A Skeptical Review of 'Hogwarts Legacy' 

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My favourite part was when John Hogwarts turned to the camera and said; "Maybe, the real Hogwarts Legacy is the friends we made along the way".

This is one of the few games that I get happily wrapped up in side quests and random stuff instead of sprinting for the main quests.

The game skeptic in me says this game is a 7.5 out of 10. The Harry Potter fan in me says this is a 20/10, this feels like an absolute love letter to the fans. I got spoiled and I don't even care, just being able to play this is a dream come true. I realize after some comments I believe I held my love for this game back to negate my bias for the Wizarding World at large. This game is a solid 9 with the only issue being a hand holdy and long tutorial

Not a Harry Potter fan at all but the amount of details and inspiration in the castle is just unreal. Every painting feel like they have story to tell. Every statue, pillar, wall feel like it have been build from the ground and not just pixel code made a dev. I cant imagine how HP feel rn.

I know it’s different but they also made Toy Story 3 the game and it has a toy box semi-open world mode where you customize your toy town and solve puzzles and it’s been one of favorite gaming experiences 13 years later. So I was actually excited when I saw they were on this because of that

I have put 33 hours into the game so far and I just finished my first trial at level 25. Most people will have sped through the main story, but I intend to take my sweet time and fully explore every possible side plot. There is so much to do even without the main storyline and I get lost exploring or decorating the room of requirement.

The Morbius puzzles should have been focused within the castle, there's plenty of space

The Müeller puzzles joke was pure gold. I was expecting typo fixes to pop up on screen as legitimate errors in recording.

This game is great, but the potential is INSANE. It's crazy how many small tweaks that they could make to make the game really good

I freakin lost it at "*morbin puzzles*" thanks Luke great stuff!

I'm glad Harry Potter fans finally got a game that did the world justice. it's not for me but I can totally see why people love it. if they made a lord of the rings game like this I would lose my shit

I don't understand how a game with a lore as extensive as Harry Potter can have such a low enemy variety. There's even a book called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".

Its not perfect but its better than I thought. I'm having a lot of fun playing the game and as soon as I stop i just want to go back and play more. Most of the issues I have with the game are ones that could very well be fixed with a patch. The foundation of the game they nailed it and its something they can build upon. Performance issues and lack of enemies can be fixed in future patch and dlc

This game has nailed the HP lore and getting absolutely lost in the massive world is a Potterheads dream come true. I'm about 20 hours in and loving every second of it.

"First 5 hours" - 10 hours in and I'm still in the "prologue" exploring the castle and side quests. haha

It would be so sick if it had online duels

Didn't know all that stuff about the developer's history. With a studio who made Disney movie licensed games and Tango Gameworks making horror games that were a bit niche it's pretty fantastic for gaming that these two studios could start the year off with power houses like Hogwarts Legacy and Hi Fi Rush. Both having single player, cosmetics earned in game through player feats, and no battle passes/loot boxes it feels like stepping back in time a few generations to where you could just plug a game in and have fun. Will be very interesting to see the future of these two studios for certain.

My first 3 days I did not see any of these things, but now that I have the day one patch the grass now turns to snow when you run through it. I enjoyed the video and its funny how we see things so differently.

Using my broom to drop from above of the poacher camps secretly and becoming invisible before starting an attack is really cool. Having the high ground advantage makes me feel like my character is a badass.

I was actually on the opposite end of what you described I hated the movies and didn’t read the books but I think that really help me enjoy this game and it ended up really winning me over

I am in love with the pure attention to detail and care that went into everything lore related in this game. There are so many hidden easter eggs and references to the books and films. It’s such a fun factor for a HP fan.

It's a 7/10 game. But it's nails the Harry Potter feeling. Aka if you're a fan of Harry Potter, great game. If you're not, it's a meh. Nothing at all you have not seen.

My biggest issue with the game so far has been targeting. The Dueling Championship on Hard took me a few attempts because I kept targeting the wrong person. I watch my wife play on Normal and although she encounters the same issue, it doesn't feel as punishing (which makes it less noticeable).

The "Fidelity and Raytracing" setting is absolutely insane and rarely dips below 30fps (XSX) unless you're sprinting throughout the castle, and seems to run fairly smoothly outside in the open world. Definitely at least worth a try, especially within Hogwarts, because it makes the interior look twice as good.

the lack of enemy variety is seriously a major dropped ball...that's why it's so important to get a control group of player feedback while the game is in development imo. Well hopefully, they can remedy that with a DLC.

