Hogwarts Legacy Review 

The elephant in the room with Hogwarts Legacy is Harry Potter’s creator, J.K. Rowling, whose comments about transgender people in recent years have left a sour taste in the mouths of many current and former Potter fans, both at IGN and in the world at large. This has driven some to call for a boycott of the Wizarding World altogether - including Hogwarts Legacy, though Rowling was not directly involved and there are good reasons (both in-game and out) to believe the developers at Avalanche don’t necessarily share her views. Regardless, IGN has always and will continue to champion human rights causes and support people speaking with their wallets in whatever manner they choose. As critics, our job is to answer the question of whether or not we find Hogwarts Legacy to be fun to play and why; whether it’s ethical to play is a separate but still very important question. So just as in virtually all cases, we’re choosing to expose and address the views of the franchise creator separately from our consideration of the work of the hundreds of game developers and evaluate Hogwarts Legacy as it stands, leaving behind-the-scenes context to be considered in addition to that evaluation, rather than in place of it, so that it can be weighted according to your own values.

Voldemort's going to seem like Gandhi after I'm done with this game

You guys should really start mentioning musical scores in your reviews. Music was one of the most important element in the harry potter movies that made me a fan of the universe.

Imagine a LOTR game from these devs with this attention to detail?

Looking forward to an Azkaban dlc for dark wizard storyline players. Would be cool to battle a dementor or even attempt escaping Azkaban

Art design and a passionate dev team really carries this game.

If it had a quidditch mode it would have been a 10/10.

Now that's impressive

Disappointed that houses don't matter. It would have been interesting to see some different cutscenes or have specific spells locked behind certain houses so you have a reason to do multiple playthroughs.

Been waiting to have an experience like this since playing Chamber of Secrets on PS1 as a kid :)

Avalanche Studios needs to make the next Lord of the Rings game! They did an epic job on this game!!!

This game is so great not just as a harry potter game but as an open world game. The map is not as big as many other big open world games like valhala but it has many interiors to explore and most of all the world actually feels alive like im actually living in the hp world

It's great to see peeves as a character, but it is heartbreaking rik mayall passed away before we could ever see his portrayal as the character

Considering this the developer's first go at big RPG game after doing mostly Disney Infinite and other smaller scale tie-in games, it's impressive this game is being received so highly.

This is one of those cases where you can see it's more of a labor of love than anything else. The attention to detail, the amount of things that we're lacking from previous experiences, the original storyline that completely fits to the universe, the gameplay mechanics that visibly takes advantage of the potential within the world. This is a game that was clearly made by Harry Potter fans who knew exactly what was lacking elsewhere

IGN actually liked the game and gave it an excellent score??? I’m surprised

Game looks really well made. you can tell the devs are big fans and wanted to make a game for fans

About 17 hours in and I'm having a lot of fun. I've been a harry potter fan since the first movie came out. It really captures the Harry Potter and Hogwarts vibe. The crazy spell combos you can cast if you're fast at switching spell sets is insane. 9.5/10 for me. If it had Quiditch, it'd be a 10/10

From Disney Infinity to this. Now that's impressive

2023 is going to break my wallet with great games.

Several hours in and so far finding it a wonderful game that truly delivers on the promise of the concept. Filled with affectionate detail and polished like a gem. It also should not be discounted how much better the game probably is because it's a single player experience without all of the baggage and technical challenge of it being an MMO-style game. A very wise design choice that obviously raised the ceiling for quality + experience.

Imagine just stating the fact that men aren't women gets you a negative review.

Ive been wanting this game to succeed so bad. This makes me happy.

This game would have been a 10/10 if we could put our name in the Goblet of Fiyah!

Insane how JKR is now some evil person for saying a man can’t be a women. The world has gone mad.

my favorite quests are the ones where you go get something precious for someone and than tell them that you actually also really like it and decided to keep it XD

Those complaining about this game being anti trans are complaining on a device made in China by people who despise them.

Well done Avalanche! First step to becoming a great developer

This seems, perfectly balanced.

This really looks promising

She literally made 0 anti-trans statements, and you know it. Let's all stop pretending to be offended by nothing.

No words could describe how much details they put in the map. Absolutely amazing

10/10 They need to make a movie about this game.

I'm not surprised that this game got 9/10 from IGN. Was kinda expecting it to be 9.5/10. This shows that this game is amazing.

Been waiting for a game like this for 20 years

What a time to be alive. We have a Harry Potter game that’s better than most triple aaa games that have been released in the last few years

I'm so glad this game is getting great reviews. Going to buy this for sure now!

My guess is we will see a lot of familiar pureblood names like Weasley, Malfoy etc. Black is already confirmed (the headmaster)

I'm 8 hours in and loving everything about it so far....

Do you guys think this game will have dlc in future? Has potential to be a long lasting game with regular dlc

I'M ONLY BUYING BECAUSE OF J.K BOATROWING'S COMMENTS ABOUT A CERTAIN GROUP.

Avalanche has come a long way as a games studio. They went from average to exceptional.

