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.
@PVNTHR compare those with original lol, who talks about these franchises except for fans fantastic beasts ? ask stranger if they even know this failure and ask if they know harry potter, this is 2023 stop living in the past
Not a potter fan in the slightest, but i'm glad the fanbase finally has a game that they deserve and can be proud of. It's seriously impressive and the art design really captures the magical world. I'm glad they got a win
@HFBLADE Cero the chamber of secrets won't be openable as it wouldn't make sense lorewise, since it was first opened by Tom Riddle years later (Although some Gaunts knew about it, they didn't open it)
Calm down bro Dlc or next game could be in the list With Quidditch and Triwizard still not available We can see in future everything in novel will come to the game as long the game getting better
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
Devs did an incredible job with the art direction and design of the world. It dosent need to be big, only interesting to explore. That the problem with Ubisoft games is it’s all fluff no soul, but you can tel with this studio they actually liked video games and wanted to make a game they themselves would enjoy. ❤
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.
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
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
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.
@lands You oughta know better. This game is nothing like Harry Potter, except for Magical sticks, magical school and flying broomstick. How could anyone think there's something similar here?
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.
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.
@Kyle Conley books and movies have been out for ages, if he wants to discuss it he doesn't have to save you from precious spoilers. Voldemort dies harry wins.
hope to see the upcoming dlc's adding more spells, beasts, enemies, plants, potions, quidich it lacks in these regards, and how fun it would be to recreate the movies storyline but in the same engine, so much can be done, something similar to spiderman miles morales :-?
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.
Well the bar for truly amazing games has fallen so far, this is what you get. Game mainly carried by nostalgia. It's an alright game, it's not amazing and it's not bad, it's just an average game but because it's Hogwarts universe it gets so overly rated it's depressing.
@Joe Bloggswasn't he cut because Columbus was unhappy with the overall look of Mayall as Peeves due to the lack of visual effects technology that was available at the time?
Passive Income & Finance Education no reason it would. All my trans friends pre-ordered the game. You are upset for no reason. And sirona Ryan is amazing character
Exactly. THis is the way a lot of franchises should be going forward. Not by making overly bloated stories that often end up distorting the origional legacy. But just making new stories set in the same world. Not only does this make the story less burdened outside of just conforming to basic world building, but if it flops ... it's easier to just pretend it never happened. No established character or event was ruined. Just let the failure fade away
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
So glad this game is being well received by people!! I’ve been waiting for a game like this for YEARS!! Just by looking at the gameplay and details you can tell this game was made with love and care. This game was made by Harry Potter fans for Harry Potter fans!
This is an incredible game. Probably the best game that has come out since the Witcher 3. From the graphics, the details, rich story, characters and music. This is and had everything people have been wanting for years.
What do you mean? Aside from just showing a 9 at the end for some reason, the review said it has a lot of boring exposition, a bland main story, embarrassing enemy variety, bad inventory management, and that it suffers from every technical bug you can think of. What about that makes it sound great?
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.
The world at large?
Nobody gaf
Why are you even mentioning J.K. Rowling? who asked? Also, it's her personal opinion and Harry Potter it's her creation and no one else's.
Voldemort's going to seem like Gandhi after I'm done with this game
💀
B E S T comment!!!
This comment aged like milk
Lmfao 🤣
Imagine a LOTR game from these devs with this attention to detail?
No, just make battle for middle earth 3
Or Jurassic Park.
That would be more my taste, not really a fan of the hogwart Potter stuff lol maybe narnia
Hope not...they will make it for kids also...and hell no
@PVNTHR compare those with original lol, who talks about these franchises except for fans
fantastic beasts ? ask stranger if they even know this failure and ask if they know harry potter, this is 2023 stop living in the past
Art design and a passionate dev team really carries this game.
@kratos solos ficton,gow is best game of all time Mid person.
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
Well said
the teacher dies in all endings also rockwood is the one that cursed anne and the goblins were blamed for it
Yes
Avalanche Studios needs to make the next Lord of the Rings game! They did an epic job on this game!!!
Avalanche Studios is a different company. It is avalanche software a WB owned video game company
Need to make next Batman too
As long as it's not based on Rings Of Power
Uhm wrong company 😕 it is avalanche
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
Not a potter fan in the slightest, but i'm glad the fanbase finally has a game that they deserve and can be proud of. It's seriously impressive and the art design really captures the magical world. I'm glad they got a win
Thnku
@Average PC enjoyer "oh he's not interested in the game? He's so against it"
Yeah I'm surprised they'd return to this universe in such way. Old HP games were great too tho, they just left is wishing we could explore around hh
Bdvd
Thank you!