Amazing game, only thing I wish the same puzzles weren’t over and over, but the detail in game is 👌

Snape kills Dumbledore

Yeah I definitely had to prioritize knocking out some Mervin puzzles cuz the tiny inventory was so frustrating

After finishing the game, I feel reviewers went too easy on this game. It really wasn't anything that special, besides Hogwarts itself. Which you don't spend enough time in by default.

I completely identify with your observations. I cannot understand the glowing reviews this game is getting. AC, Cyberpunk and the like get crucified for a glitch, yet HL,has been given a free pass. HL not only is full of technical problems, but the fundamentals (tech, design, visuals, mechanics, game construction) are, at best, last gen. I was wondering why my impression was at odds with virtually every mainstream review site and comment - am I play a different game to everyone else?

The fact the game came out day 1 looking and feeling great is a good sign. They’ll make some updates and I’m sure the game will be even more polished a few months from now

I’d have to disagree at the stealth being problematic. It’s great and useful.

Easily in my top 10 games of all time. A HP fans dream come true.

I thought I was gaving a stroke until I realised that your 'Merlin Puzzles' bit was you just having fun 😂

I really believe with a sequel and an increased budget, a lot of these problems can be fixed. I trust this team.

Some idiot messaged a bunch of spoilers after I posted a question on reddit asking if the game is worth buying. I'm want to buy it for a friend and have no interest in playing the game. Ended up wasting 20 min of his life and pissing him off because I kept asking dumb questions and referred to Dumbledore as Gandalf a bunch of times. Turns out he is a diehard fan of HP but wants to ruin the game for others. Sad life.

"The third-floor corridor is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death." So if we're fine with it then it's back in bounds?

I have never been a Harry Potter fan. I don’t hate it, I just never got into it. However, with this game I had an absolute blast going through the quests. I honestly don’t think this game crutches or is dependent on your previous thoughts of Harry Potter.

Awesome review Luke! Thanks for the thoughtful points youve made on the game. Im glad it turned out well. Side note: you usually mention Cyberpunk and Fallout 4 when it comes to taking the story seriously taking away from the game, but you almost never mention that Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild does the same thing -- the story in that game encourages you to skip exploration altogether since they constantly make it seem like the Gannon is about to break free of Zelda's spell at any given time if you don't hurry.

I do like the world that they created it feels like very true to the source material but the characters are not badly written but still kinda meh.

if you like HP at all you'll love the game. It's so nice to have a magical take on the open world genre. Usually I hate collectables. But I actually spent more time doing side content than the main story. Never knew seeing the stairs form at my feet would be better than just running up some static staircase. So much attention to detail and interesting animations that make the world feel alive. I'm much more of a yakuza dense open world enjoyer to a ubisoft large open world, map icon simulator enjoyer. And remember how in cyberpunk if you want to have good stats you're going to look like a clown, but here we can change all gear to look like anything we've already found or unlocked. I never even had inventory problems, I would always sell anything that I wasn't using and no matter how many times I found myself in Hogsmeade, it never got old or boring.

This is the sort of review I wanted. The other reviewers I watched didn’t even mention that enemy variety was badly lacking nor did I hear them mention the poor AI. To me those are important if I am going to last in a long game. Great review bro.

This game is seriously impressive. They really thought of everything. They truly brought the wizarding world to life. It’s actually fucking crazy

I'm using an nvme 4x ssd, and the worst that happens for me is my character walks through doors instead of runs, but I have been watching streamers play and seen loading wheels for doors that I go through seamlessly... I think it depends on what transfer speeds your ssd is capable of.

I hope they keep updating the game to expand upon the enemies since that appears to be the biggest gripe from all the reviews I have seen

I think you didn't quite nail the problem with the gear system. Transmog itself is NOT the problem and most of the gear is actually really good looking. The real problem is: You constantly get new loot and you would have to change it like every 2 minutes in theory. Which results in this never ending loop of you changing pieces, applying the transmog look and getting rid of the old stuff.. At one point it got so repetitive that I stopped caring and barely ever changed it. As you said, the numbers don't have much influence on the gameplay anyway. However, my biggest problem with the gear system was that it's basically all RNG based! It doesn't matter If you open a chest in a random broom closet or in the chamber of secrets itself. It's all the same random loot pool and that realisation quickly killed my entire immersion. No more theorizing and wondering about what could await me. Freaking Lootboxes sprinkled around my Singleplayer Hogwarts Open World. How exciting and magical..

