Hogwarts Legacy review: Rowling’s specter hangs over a vapid open world

Hogwarts Legacy is not so much a video game as it is an attempt to resolve what was a particular writer’s very specific point of view into a “universe” that will please everyone, regardless of whether that ever coheres into something that makes sense.

Joanne Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s StoneFamously, she was a single mother living in poverty. This would have made her more wealthy than many people around the globe. In my youth, I didn’t know if it would interest me. When Harry first visited Hogwarts, I was 11 years old. Yes, I did read those damn books. We were AllReading the damn books.

It is telling the tale of a generation by describing my love for the series. People still casually drop their Hogwarts house in their dating profiles; proper nouns like “Voldemort” have been adopted into our language as shorthand for a tyrant or proto-fascist who comes into power; god knows how many people have Deathly Hallows tattoos. It is still a cultural icon, even after Potter’s popularity has declined. Broadway’s post-canon play Harry Potter and The Cursed ChildSix Tony Awards were won, while the Wizarding World area at Universal Studios was criticized by Disney as it beat the company in its own category. Harry Potter has been so influential that NBCUniversal acquired the streaming and broadcast rights for the franchise in 2016, worth an estimated 25% of a trillion dollars. Rowling initially sold the film rights for the first four books to Warner Bros. for £1 million ($1.65 million) in 1999.

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

Hogwarts LegacyHas the luck, or the burden of, being an integral part of a financial portfolio that’s otherwise on the brink of collapse.

The game comes at a time when Warner Bros.’ attempts to milk this particular franchise have mostly failed. Each subsequent Fantastic Beasts movie has been worse than the one before it. The first Fantastic Beasts entry did very well both commercially and critically. Variety published a November 2022 report that Warner Bros. had stopped developing Fantastic Beasts or Harry Potter films. The only exception is Cursed ChildIt is now running in six cities all over the world. Hogwarts LegacyWarner Bros. has not released any Potter-related new content since. Fantastic Beasts in The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Contrary to the Fantastic Beasts movies Hogwarts Legacy does not cross over with any characters from Rowling’s original books. Dumbledore and Grindelwald will not be seen; all professors, students, and staff are new. However, it is a familiar game.

Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world adventure game from Avalanche Software, a developer known primarily for making the Disney Infinity series and licensed movie tie-ins — the last game it released was Cars 3: Get Driven to Win2017 The development of Hogwarts Legacy This was in the same year.

Hogwarts LegacyPlay as the new student of famed wizarding school. You soon find yourself in a conspiracy.

It’s likely that if you’re reading this, you have already made up your mind about Hogwarts Legacy. Because of Rowling’s persistent transphobic activism, the game has become a central pillar in a culture war to determine transgender people’s right to exist. Like many trans-exclusionary feminists, Rowling positions her viewpoint as one that protects women from predatory men, but it’s a line of thinking that puts her more in league with right-wing agitators than other feminists. Rowling supports anti-trans activists online who hold deeply racist views. Caroline FarrowHe is also against abortion and gay rights. In fact, while Rowling was trying to fundraise for victims of the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin cited her as a victim of “cancel culture.”

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

Rowling doesn’t let the contradictions in her viewpoints hold her back. She was outspoken in her criticism of gender recognition laws proposed in Scotland last year, which would have allowed trans people to change their legal gender without a medical diagnosis — she went so far as to call Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon a “destroyer of women’s rights.” The bill was later blocked from becoming law by the U.K. government.

Just this month, in a trailer for a new podcast from the production company of right-wing thinker Bari Weiss, Rowling said, “What has interested me over the last 10 years, and certainly in the last few years — last two, three years — particularly on social media: ‘You’ve ruined your legacy. Oh, you could’ve been beloved forever, but you chose to say this.’ And I think, It would have been impossible to misunderstand me better.”

What people think of her, and by extension, Harry Potter, is clearly on Rowling’s mind. If it weren’t, she would not need to go out of her way to use her legal team to threaten people who tweet mean things about herShe would not have published an entire book on people who say mean things online. Her absence from the internet is so conspicuously noticeable Hogwarts Legacy’s creation — publisher Warner Bros. Games has gone out of its way to say that Rowling wasn’t personally involved, though her production company was — she is felt everywhere.

And so it’s hard not to consider Rowling herself when playing Hogwarts Legacy. The game is not just a game to a small group of politically corrupt actors who are determined make their issues the problems of all people. It is a signal of one’s politics. You’re either with Rowling, or against her.