Looking forward to an Azkaban dlc for dark wizard storyline players. Would be cool to battle a dementor or even attempt escaping Azkaban
Or a Quidditch DLC!
@HFBLADE Cero the chamber of secrets won't be openable as it wouldn't make sense lorewise, since it was first opened by Tom Riddle years later (Although some Gaunts knew about it, they didn't open it)
Calm down bro
Dlc or next game could be in the list
With Quidditch and Triwizard still not available
We can see in future everything in novel will come to the game as long the game getting better
AND
-drive in a magic car at the sky
-Flight effects like a death eater
-beeing able to open the chamber of secrets
- join the magical championship
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
9/10 for a game made by developers doing this for the FIRST TIME is something we haven't seen in ages. I'm in awe.
@BorisTheGoose if they dropped Injustice 3 as well, WB would have the two piece and biscuit combo.
"Something we haven't seen in ages!"
Show the statistical analysis of your research demonstrating that this was the case.
Just needs QUIDDITCH!¡!
Wonder if Gamefreak would take note from this devs 🙃
This is the new standard for open world games. This game is an instant classic.
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
Hewlett Packard world?
@HPLovecraftsCatdamn that’s wild bro😭 still playing
Devs did an incredible job with the art direction and design of the world. It dosent need to be big, only interesting to explore. That the problem with Ubisoft games is it’s all fluff no soul, but you can tel with this studio they actually liked video games and wanted to make a game they themselves would enjoy. ❤
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
10/10 They need to make a movie about this game.
Yes underrated game ,🔥🔥
😂😂😂😂
And books
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.
This game would have been a 10/10 if we could put our name in the Goblet of Fiyah!
Did you put your name in the goblet of FIYAH?!??!
Ho
Quidditch& Triwizard could possible in DLC or next game
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
@Lets_WrapItUp 100% Trolling
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
If it had a quidditch mode it would have been a 10/10.
@Deckard P.I. I hope so!!!
Wizards chess for me and diving in the black lake.
@Iva N i dont think they break their promise after its this succesfull.
@Rcade now why not, boring game like gow ragnarok got higher score than this.. This game deserve 9.5
Its heavily hinted in the game that Quidditch will arrive sometime.
No words could describe how much details they put in the map. Absolutely amazing
@DanielG I'm not British
"Tons"
"lots"
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
Avalanche has come a long way as a games studio. They went from average to exceptional.
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.
I’m not a Harry Potter fan but this game looks crazy🔥🔥🔥
@Aphex🏳️⚧️ big up JK Rowling for protecting women🤜🏽
@Aphex🏳️⚧️ It's clearly a Narnia game.
@The Omnipotent sorry did you drop your glasses?
@lands You oughta know better. This game is nothing like Harry Potter, except for Magical sticks, magical school and flying broomstick. How could anyone think there's something similar here?
@The Omnipotent did hogwarts not come from the Harry Potter series? my bad
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.
avi on point
@Panthers8912 🤦♂️
@Julio Lara what
@Panthers8912 you saw the profile pick and thought what she would respond to you hahaha
The game is truly brilliant
Yes 🎉 been waiting for this game and glad it lived up to the hype. Well done Avalanche. 👌🏻
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
@Seerskin - 😂
This is 100% a Trple A game as well.
Especially when you compare it to Forspoken thats also 70$.
This game is published by WB and its carrying the name of one of the biggest media franchises in history. It is a "triple aaa" game, too.
2:18
Now that's impressive
Wow
Nice
Nice super 👌
Awesome
Nice
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.
FACTS
@Jeremy Crockett it was a joke my dude
@Kyle Conley books and movies have been out for ages, if he wants to discuss it he doesn't have to save you from precious spoilers. Voldemort dies harry wins.
@IrvSauce IGN not mentioning something doesn't mean much. They often have poor reviews and miss things.
The music in the books was fire
Amazing.
There is so much scope moving forward for this game… the future is extremely bright - great game
29:00 The surprise ending kept me waiting to the end and after getting to the end it filled the satisfactory hole in my heart. Thank you
Been waiting for a game like this for 20 years
Been waiting to have an experience like this since playing Chamber of Secrets on PS1 as a kid :)
@JPK
Except for emotional manipulation.