You have to actually be my least favorite reviewer of all time. The part that really got me is the gear complaint. ‘The gear looks bad when you get it, so what’s the point if you look stupid. Also, there’s a transmog system that completely fixes this problem, but it’s still so dumb’ Like give me a break dude 😂💀 I swear if a perfect game ever does come out, you’ll criticize it for being too perfect or some crap lol

This is the first game i pre-ordered since Titanfall 2 and just like the former it did not disappoint me in the slightest. No sense of regret, no "I should have waited for better performance", no "this game feels half assed and they'll complete it later". Absolutely worth every cent. A nice full, complete, working game with no mtx. And if you were always a fan of the Wizarding world this game is pretty much a constant full on orgasm.

The inventory is still less painful then No Man Sky. Its still my biggest issue with NMS.

A sequel to this game will go insanely hard, I feel like they specifically left those things out like quidditch just for it because one thing that will be sick in a sequel I think is broom combat also

I honestly had no problems with inventory, I did the first 2 merlin puzzles and never felt the need to increase my inventory size anymore but i guess that's because I usually always sell my loot at hogsmead or nearest vendor whenever I can, so my inventory is empty half the time

Challenge: make a video title without 'skeptic' or 'skeptical' in it

pretty boring. really sucks when you’re walking around the castle and you don’t even realize it’s night time until all the NPC’s start to vanish… isn’t exploring suppose to be off limits at night? so you’re suppose to move around avoiding professors and having a complete different feel at night? total missed opportunity

We need this same style game made for Lord of the Rings now.

Marstin, mervin, Morman, morbin, marvin.....so glad you included that. I was cracking up!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Already have 20 hours.. And I don't even feel like I've scratched the surface yet..

Graphic and physics wise it’s not the best. Its repetitive as you progress. Crashed only once for me. Bad progression and gear inventory. BUT the story and side missions make up for the bad that I’ve experienced. Been having fun at the end of the day

Didn't even know this game existed let alone did I have any inclination to look into it or play it at all until the screeching online started and then I had to buy it. I know absolutely nothing about Harry Potter never was a fan of the series and didn't even plan on giving this game a look but I'm 20 hours into it now and it's absolutely one of the best games I've ever played definitely the best game I've played since Elden ring.

I’ll stand by it still the end of time. Hogwarts Legacy in every aspect has much better combat than God of War and it’s not even close

I'm loving this game! its been a while since i played a good western fantasy game, and this is scratching every itch.

Honestly a big part of the combat never getting old, for me at least, is how flashy it looks. Not only does it feel good once you’ve got all the spells that you like mapped out to each loadout and you know exactly what combination of buttons to press to keep juggling an enemy, but it looks damn good to. Every 4th basic cast you do a little spin, if you strike an enemy on the right and then one to the left, you don’t just send another hit to the left, you spin around and fire a cast off backwards. Every spell has its own animation when you cast it, the powerful spells draw the camera in and fire it back out when you cast it. It’s just so flashy.

Spoiling achieves very little to aid trans rights, but I'd argue it isn't being done by "distasteful" people... I think the huge issue is miscommunication - buying a game does not inherently make you transphobic (obviously), but you're still sending the message that you're okay with the possibility of your money trickling down into JK Rowling's wallet where she'll inevitably put it towards anti-trans causes. One tree doesn't make a forest, and I'll likely eventually play the game too, but don't try to frame the people upset about the game as "trolls" and "distasteful". Do what makes you happy! But still just try to be aware of what you're doing

I didn't even do the Merlin trials until i already beat the game. Just because you forget to sell useless gear, doesn't mean they need more inventory space 😂.

