Hogwarts Legacyremains a truly exceptional RPG and the very best way to immerse oneself within the lore-rich wizarding world. It is a dream come true forHarry Potterfans, the perfect experience for those who miss school sims, and a fun open-world adventure for those who still crave Ubisoft’s game design. There is a lot thatHogwarts Legacygets right, which is why it is completely understandable that fans would want to return to it all these years later.
Warning. This article contains spoilers for the ending of Hogwarts Legacy.However, despiteHogwarts Legacybeing amazingin many respects, there is a lot that it also gets wrong. It is missing key features, lacking in particular areas, and a disappointment in many others. That’s not to say thatHogwarts Legacyis a bad game, as that is demonstrably untrue. Rather,there are a handful of flaws that can make returning toHogwarts Legacya little challenging, especially for those who forgot all about its weak points.
10Hogwarts Legacy’s Busy Work Becomes More Obvious
It Can Be Grating To Do It All
Hogwarts Legacyhas an awful lot of busywork for the player to get throughif they choose to do absolutely everything it has to offer. From themind-numbingly boring Merlin Trialsto a plethora of side quests, enemy camps, and secrets to uncover, there’s more than enough content inHogwarts Legacyto fill multiple playthroughs. Of course, that’s part of the joy of returning, as a second or even third playthrough allows players to wrap up everything they missed the first time.
However, for those who aren’t so keen on completingHogwarts Legacy’ssomewhat lackluster side activities, or those who already did it the first time around, the many map markers and somewhat mundane tasks can be a little obnoxious. It is all absolutely optional, which is great, butit does makeHogwarts Legacyfeel a little more grindy the second time around, and its world feels less inviting as a result.
9The Lack Of Classes Hurts More
It’s Easy To Forget That Hogwarts Legacy Has Barely Any Classes
One of the most exciting parts of getting to immerse oneself completely within Hogwarts is attending classes. That may seem a little odd to adults, especially those who have long since been done with school, but there’s something rather cozy about completing classes with friends, learning new skills, and being wholly immersed in the school sim aspect of a Hogwarts-based game. Unfortunately,Hogwarts Legacysomewhat omits the school sim element many were hoping for.
This isn’t as obvious on a first playthrough, as the game is frontloaded with classes and school activities, including the criminally underutilized Crossed Wands dueling club. However,upon repeat playthroughs, one is quickly reminded that, outside of exploring its rather beautiful halls, there’s little to do in Hogwarts and fewer means to interact with it meaningfully. One can only hope that theHogwarts Legacysequel embraces the school-sim elementseveryone wants, but those who really want to replay the first game will have to settle with a handful of classes and little else.
8Hogwarts Legacy’s Story Is Still Nothing Special
It Lacks The Impact Of The Original Series
Despite the rather fantastic narrative of the originalHarry Potterbooks,Hogwarts Legacy’ssurprisingly short storyis very little to write home about. It is relatively one-note, with villains that go nowhere and appear only a handful of times, choices that mean very little, and characters that have no real depth to them. The player character has some agency, but it never feels like they’re meaningfully involved, andthe game squanders its best story for something significantly more underbaked and less interesting.
Subsequent playthroughs will only serve to remind players thatHogwarts Legacy’smain story is average at best.
Hogwarts Legacy’sstory isn’t terrible, however, and there are bright spots. Quests surrounding the three main Hogwarts students, Poppy, Natsai, and Sebastian, are especially great. There are some good ideas thrown in among the mundane, which does make completing it the first time not feel too taxing. However,subsequent playthroughs will only serve to remind players thatHogwarts Legacy’smain story is average at best.
7Having To Unlock Handy Exploration Features Again Is Annoying
Players Just Want The Broom From The Get-Go
Hogwarts Legacy’sexploration can be a lot of fun, especially when playersunlock the best broomsin the game or even some of the rather fantastic mounts. However, getting there takes a good few hours asplayers are forced to explore on foot in the game’s early sections. Getting even the most basic broom, which lacks the speed and functionality of a fully upgraded one, will take players quite a while.
Hogwarts Legacy 2’s Coolest Opportunity Is The One It’ll Never Take
Hogwarts Legacy 2 has the chance to take the Harry Potter franchise in a new direction, but the series' history suggests this is not going to happen.
Fans will also need to rediscover all the fast-travel points, villages, ruins, camps, and more all over again. This is a problem with all open-world games, but most don’t lock off their faster modes of transport until a few hours in. So,be prepared to sprint from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade and back again before unlocking your first broomand zoom about the map trying to find all the Floo Flames.
6Having None Of The Cool Spells Can Be Boring
It Takes A While To Unlock The Best Spells
There are a myriad of impressive spells players can unlock inHogwarts Legacy, from the dangerous to the downright silly. By the end of their first playthrough, fans ofHogwarts Legacywill have amassed quite the spellbook, able to fire off a combination of powerful attacks and defensive spells to best their foes. They may have even unlocked the Unforgivable Curses, including the deadly Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, which can be used to immediately annihilate any enemy.