@JPK
Take the condescension glasses off.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
@Sanders Take the nostalgia glasses off
Thank you, Travis, for the awesome review! Cannot wait to play it tonight!!!
An amazing game worth the full price 🙌
Amazing game, you really feel like you are there. Very immersive and created with such care to the actual book descriptions. 10/10
Great game! Definitely worth playing!
For years I’ve wanted a 19th century wizarding world game. I’m gonna love this!
Game looks really well made. you can tell the devs are big fans and wanted to make a game for fans
@The Boulder takes issue with that comment Not to the extent they're trying to represent them in 1800's Scottland
@Epic Apex Plays Diversity? Wakanda accent? What are you even talking about lol?
@Yellow Dog with Cone doesn't load using a NASA computer
@Daniel Woods Yeah people down south uses it
@Epic Apex Playswakanda accent? Tf?
It really makes you FEEL like a wizard. 10/10
@Madmonkeman Dunkey :p
@Madmonkeman the guy that set the record on Bowsers Big Bean Burrito on Mario Maker.
Where did that meme come from?
@roddy baba Damn right there is.
The fact is that there is gear personalization in the form of traits which augments specific spells or manner of combat.
This games fun as f**k! It's about time they made a HP game like this. Can't wait for DLC!
hope to see the upcoming dlc's adding more spells, beasts, enemies, plants, potions, quidich it lacks in these regards, and how fun it would be to recreate the movies storyline but in the same engine, so much can be done, something similar to spiderman miles morales :-?
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.
Well the bar for truly amazing games has fallen so far, this is what you get. Game mainly carried by nostalgia. It's an alright game, it's not amazing and it's not bad, it's just an average game but because it's Hogwarts universe it gets so overly rated it's depressing.
@HPLovecraftsCat dude, you need a lot more subtlety if you want to troll people.
Professor Eleazar Fig dies at the end regardless of your choices, also Annie was cursed by Rookwood
@ialeixo84 no, different avalanche.
Is this not the same avalanche that makes the just cause games?
Truly a great game! Definitely worth every penny!
One thing that the old Harry Potter games of the early 2000s had that this game doesn't is Jeremy Soule's beautiful soundtrack.
Loving the game, for sure having a save for each house, gonna have a blast with my evil save aha
For an open world game to get a 9/10 it’s worth a try.
I'm sure in the character creation screen you could make your character look like harry,or any of the other characters from the films.
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
@Potato Man the half head one is john clease from monty phyton, so im surprice no one did a "tiss but a scratch" joke with him
*who*
@ProMax T.V I mean... the rest of the ghosts looked fine, including the one who's head nearly came off
yayyy!
@Joe Bloggswasn't he cut because Columbus was unhappy with the overall look of Mayall as Peeves due to the lack of visual effects technology that was available at the time?
This game seems to tick all my important boxes. I'm so excited!
Very nice, Happy to see a great review for once 😁 I'll pick it up as soon as possible. 😎
Fine I'll buy it! Great review actually got me excited for this one.
Wow, this game is awesome. Just a WOW effect.
Cannot wait to play it technical issues or not this is my childhood in a game 😁
I’m kinda become immune to tech issues nowadays.
Hogswarts Legacy really makes you feel like Harry Potter
Passive Income & Finance Education no reason it would. All my trans friends pre-ordered the game. You are upset for no reason. And sirona Ryan is amazing character
And that there my dear friend is a FACT
@A S but you are a liar, and still going along with it. The game is released on 7th Feb for deluxe owners. And 10th Feb for everyone else.
For the limited enemy types, I'm sure there was an edict that "we can't have players harming animals or other people".
Spiders aren't animals? 😅
Fantastic review. Can't wait to buy it.
never was a fan of harry potter but man this looks hella fun
I'm 8 hours in and loving everything about it so far....
I’d love it even more if there wasn’t a trans character
@Pesticide sure you have.
@Pesticide huh???? Dammm
Dude love it on my 2nd just platinumed it 😅
I’m loving this game! About to start charms class!
There is so many little references to the story we all know. It feels like home but fresh at the same time
Sorry there can’t be references because this takes place a hundred years earlier
Exactly. THis is the way a lot of franchises should be going forward.
Not by making overly bloated stories that often end up distorting the origional legacy. But just making new stories set in the same world.