I think the fact that the game is just so massive in scope and scale on top of the fact that there's just so much to do and see.. the fact that there are no major or game-breaking bugs just shows how hard the devs worked on polishing this and because of that, I'm perfectly fine with a few pop-ins or a little long distance blur on performance mode. Overall it's just fun to play and get lost in the world they've created and I'm so happy the game lived up to the hype. There's never been a moment playing the game where I wasn't having fun or enjoying whatever task I was on. And for people who were saying the side quests were just a bunch of fetch quests idk where they got that from because that's not the feeling I get from it at all. They all seem to be introduced in a way to connect certain dots or introduce new mechanics or spells to you in a way that feels natural. And yes being a massive Harry Potter fan does add a few extra points and for me, the game thus far has been an easy 9/10. That 1 point is from just a few issues and things I wished the game had that it doesn't. But the lack of those things is pretty grandly made up for with all of the other activities and mischief you can get into in this game. And one final thought is that I will say I'm absolutely shocked that at no point did I feel like the world was "empty" or boring. Every location is spaced out in a way with scenes and locations in between them that you never really FEEL like you're just in a pointless area that was only added to increase map size. Every location is rich in detail and intrigue. I could go on and on about this game. No, it's not perfect but it's a DAMNED good first attempt at a game like this and I'm really looking forward and excited to see where they take the franchise next in the video game medium.

I'll be honest, even if You Say You are impressed, it does not sound very good. Personally, poor enemy AI and variety is a game breacker

I think this proves smaller studios, indie devs included, are capable of more than people give them credit for.

Hey buddy, you're very much becoming my favorite youtuber with your reviews and just general positivity. Even when discussing seemingly negative topics, you keep it lighthearted and fair. Even when you have a bias you try to be as skeptical as possible and I thank you for all of that. I shall continue to enjoy your content and hope you never take a downward spin towards mediocrity.

Intentionally calling merlin puzzles by the wrong name is top tier comedy right there my man. I needed this.

18:33 that outfit is one of the unforgivable curses.

My score is 9.5/10 it's simply amazing, game of the year for me. 44hrs in and having a blast!

I hope the critique features a call out of the TERRIBLE menu navigation ON CONSOLE. Why tf are devs still putting a PC-style pointer/cursor ON CONSOLE?! Console menu navigation should be done by d-pad and highlighting items - not dragging a pointer around with the thumbstick

It's clear they had a limited budget for this games. And honestly i feel they spent it well. I would not trade a single detail from the castle for more enemies or dungeons. It feels they put enough effort in the enemies and puzzles to keep you engaged and spent the rest into the world and characters. I can see this being a great base for a truly open world BOTW style HP game in the future. I would pay for a game of this quality that lets you go through all 7 years of study at Hogwarts.

SPOILER There's magic in the game.

I’m at my 9hr of gameplay, and I didn’t expect this game would be that great! It even look better than in the recent gameplay previews. The experience is amazing here, especially the amount of stuff you can do with your magic. This was worth the long wait, we finally got a decent probably the best RPG game ever created for a while. It had some details only true fans can recreate. Avalanche did that! Definitely one of my top 5s

The number of times you intentionally mispronounced "Merlin" puzzles cracked me up so hard 😂 Especially Mormon Puzzles

The inventory space is not really an issue because of the transmog system. simply fast travel to any shop and sell everything besides what the gear with the stats you want. you can replicate the look of every item you got with the transmog. but i do agree, there is no harm in simply increasing the base inventory space.

Well to be fair you can ditch the "prologue" after about 1,5-2 Hours and start exploring inside and outside of Howarts altough your means will be more limited due to missing tools. EDIT: There are at least twice the amount of enemy types you mentioned, such as Zombies, wolfs, giant spiders, giant rats and more.

Not even a big harry potter fan. But this game has taken me back to my bully playthrough days, the sense of wonder is amazing here

Iam surprised how good the gameplay is! Spellcraft and combat is very impressive, once u get used to changing spells, its quite intuitive! The flying is really well done! About 8ish hours in and loving it

I agree with most of this. But despite its problems this game is incredibly fun. I’ll sit down to play it on my day off and before I know it 14 hours has passed by and it’s 5am. Been waiting 20 years for this game

The Morbius puzzles should have been focused within the castle, there's plenty of space

(John 3:16,17) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but should have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (Romans 10:9,10) "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Odd how you didn't notice the giant spiders, the massive spider boss which had its own attacks, the giant frog things that fight incredibly aggressive but can only be stunned with glacius or leveos when their tongue is out, the wild mongrels, the infuris which require fire attacks for them to even take damage, etc. Enemy variety is far more varied than you make it sound.

