Hogwarts Legacy Gameplay Reaction - Is It Overhyped?
Feb. 1, 2023Hogwarts Legacy Gameplay Reaction – Is It Overhyped?
In anticipation of the upcoming open-world RPG Hogwarts Legacy, we will go over whether we think this title will meet expectations when it comes gameplay, combat mechanics and more.
Hogwarts Legacy comes out in under a week and to my knowledge, it’s the most comprehensive Harry Potter game ever made. Yes, there have been other Harry Potter-themed games, but this is the largest one to date – and one that I think most adults would play, compared to the other ones which seemed aimed almost specifically at kids. In this article/video, we’ll stay out of the whole JK Rowling situation. We are all adults so as to make decisions about that sort of thing ourselves, and that’s not what you come here for.
The part that has me the most excited aboutHogwarts Legacyis the open-world exploration. Flying around in the broom, exploring the areas around the Hogwarts castle, makes me remember back when I first saw the Harry Potter movies. I was a teenager and didn’t understand what all the hype was about – and then I got really sick one day at school and I stayed home. For some reason, I decided to watch the movies since I had nothing else to do, and they really drew me in.
I think there’s something about magic, wizards, witches and this idea of a magic school that speaks to the kid inside all of us. It doesn’t really matter what age you are, whether you’re a child, a young adult or a full-blown adult like myself. There’s something about it that makes you feel young at heart.
Immersion looks top-notch. I cannot wait to see theplacesI’ve watched and read so much about come to life in Hogwarts Legacy. I feel we’re going to get so absorbed into this world in a way that not a lot of games can do.
It’s like if they made something along the lines of a 3D-Action Lord of the Rings game allowing us to explore different all the locations under a modern engine – there are not that many fictional worlds that could capture such immersion if they came to life in a game, and I feel this is one of those. I expect the level of immersion to be something you’re probably not going to find in many other games.
TheCombatmechanics in Hogwarts Legacy look OK. They don’t seem to be amongst the most amazing I’ve seen, but things like spell-casting appear to be functional enough. I’m not expecting this game to be like a hardcore RPG for players into things like min-maxing and that sort of thing, but the combat looks good enough to propel the game forward and drive exploration – so I’m happy about that.
Frankly, that’s not the biggest priority for me in this game. It’s certainly one of my considerations, but the exploration and immersion elements are probably the most important things to me.
This is probably the weakest aspect I’ve seen in Hogwarts Legacy so far. The parts where you’re going around interacting with other students and teachers seem like a huge part of the game, like in any RPG, and I feel the facial animations when they speak don’t look very good.
The voice acting is OK, not the worst voice acting I’ve heard – but when you combine that with terrible body animations, it’s going to make it a hard sell to sit through. I wonder how much of that I’ll be able to sit through before I start reading instead and just skip through dialogues.
The problem for me is that expectation for Hogwarts Legacy is huge given how high the production value of the Harry Potter movies are. You’d expect that to be the case in this game, though it’s frankly not up to par. The acting in those movies was very good and I think people are expecting that here as well.
Obviously, theCharacter Creationstage is a big part of the game, but I mostly want to talk about the overall RPG aspect of it. Getting and crafting items, outfits and other stuff for your character and making a build per se.
We do a lot ofBuildshere at Fextralife, so often when I first look at a game like this the first thing I think about is how big is the build diversity. That usually makes me more or less interested in the game, and it’s obviously not something I was expecting in Hogwarts Legacy. But the fact that there is in fact some customization and enough there for us to play one way or the other is very intriguing to me, and I think it should be intriguing to other people who like hardcore RPGs. This does not mean the game is or should be hardcore, but I definitely think it will make hardcore RPG players a little bit more interested.
Lastly, and specifically talking from a graphical standpoint, I think the graphics on Hogwarts Legacy are pretty good. I’m not going to say that they’re up there with games like God of War or anything like that, but I feel they’ll make the game justice. I don’t think people are going to have too many complaints, as long as they achieve that immersion feeling I’ve talked about before.
After all, fantasy games don’t necessarily have to look realistic in order to immerse players into the game’s world, so I think the graphics are good enough. We’ll have to see how the performance of it is, but in terms of like graphical quality, I think they have a good enough look for the game that should satisfy just about everyone playing.
This is a very, very hyped game. I’ve heard that its pre-selling is absolutely insane. Tons of Harry Potter fans out there ranging from kids to adults, myself included haven’t had a game like this before. I can see a lot of people playing Hogwarts Legacy.
I think certain aspects of this game like exploration and immersion are going to be phenomenal, surely leaving you feeling like a kid as you did when you first read the books or when you first watched the movies. My general worry is the game isn’t going to be quite as good in regards to voice acting and animations and might pull you out of the immersion.
So what do you guys think so far from what you’ve seen from Hogwarts Legacy? Is this something you guys have preordered? Are you excited to play in a few days’ time? What concerns do you have about the game and what are you really looking forward to? I want to hear from you guys. Let me know in the comments below.
Excited about Hogwarts Legacy? We’ve got just the thing, head to ourwikifor all the latest details includingSpells,Talents,Companionsand more. Be sure to be on the lookout for more Hogwarts Legacy content as we draw nearer to the launch.
In the meantime check out nextHogwarts Legacy Character Creation – How Good Is It?
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