Not only does this make the story less burdened outside of just conforming to basic world building, but if it flops ... it's easier to just pretend it never happened. No established character or event was ruined. Just let the failure fade away
It's the best approach. Fantastic beasts have shown the franchise gets easily bloated once it gets too large
If you love the franchise this game absolutely hits the spot
Playing this game as Harold Potter, Harry’s grandpa. Joined Griff and saw a familiar face. Amazing game, play it
Finally a game based on movie that does justice to the reputation.
Great game just about halfway through it so far
Well done Avalanche! First step to becoming a great developer
@Chill Hour wrong Developers my dude...
They made the Just Cause series and Mad Max, they've been around the block
@Tlap uhhh the Batman games were developed by Rocksteady, neither Avalanche studio developed those games
@Tlap you are right
This seems like an excellent game!
You don't see everyday a game made mixing a movie and a book saga. Phenomenal.
Płaczę ze szczęścia …😊
This game is fantastic!🧙🧙♂🧙♀
Nice to see Peeves makes it back, I’ve only seen him in the games/books - shame he wasn’t in the films
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
Hands down one of the best games ever made!!
So magical, avalanche got everything so right!!
Please please please bring some dlc
Fantastic game!!! Def a sequel
Thought the graphics would be slightly better but looks great otherwise. A must buy
Nice to see peeves as a character but heartbreaking that rik mayall passed away before we saw his portrayal as a character
I’m a few hours into the game, it’s great so far.
@Need Some Milk no
Does the game have romance
@zZiL341yRj736 Rookwood curses Anne and the goblins get the blame, gosh.
Is it great after 50 hours is the question.
The open world of hogwarts is the absolute best part of the game…. Though it’s not that interactive
Awesome! Thanks for the review!
it should be 10/10 such amazing games
The game is glorious, so much fun, and beautiful!!!
So glad this game is being well received by people!! I’ve been waiting for a game like this for YEARS!! Just by looking at the gameplay and details you can tell this game was made with love and care. This game was made by Harry Potter fans for Harry Potter fans!
I’m more of a LOTR type but damn this game looks very interesting def need to check it out
Doing a complete Harry Potter main story as a dlc would be awesome. Being a random student in voldemort era would be amazing.
How old are you?
Thank you IGN, for the honest review 👏.
So an amazing, cinematic, free roam, immersive artwork video game exists. Why can’t someone do this with Star Wars? Please? 😫
I’ve had this on pre order for months ! Hope it lives up to the hype
Thank you Travis, excellent review. Can’t wait to jump into the wizarding world
Im 6 hours in and its a fantastic game im enjoyed the little details , cant wait to play more later
Played this game for over 3 hours so far. It is an amazing game
@zooom the squirrel been out for 2 days already
Hi is it already out?
This game looks so fire. Imma get it asap
really makes you FEEL like a wizard
I'm so glad this game is getting great reviews. Going to buy this for sure now!
@Eggsaladstuckcrafts Yes, and how is that connected to this game in any significant way?
She might as well not exist.
@Eggsaladstuckcrafts what hate group? Because she doesn't believe in the gender ideology? Lol
@Brizicaster that's the point I'm making. Jk Rowling has done nothing wrong.
This game looks awesome!
Excellent review excited to play
This game is similar to the Harry Potter games that we loved so much in childhood
Love this game its really great so far.
Professor Fig dies in all endings. Anne is cursed by Rookwood. Goblins were framed. Spoibois baby!
This is an incredible game. Probably the best game that has come out since the Witcher 3. From the graphics, the details, rich story, characters and music. This is and had everything people have been wanting for years.
@The Hoopman people when subjective opinions 🤯
@Michael Bass ok pal ... what a ridiculous take
@The Hoopman nah
Lol red dead 2 and elden ring are the best games in the past decade nothing matches the quality
The review definitely makes it sound like a great game. Can't wait!
@Massive Yikes Yeah, I'm a bit wary of the game myself. Will wait for a week after release and see how the reviews on Steam go.
@Massive Yikes You described Death Stranding.
Can't Wait For This Game On Xbox One Man
What do you mean?
Aside from just showing a 9 at the end for some reason, the review said it has a lot of boring exposition, a bland main story, embarrassing enemy variety, bad inventory management, and that it suffers from every technical bug you can think of.
What about that makes it sound great?
All the reviews are hugely positive ATM.
9 outta 10 for IGN that’s rare which means as a wizard if world I’m going to be spending hours in this world.
This is a well written and told review!
This game looks insane. Can't wait to play it tonight
I've been playing this game for about 7 hours; IT HAS BEEN AMAZING. IT's everything we have wanted in our childhood AND MORE :)