The fact you said Merlin all the different ways like you said you should do, I couldn’t stop giggling because you didn’t break at all 😂

(joke) Here is the entire story: you are named jeofrysus and you go to hogwarts but then the school gets a flying potato infestation and you turn into dumbledoor and go to the backrooms where you eat pepper pig

The game is great and honestly feels like an mmo at times. Hopefully this is proof of concept to make this a legit mmo. Can you imagine?

You can make the gear invisible while wearing it. Great for silly hats and glasses while still getting the benefits.

Thank you for reviewing this game instead of giving into the idiots who are harassing other game reviewers 💯

Why is no one talking about why WB patented the nemesis system to only not use it in their games.

Love the amount of options we have in combat. So many spells to use and combos to mix together. I prefer having so many ways to fight easier enemies then to have a have limited options with tougher Ai.

The "Merlin" puzzle mispronunciation was pretty funny. Knowing nothing about the game, I had no idea if it was Merlin or some other similar word. Then you kept saying it juuuuust differently enough that I REALLY didn't know what the real word was. Finally, when you said "mormon", I thought maybe you're doing it on purpose. Then your reveal... Good times.

The biggest thing I was sad about was not being able to play Quidditch... And maybe having like the year end with declaring which House won the House Cup since many a time in the quests the Professors give your House, points for your excellence... Tbh having more things being influenced/dependent on which House we belong would've been so nice, instead of just influencing what coloured dress we wear and what common rooms we get access to...

As someone who always thought the HP series was a bit lacking in worldbuilding and character development, i think that this game might be the spark to a richer HP universe. Also seems alot of fun, but unfortunate that Rowling is openly transphobic, in which the money she gets will probably be donated to likeminded politicians and such. Not going to freak out about it, thats just how it is and Im probably gonna pirate it or buy used

It’s definitely a 7. It’s okay. I’m a casual Harry Potter fan and it’s just okay. If the wand was a dagger, this would shoot up to at least an 8.5.

I’ve played just about every big fantasy open world rpg out there. I’m very critical of the games I play and I will give up if I hit 8 hours and it doesn’t inspire me. Recently I completed The Witcher 3 and its DLCs for the first time, and it now ranks among my favourite games ever, along with Breath of the Wild. This game very much feels like a mix of both of those games, with a nostalgic coat of paint over top. I love that the world is not too big, so there’s something to do almost everywhere you go. I love the environmental challenges and field guide secrets (it took me ages to realize I had to leviosa those statue dudes!) I love the story. I love that they slowly deliver all of the gameplay systems throughout the game so that you only come to things as you would benefit from them, and it doesn’t overwhelm you. ( tho getting the broom sooner would be a nice) I also have to say as a trans woman, I think Sirona Ryan is one of the best examples of trans representation we’ve ever had in gaming. She’s respected, badass, and actually a part of the main story instead of some Easter egg tucked away in an obscure side quest for ally points. And she’s actually voiced by a trans woman. Which is very important to me. I have to say I don’t agree with your comments on performance? For me on PS5 the game has performed exceedingly well. I actually prefer to play on Fidelity mode without RT because it’s a super smooth experience and I don’t find that this game needs 60fps at all. 30fps also looks better to me because of the cinematic styling of the visuals. Witcher 3 on PS5’s fidelity mode runs like dog shit and that game is from 2015… so I find hogwarts legacy’s performance really impressive. I do agree that much of this game feels last gen, especially the character animations and the sound mixing. Which I would say is… bad. The characters sound like they’re in a studio most of the time, not in the hallways of hogwarts. The levels of the speech volume are just all over the place. If I had one major complaint for the game it’s that. There are other issues like yes, the gear and inventory systems could be a lot better. Yes, almost all the gear is very, very ugly. I also find it annoying that if I put my hood up my characters bangs get removed? Why?? 😂 there are definitely a lot of things they can work on for the sequel or dlc.

A future 2-3 hour video on Hogwarts Legacy? Yes please!

Nailed the Merlin bit, Luke. Great review!

Boy you're really milking the word "skeptical" huh

Those people spoiling really are spiteful. I got spoiled on a fanart of Pikamee, because she was excited to play the game, this added to the fact she got a lot of hate on her stream chat and didn't stream the game... this is the kind of thing that really get to me