By J.D. Eddy, Editorial Editor
Hogwarts Legacy is a single player RPG or role playing game. There have not been a lot of these games made, but to have one set in the universe of such critically acclaimed books is a breath of fresh air.
To start off by giving the basics of the story, players are a fifth year coming in to Hogwarts. Your character had little to no idea they were a wizard or witch before the story begins, but it does not stop them from becoming one of the most powerful magical beings.
The story wastes no time with getting you right into the action within five minutes of the story. You are introduced to Professor Fig, another protagonist of the story with a very intricate backstory, and also one of, if not the most, powerful wizards in the game.
You board a carriage pulled by Thestrals, animals that can only be seen by one who has witnessed death.
A dragon attacks the carriage and the ministry official you are with is eaten, allowing your character to see these fantastic beasts.
This is on the way to Hogwarts. You have not seen the castle yet and already been through more than almost any student that attends the school.
Your character is a descendant of a long line of wizards who can sense this ancient magic that is all around.
It is a powerful, chaotic form of magic that is only wielded by a select few throughout the ages. Your character is able to sense and use this magic in and out of combat.
The combat is the most impressive thing with a maximum of 16 slots of magic you can use, and there are 26 total spells that can be equipped to the hot bar. Most of these spells have an in-game application to solves puzzles, move objects out of the way or to solve some of the Merlin trials which increase how much gear your character can hold.
Two things important to the story are your main base and means of transportation around the map.
The Room of Requirement holds a place called the vivarium, meant to hold the fantastic beasts you rescue all over the map, potions tables, garden plots, looms to upgrade your gear and the room is fully customizable, so you can make it to your liking.
There are three main kinds of transportation: the broomstick you have seen in the Harry Potter movies, a hippogriff which is a kind of winged horse with the face of a falcon and the last one is griphorn. The griphorn is only available as a mount later in the game with a certain choice during the main story.
This story is about increasing the knowledge of your character, not out of vengeance or rage but for a sense of adventure and stopping a threat that is larger than anything that has been seen in the wizarding world.
The adventure and all-around fun gameplay makes this one of the better single player games that has released in the past few years. It really shows the game needed to be made.
I give the game 9 out of 10. The only thing lacking is the absence of more side quests for certain houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin have the most with Ravenclaw coming in last. They need a few more allowing for more relationships.
I hope you buy the game. If not, you are missing out. If you are on last gen consoles, I know the release is delayed to make it better, but just wait a while and it will be worth it.