with knocking out Fred and George before you even got to Hogwarts. (Which has to be some sort of violation of school rules.) And of course there was a small quidditch match in the game that I remember as being so frustrating that I turned off my Playstation several times over whilst playing it. (Although, I was a child at the time, I'm sure it's not so bad now.)

But that was by no means the only Harry Potter game, of course. There was a quidditch stand alone game which got everyone excited for a while before it came out and was... actually it wasn't bad! Yeah, somehow it was a decent enough time that absolutely doesn't hold up by today's standards but that's okay! Not everything needs to bring down the house, I can live with 6/10. All the movies got their adaptations which gradually become more combat-focused as the series itself got darker. I vaguely recall the Wii version of 'The Half Blood Prince' trying it's hardest to mix in simulating school lessons with the moody melodrama (Which I really appreciated, by-the-by. Living the life of Hogwarts was the thing I wanted) but the game still fell into a fairly linear pattern before long. (Also, the quidditch matches were on-the-rails; what the heck?) And though I've never played it, I hear that the Deathly Hallows game was just fight after fight the whole way through; basically betraying the whole purpose of a 'Harry Potter' game.

Now I've complained about the whole franchise to no end, the games were fine but they weren't as great as they could have been and leaned on the crutch of being 'adaptations' far too much. (Something I blame on WB, by the way; that's how the sold almost all of the licence.) But what was the ideal formula for a Harry Potter game that I mentioned? First of all, we should have been able to make our own characters over being forced to cosplay 'the boy who lived' the entire time. That one's a given. Second, the entire point of the game should have been the balance between enjoying your life as a kid in a magical world whilst being embroiled in serious issues that threaten it. That didn't necessarily mean we needed a unique story just for the video games, but we needed to get the sense that there were two worlds colliding here so that we cared for both. But that's high level game design, right? We wouldn't be thinking about the potential of games like that for another ten years... Or would we? Because, you see, I think that the perfect two games which could have been great source material for the Harry Potter developers: Is Persona 3 and 4.

Think about it. Games that follow a group of school-aged people that are concerned with the dual challenges of coming-of-age and saving their little worlds from a mystical threat. (One of them also deals with coming back from the abyss of worthlessness and suicidal contemplations, but I'm sensing that might be a bit beyond Harry Potter's scope. Just a tad.) Gameplay split with scenes where you attend lessons and pile on stats that help you along the main game. RPG mechanics, side quests, smaller and more intimate worlds. Persona has the Harry Potter game we all wanted wrapped up within itself somewhere, and if we're every going to see that revival of the series that WB wants; that's where they need to go next. Come on WB, make the best licencing decision of your lives! (Heck, I'll write it for you! This just has to get done.) But I'm sure everyone has their own idea on the Harry Potter game that could have been, as well as those golden ingredients which it seems no one has capitalized on. If you're another disenfranchised 2000's kid ever searching for the game that licencing forgot, let me know your 'golden vision' down below. We can turn this into a 'group therapy' session.