Surely everyone in the comments are going to be kind and respectful towards one another right?

That last line made me think it was going to get a 7 😅 I’m even more hype now though

Men aren't women

Congrats to the dev team for embracing the concept and lore and delivering a franchise-worthy experience. Just super happy for those folks rn. Bc this could’ve (and still might) go down poorly.

Just started playing the other day. This game has been wonderful so far.

They see me Rowlin' They hatin'

They mentioned so many issues and still gave it a 9?

Cant get past the shear amount of dialogue, finding it incredibly boring

One thing that the old Harry Potter games of the early 2000s had that this game doesn't is Jeremy Soule's beautiful soundtrack.

Absolutely disgusting that there’s a Transformer in the game. Definitely not buying

Hey IGN, the more you slag Rowling the more we love her (a real woman).

YOU ARE NOT A BAD PERSON FOR BUYING OR PLAYING THIS GAME, YOU CAN ENJOY WORKS AND NOT THEIR CREATORS. That's all from me have fun everyone!

That trans dude in three broomsticks is crazy wack tho. Whats the context of him being in the game. Kinda doesnt make sense from a historical standpoint

I’m a few hours into the game, it’s great so far.

"9/10 - just enough antisemitism" - IGN

JKR has never said anything transphobic.

J K Rowling made me buy this game! Great lady :)

The game is truly brilliant

Thank you for reviewing the game and ignoring the nonsense.

Great game so far! Just 30mins. after opening the game, you could already tell they've made it with passion and love for the franchise. Too bad i've to pause and go back to work.

Best video I've watched so far, every other video I've watched is "This is amazing, nothing is bad about it!" This actually shows some real issues, while still saying how enjoyable the game is.

It really makes you FEEL like a wizard. 10/10

Ms. J.K. Rowling is a gift to the world. 🙏

IGN is such a waste of time these days.

Thousands of positive comments. Seems the narrative about being boycotted is being overstated to say the least.

Thank you Travis, excellent review. Can’t wait to jump into the wizarding world

Man this was a blow to the so called tolerant and inclusive trans community. All the harassment and bullying they started on twitch on nice streamers really just made themselves look like the enemy they sought to destroy. They just proved themselves to be just as bigger bigots than those they accused of.

How can you have technical issues, mediocre story, poor enemy variety, and still be a 9? I would understand an 8

Forespoken really had no excuse when you look at this greatness

Playing this game as Harold Potter, Harry’s grandpa. Joined Griff and saw a familiar face. Amazing game, play it

This looks like the definitive interactive HP Hogwarts experience

The "science is real" crowd isn't going to be too happy about this.

4 enemies all game No gear progression Fetch quests No builds Holes in the story Technical issues It's Harry Potter--->9/10 OK IGN

People will happily play shooting games or horror games but want to boycott a game because of someone’s opinions, what happened to freedom of speech, him and her

Pleasantly surprised by this review. I’m very excited to play!

J.K.Rowling said nothing wrong.

twitter folks are in shambles now that ign gave the game a 9/10

Finally a hyped triple a game that isn’t broken on release. Also the music was great in the game. Next time mention it a little.

You don't see everyday a game made mixing a movie and a book saga. Phenomenal.

Twitter users on suicide watch

Harry Potter will always be a warm happy place from my childhood. Love the look of this game.

It's literally just game! Play it or don't, people are morons!

"Frame rate complaints" are for people who never played old school consoles or used underpowered PCs.

This game is fantastic.I hope we get to fight death eaters and other powerful wizards in a possible dlc.

This game really set out to tell us about the legacy of a wart covered hog and it did just that

THAT INTRO SUMMARY IS THE TRUE FEELING OF US DIEHARD HARRY POTTER FANS AFTER SEEING THIS GAME FINALLY 💯💯

10/10. Incredible. THE Harry Potter game.

Boycott gang literally freely promoted this game so hard xD Seems great game anyway.

Fight against online bullying and buy this game people!

Don't know why IGN felt the need to pin that comment or make it. There wasn't an "elephant in the room" about the game until y'all brought it up. Are y'all scared of backlash for reviewing this game? We don't care about how you feel about J.K. Rowling and whatever her opinions are. We just wanna know about the game and the review that y'all provide us. Y'all aren't an advocacy group. You're a gaming site. Stick to what you know and are meant to do You say so yourself in the comment. "As critics, our job is to answer the question of whether or not we find Hogwarts Legacy to be fun to play and why." Stick to that. That's all we want to know

VR mode for full Immersion would be great 🤩

they gave this a 9 and starfield a 7!

Trans people just can't scream loud enough to stop the game huh

Playing Hogwarts Legacy while eating Chic-fi-a, truly menacing behavior

im gonna buy this game purely because JK Rowling is transphobic. Solidarity wit my fellow transphobes

I’m so buying this game. And DONT WORRY! It’s not because I’m transphobic… but because I’m anti-trans.

This game will only get better with future updates

Doing a complete Harry Potter main story as a dlc would be awesome. Being a random student in voldemort era would be amazing.