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

Disappearing into Hogwarts Castle doesn’t render this ongoing debate invisible. The world is actually quite interesting. Hogwarts Legacy — in particular, the game’s conspicuous attempts at diversity — illuminates Rowling’s hatefulness in stark relief. Hogwarts in its 1890s incarnation is more diverse than in 1995 when Harry Potter books began. My desire for greater Indian representation in the Harry Potter books was strong when I was a child. You are here: Hogwarts LegacyMy classmates and multiple professors are Indian. There’s a potion vendor in one of the small hamlets that has the same name as my mother. This does not provide me comfort. While Rowling’s racial representation has never been good, tossing a half-dozen Indians into the Scottish countryside willy-nilly isn’t exactly better. Where did they come from — India, which was still under British rule in the 1800s? What was their destination when Harry reached there?

How Hogwarts LegacyThese contradictions make it more difficult to see how they fit in the larger Harry Potter story. If the witch that I met south of campus is, along with her wife, openly a lesbian, then why didn’t Dumbledore ever come out of the closet? If it’s possible for non-British witches and wizards to teach at Hogwarts, why didn’t they in the ’90s, when Harry was there? Many, many characters remark on how unusual it is that you’re a new student starting as a fifth-year, which is not something that the Potter books ever indicated could happen. None of the characters mention how bizarre it is for Hogwarts to have a Uagadou transfer student. They were treated as an oddity in the rare book that witches or wizards of other schools, such as from France and Bulgaria.

It’s clear that Hogwarts LegacyThis is partly an effort to make Harry Potter a franchise without Rowling’s direct involvement. Warner Bros. sees a huge opportunity to create new stories, and to make a lot of money. This is similar to Star Wars. But Rowling’s world-building isn’t strong enough to sustain anything outside of her original vision. Without Rowling, the wizarding world would be a mess. It’s a house made of cards that is prone to crumble if one of its pillars is removed.

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

It is the unmagical feeling of playing that stands out. Hogwarts Legacy. The very first spell you use is called a “basic cast,” and aside from allowing for some environmental interaction, it essentially turns your wand into a gun. You can actually use most spells. Hogwarts LegacyIt feels almost like you are shooting in third person, and that’s because there is no need to aim. While you can and will learn other spells as you progress through the school year — a few of them are necessary for the main story missions — none of them are all that necessary for combat. The basic cast is sufficient to get you through the majority of the game. You should also be able to parry enemy attacks and use the stun spell.

The enemy variety can also be very dangerous. Up to the end, you will face the same goblins as wizards or trolls. You can increase the difficulty of the game by adding enemies.

I stopped using any new spells after a certain point. They were no longer necessary to advance the plot. Basic ones are more than enough for this job. What’s more, many of the spells are almost identical to one another. You learn Levioso early in the game. This spell levitates people and objects. Wingardium Leviosa is a second spell that levitates objects. It’s also available later. Every one requires a specific spell slot. Some puzzles may require both. Why they aren’t just the same spell is beyond me. It’s redundant at best, and tedious at worst.

However, the unlocking of spells is one area where you can play in a rare way. Hogwarts LegacyIt’s like going to a magic school. To unlock the new spells you need to do simple tasks given by your teachers. You are free to leave the class except for some story missions.

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

The illusion of a magical school is never fully complete, and sometimes, the way the game renders Hogwarts takes you out of the fiction entirely because of how incongruous it is with Rowling’s work. Though the game has a day-night cycle, if you’re on school grounds after dark, there’s no Argus Filch to rat you out to your teachers. When you visit Ollivanders, your wand doesn’t really choose you — a cutscene plays, and then you customize your wand. The Sorting Hat only asks you two questions, and if you don’t like the house you’re sorted into, you’re given the option to change it. If you’re still seeking a video game to provide the fantasy of being a Hogwarts student, this one will not fulfill that desire. Even the castle grounds surrounding it feel uninspired and generic.

You can play Hogwarts Legacy, I couldn’t help but think about the games of 2014, particularly Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4.This game lets you explore Kyrat’s fictional land, clearing out post and gathering loot. That’s Hogwarts Legacy In a nutshell. You’ll come across poacher camps or outposts of evil goblins, reveal new parts of the map, and loot new hats, robes, or gloves. You can play it like an open-world shooter in the 2010s with wizarding world veneer and wands.

