Hogwarts Legacy (2023) Review

One of the biggest games to be released this year is the Harry Potter spinoff Hogwarts Legacy. It came out to some positive reviews and as a fan of the franchise, I thought I would give it a playthrough and even though it took a long time, I have finally finished the game. The premise of the game set in the late 1800, sees a new student join Hogwarts where they have access to ancient magic and must learn to harness it and stop the dark forces. 

Characters

This game has a main character that the gamer gets to create. I created a male wizard and used him throughout the game, I mostly played as a heroic wizard and chose the dialogue to meet with that. The character is okay, there are a few interesting things about them but I always feel with your own protagonist there isn't enough depth put into them. I never really cared that much about the lead character and the voice acting didn't help at all. 

There are so many characters in this game but one in particular stands out and that is Sebastian Swallow. A member of Slytherin, he is easily the best character in this game. His story is fascinating and the voice acting is great, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with this character instead the main story. 

Professor Fig is a decent mentor for the main character, he kind of drifts in and out of the game but I thought he had a fun dynamic with the main protagonist and was a nice part of the game. 

But the majority of the rest of the cast aren't great, the villain Ranarok is one of the most dull that you will ever see in a video game and is barely given anything to work with. Other class mates and teachers are just pretty dull and I can't really remember any of them or their personalities. I mean they waste the great Simon Pegg who plays the headmaster but is a small part of the game and doesn't really add anything. 

Main Story 

The main story is average at best. It sees the Goblins basically try to take over Hogwarts and steal magic. It is interesting how it looks through the past of the wizarding world and what the characters motivations are but the rest of it is dull. The main character is not interesting enough and the villain is incredibly mediocre with this being a pretty big let down that had potential to be so much better. 

Side Content

As I mentioned above, the Side Content involving Sebastian is the best part of the game and I really enjoyed it, it had emotion and depth to it. There were a couple of other side activities that worked as well with other students. But there was also others that were a waste of time, the usual fetch quests that seem to be in every RPG are overwhelming here and I skipped the majority of them. Plus why was there no Quidditch, it is one of the most popular thing in Harry Potter but the game creators didn't put it in the game. 

Gameplay 

The strength of the game is that the gameplay is fantastic. It flows incredibly well and allows the player to use plenty of spells that are from the books and films. The battles are a lot of fun and taking advantage of the spells that you learn and develop over the game is really fun. It is where the game thrives and I am happy that they really invested time into making this part a real highlight. 

Graphics

The game looks really good, it represents the Wizarding World really well. Hogwarts looks just how I imagined that it would, it nails its atmosphere very well and I really liked how the use of spells and design of characters feel natural to this universe that the game is set it. 

Overall

Overall, Hogwarts Legacy is a good game that does plenty of things right, especially its gameplay and graphics. But it it also fumbles on things too, I think when a game links to a film or book series it needs to have strong characters and story and for the most part this game doesn't have that. I still think it is an enjoyable game worth buying but definitely more of a desire for big fans of Harry Potter. 

Rating - 7/10

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001) Review 

So Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set to hit cinemas next month and I thought this would be the time to go back and watch the films in The Harry Potter franchise, starting with the Philosophers Stone. So I watched it today and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a young child find out he is a wizard and he is enrolled in a school for magic where he tries to learn more about himself. 

Main Character

A young Daniel Radcliffe plays Harry Potter and he does about as well as a child actor would do in the role. You care about Harry and there is that innocence about him that makes him easy to root for and support in his journey. But there is no denying that his acting ability isn't great, some of the delivery of his lines is cringe and I think this would have always been the case and at least with this film the youth of the character was a hinderance in terms of performance quality. 

Supporting Characters

The same could be said for Rupert Grint and Emma Watson's first performances as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They have clear characters and they do the best they can, Ron is quite funny and Hermione is smart but sometimes it can't be conveyed well enough because of the inexperience of the performers. The seasoned actors all do great jobs, Maggie Smith is really fun as Professor McGonagall and I like how she is as the teacher and her dynamic with the three kids is handled and Smith seems to be having plenty of fun. Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid is also really entertaining to watch, he is such a jolly character and he is kind of a mentor to Harry, which is one of my favourite parts of the film. The late Alan Rickman plays Severus Snape and he is just brilliant in the role, he has become iconic and this is the start of his run as the character. Richard Harris plays Dumbledore and honestly he doesn't have lots of screen time but when he does, he is a presence and I really like how they treat him as this ultimate wizard despite having a smaller presence in this film. 

Story 

The story does a really effective job of introducing us to the Wizarding world and getting us to instantly care about our main character and this new world that was created. I really enjoyed seeing the different lessons of Hogwarts and things like Quidditch. But this film does feel a little bit unbalanced, the last act has a reveal that doesn't quite work and I think it just meanders a bit in its storytelling. It has so much to tell us that it sometimes feels like exposition dumps even if it is entertaining. 

Script

The script is good, there are some pretty funny moments in the film and as I have said a few times I did care about the characters and when they were actually in peril. Don't get me wrong it isn't perfect but I think it does an effective enough job of introducing us to this franchise and the story that will not only be told in this film but plenty of sequels. 

Style 

For a film that came out over 20 years ago the effects are still pretty good and seeing the wizarding on screen is always fun. Also, despite the story being a bit passive, I actually thought it was paced quite well and something interesting was happening on screen. 

Overall

Overall, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is a good start to the franchise that does the job well of starting this franchise and getting the young actors off to a start. 

Rating - 7/10