However,upon a second playthrough, players will have to contend with having access to absolutely none of these spells. Combat will return to being functional yet slightly underwhelming, and fans will have to relearn it all. Again, this is more or less a problem with returning to any open world, but it feels particularly difficult inHogwarts Legacy,considering how limited combat can feel without access to all of these powerful spells.
5The Villains Are No More Interesting
Even With Foresight, They’re Boring To Face
As aforementioned,Hogwarts Legacy’snarrative isn’t particularly impressive. One of the main reasons for this is its two central villains, the conniving Victor Rookwood and Ranrok. During an initial playthrough ofHogwarts Legacy, one can hope that these two will play a significant role in the game’s plot, coming up against the player and their friends on a number of occasions and constantly being foiled at the last second. However, this is absolutely not the case.
There’s a lot of build-up to these villains, but ultimately they do very little, and having to experience a game devoid of them for a second time can be a tad frustrating.
Neither Rookwood nor Ranrok really appear in the game, with the latter barely having anything to do with the player until the very end of the game. Even Victor Rookwood is defeated unceremoniously in battle without a cutscene showing his defeat or any meaningful follow-up. There’s a lot of build-up to these villains, but ultimately they do very little, andhaving to experience a game devoid of them for a second time can be a tad frustrating.
4The Room Of Requirement Can Be A Chore
The Potion Timers Feel Unnecessary
The Room of Requirement seemed like a pretty fantastic addition toHogwarts Legacy, especially as absolutely no one was expecting Avalanche Software to even add it. However, sadly, as amazing as some aspects of it are, the Room of Requirement is one of manyfeaturesHogwarts Legacy 2should abandon. That isn’t to say that it is all bad, and, on that first magical playthrough, it can feel rather impressive, with so much of it being completely customizable and it having numerous worlds to explore within it.
However, its unnecessary potion-brewing timers, in addition to the somewhat pointless monster-catching mechanic, made visiting it somewhat redundant. Of course, people’s mileage with it will vary rather drastically, especially as many may likely get completely immersed in it. However,for those who found it to be rather pointless the first time around, it doesn’t get better in a second playthrough. Luckily, it is completely optional, and, outside of their initial interaction with it, fans can ignore it.
3Hogwarts Legacy’s Open World Can Feel A Little Barren
There’s Not Much To Do In A Lot Of It
The open-world format for a game set within theHarry Potteruniverse makes sense. After all, players want to be able to explore Hogwarts in its entirety without loading screens, as well as visit all of the fascinating external locations featured in the novels, such as Hogsmeade. However,what most people probably weren’t interested in were the dozens of villages made exclusively forHogwarts Legacythat contained barely anything save for a handful of NPCs and a few side quests.
Warner Bros. Cancelling The Hogwarts Legacy DLC Makes Sense, But Shows One Glaring Fault
Hogwarts Legacy’s DLC has allegedly been canceled, which is surprisingly quite understandable. However, it does reveal a major flaw about the game.
Simply put,Legacy’sworld is too big. The southern part of the map, which opens up part of the way through the game, has little to offer players, and most people won’t have much use for going there anyway. Unfortunately,a second playthrough requires players to revisit this gigantic world, including all of its beautiful yet barren spots that aren’t really worth visiting.
2The Choices Aren’t Interesting
They’re Mostly Meaningless
Hogwarts Legacyhas a number of key choices for the player to make, such as which House they want to be sorted into, whether to spare Sebastian at the end of his questline, and whether to unlock the Unforgivable Curses. However,while the game presents these choices to the player as interesting decisions with a substantial amount of weight behind them, they really aren’t that important.
Much like with the game’s classes and even narrative, there’s the promise of potential in a first playthrough and the crushing sense of disappointment in a second. Themeaningless Houses inHogwarts Legacy, coupled with the inconsequential ending choice, remove any form of replayability associated with them. It is a shame, asit would have been interesting to have had vastly different experiences based on what House players pickedor how they interacted with Hogwart’s students and story.
1The Ending Isn’t Worth Pursuing
It Falls Short Of Expectations
While there are plenty of reasons why replayingHogwarts Legacycan be a somewhat disappointing experience, by far the biggest ishow the game’s ending simply isn’t worth the effort. The poorly handled death of Professor Fig, coupled with the disappointing final choice and complete lack of consequences, means that playing through the entire game again to re-experience the narrative isn’t even worthwhile.
Every Hogwarts Legacy Ending Explained (In Detail)
Although players are free to make choices throughout the game, one decision in particular determines which Hogwarts Legacy ending they receive.
It is extremely disappointing and something that could end up putting off a lot of people from picking upHogwarts Legacyfor a second time. However, as much as these issues will affect a second playthrough, miraculously, the magic of exploring Hogwarts, the genuinely fascinating side missions with Natsai, Poppy, and Sebastian, and the thoroughly engrossing combat - once you unlock the best spells - are still just as effective a second time around. This is why, despite all of its flaws,Hogwarts Legacyis still worth playing again and again for dedicated fans.