This dated design ethos extends to the Room of Requirement, the game’s most inexplicable systemic device. It’s where you go to craft potions, grow plants, and upgrade gear — activities that range from trivial (raising a gear item by a point or two) to actively disruptive (you can quickly craft 25 health potions and carry every one of them into combat, making damage a complete non-concern).

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

The Room of Requirement also plays host to one of the game’s messiest major subplots. The woods around Hogwarts are home to poachers who exploit magical animals. Deek, the House Elf that lives in The Room of Requirement suggests you a way to save these creatures: Remove the animals from their natural environments, then bring them to the Room of Requirement to care for them until you receive their magical byproducts. You can also sell any magical creatures you don’t need to keep in your home to Hogsmeade.

It is not obvious how I acted as a participant. Hogwarts LegacyWhat makes me any more like a poacher than someone who is mean to them? No effort is made to explain why I shouldn’t just leave the animals alone, in their native environments, where they belong.

Besides the weirdness around poaching, you’re also up against the evil goblin Ranrok and his wizard ally Rookwood. Ranrok’s motives are pretty clear: After a wizard committed a vicious hate crime against him, he became prejudiced against all wizardkind and is trying to lead a rebellion of goblins to start a war, though the goblins you meet pointedly say that they think Ranrok has gone too far with his methods. It is not clear why Rookwood is here and why Ranrok has agreed to cooperate with him even though he hates him.

At the end, I was still unsure of Rookwood’s intentions, why he was working alongside Ranrok or what his plans were with the magical power that they had uncovered together. The plots for the different quests are so important. Hogwarts LegacyIt refuses to work together. It is exhausting to play as a former fan of Harry Potter, a vacuous representation of the series’ iconography that also disrespects my time and intelligence as a player.

It is difficult to comprehend how I can help you. Hogwarts LegacyMy thoughts turn to J.K. Rowling.

What made the Harry Potter books so successful is the root cause of the game’s inner conflict — it’s pulled between the developers’ urge to build a world for “everyone” and the books’ universe being limited to the “special few.” Harry Potter wasn’t designed to encompass all points of view and experiences, like Hogwarts Legacy is. Your protagonist emerges from the ashes just before heading to school. Their past is not mentioned. Rowling’s vision of Hogwarts, with Harry at its center, is much more specific than that. This parody was initially intended to mock the private schools wealthy English families send their children.

So of course all the witches and wizards in China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh go to the same school in Rowling’s universe — she’s approaching the entire world from the perspective of a white, upper-class British woman. When the Potter books were most popular, she would have been part of a specific kind of liberal movement — the New Labour movement — which lasted from the ’90s until the 2010s. In fact, Rowling is close friends with New Labour leader and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and donated £1 million to the Labour Party under his leadership. New Labour was a movement that sought to redefine the party as a more market-focused, “Third Way” centrist party and move away from socialist policy ideals. The Labour Party was thrilled with the success of this movement, although it received some criticism because it failed to fulfill its social justice promises and equal rights.

Image: Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

New Labour was part of neoliberalism. J.K. Rowling is a neoliberal. This is where her resistance to change, indifference to other cultures, classism and many anti-trans comments all come from. Her creative output also comes from that tributary. Harry Potter could be made into something similar to this. Hogwarts Legacy tries to be — a playground for everyone — you have to flatten and remove Rowling’s vision.

Where the game tries to give players anything and everything they want, Rowling’s books wouldn’t have and do not. The books are moralizing and judgmental — the dark magic spells (which the game lets you learn without consequence) are called Unforgivable Curses. Hogwarts Legacy tries to anticipate every type of player, but Rowling didn’t want her world to be for everyone. It leaves the game feeling distinctly un-Potter-like — a generic open-world game from 10 years ago given a coat of paint that looks like Harry Potter if you squint. It’s not just empty in gameplay terms; it’s empty of any kind of meaningful emotional experience, devoid of whatever spark lit up in the hearts of 11-year-olds around the world in 1997.

Warner Bros. may see Harry Potter as a possible franchise rival to Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This game should be cause for concern. The company is likely counting its money as it considers a sequel. Because after the initial warmth of returning to a memory from childhood wears off, there’s not much for players to sink their teeth into.

Hogwarts Legacy is a game that relies entirely on your nostalgia to power your enjoyment — it’s a piñata with nothing inside.

Hogwarts Legacy It was available on Xbox Series X, Windows PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on Feb. 10. The launch date for the game is April 4, on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and July 25, on Nintendo Switch. A pre-release code from Warner Bros. Games was used to review the game on PS5. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.