Warner Bros. Entertainment and WB Games have yet to officially announce the leaked Harry Potter RPG that appeared online last October but that doesn't mean that it's not looming somewhere on the horizon. Between the Fantastic Beasts prequel film series and the broadway sequel, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the franchise is still very much alive in multiple mediums and its about time that video games got some recognition.
Harry Potter has found a lot of success in the past year on mobile devices with games like Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and the Pokemon GO style augmented reality game, Wizards Unite. However, outside of LEGO Harry Potter, it's been a number of years since any major release on consoles. So while we wait for what is hopefully an inevitable announcement, here are 10 weird things from the Harry Potter film series (and books) that should be in the game!
10 TOADS, OWLS, RATS & CATS
When first-year students received their letter from Hogwarts, they're given the option to bring a pet along with them, “Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.” Now while there are heavy limitations for first years, older students are seen with all sorts of animals throughout the books and films including rats, ferrets, spiders, and even a Pygmy Puff. Pets could play a really fun and useful role in the game, something in the same vein as the Palico cat found in Monster Hunter World. Players could level up their pet and get special bonuses and abilities as they assist during quests by attacking enemies, and gathering items.
9 CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY
The idea of possessing an invisibility cloak in a video game has untold gameplay possibilities. Mix the gameplay and stealth of the Splinter Cell series with a mission where you're creeping around the castle after dark, hiding from teachers and other magical creatures or enemies and there's a lot of potentials. But could it work out in the timeline? Possibly.
The Cloak of Invisibility is one of three Deathly Hallows that entered the Potter family when Hardwin Potter married the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell sometime in the 14th century. The Potter family tree is clearly laid out after that with all of the names of Harry Potter descendants but not with dates, meaning it wouldn't be too hard to create a time and a place where another Potter went to Hogwarts.
8 DIAGON ALLEY
Picture this: That familiar Harry Potter theme song plays through the opening credits, transitioning into the character creation menu. Once the player has finished creating their character, an introductory cut-scene begins to play that sets up the game’s story and a Prologue chapter set in none other than Diagon Alley. Here the player picks out a wand, a pet, a selection of classes (some mandatory, others optional), and has a few run-ins with characters that will play larger roles in the story later on. Sound good?
Diagon Alley is a wonderfully weird, mysterious, and magical location that wouldn’t make sense to appear as a mid-game mission, but also one that can't really be left out of a Harry Potter RPG. Diagon Alley could serve as a great set-piece and location for the game's tutorial
7 THE SORTING HAT
An RPG set in Hogwarts needs to involve the four houses in a big way. It can’t be as simple as the movie tie-in Harry Potter games where the player is stuck playing as Harry and Gryffindor. Player choice needs to be a core factor in selecting houses and the idea of four options could open up multiple storylines and set areas like the dorm rooms that are only available to that house.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses did a great job of introducing players to three distinct houses they could choose from and creating a unique and tailored experience based on that choice, which ultimately leads to worthwhile replayability. A Harry Potter RPG could allow players to select a number of personality traits in the character creator and have the Sorting Hat sort players based on their chosen traits.
6 MIRROR OF ERISED
First seen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Mirror of Erised is a magical mirror that shows the deepest desire of anyone who stands in front of it. More importantly, while it was eventually moved to a new home by the end of that film, nobody knows who created it or even how it got to Hogwarts in the first place - which means it's entirely plausible that it could have been at Hogwarts in the 19th Century.
While appearing in the open-world could be fun, the Mirror of Erised would be a great way to show players how their choices have impacted the world and story as the main quest progresses. Story choices, house selection, and completed side missions would change what the player sees reflecting back at them.
5 HOGSMEADE VILLAGE
The Harry Potter RPG is rumored to be set in the player's fifth year at Hogwarts which means that students are allowed to visit Hogsmeade Village on scheduled trips - or alternatively sneak out as the village is within walking distance from Hogwarts and two of the shops have hidden passages into the grounds. Hogsmeade is the only all magical settlement in Britain, entirely inhabited by wizards, witches, and magical creatures, with absolutely no muggle presence. And at least according to the movies, is covered in snow all year round which would offer more variety in environments. Unfortunately, the game would be said a century before the creation of the Shrieking Shack so there are no haunted buildings for players to go exploring in.
4 DEMENTORS
Described throughout the series as “among the foulest creatures that walk this earth,” Dementors are naturally a strong adversary for players. During Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, after Sirius Black escaped the prison, Dementors were sent to find him, surrounding Hogwarts for the entire school year. There's no creature quite as terrifying and evil as a Dementor, so a run-in with one in the Dark Forrest, Hogsmeade or even traveling to Hogwarts would keep players on their feet. A recurring game of cat or mouse, Dementors could even be a recurring boss such as the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation, or the Tyrant in Resident Evil 2.
3 ROOM OF REQUIREMENT
The Room of Requirement, also known as the ‘Come and Go Room,’ is a hidden magical room on the seventh floor of Hogwarts that only appears when someone is in need and can take on a variety of different forms to suit. When recommending something for the game, there needs to be a place for it to fit and the Room of Requirement is full of untapped potential whether it's during the main quest, a side mission, or something else entirely.
One of the many forms seen in the films is the ‘Room of Hidden Things,’ is full of stuff that's been left or lost over the years. But, imagine an incredibly rare room that has an incredibly low chance of appearing when the player is within the vicinity and can take on dozens of possible forms at random. Easter Egg heaven!
2 PENSIEVE
Similar to the Room of Requirement, the Pensieve is another weird and fascinating device that could work well in main missions depending on the direction of the story, however, might be better suited as a side activity. Pensieve are used for storing memories and they allow a person to extract memories in order to relive them exactly as they happened.
Memories could easily fit the role of Collectibles in an open-world RPG like this, hiding multiple sets of memories throughout the Castle that all need to be collected and viewed to solve a puzzle. Multiple memories to complete a story and multiple stories to be completed is a very easy and fun way to expand the world and characters.
1 TIME-TURNER
Remember how good that Titanfall 2 time-travel mission was during the campaign? Well so do we. In the world of Harry Potter exists a tiny little device called a Time-Turner that allows the user to travel back to a certain point in time. Time-Turner's are featured quite extensively during the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban, as well as the Broadway show, The Cursed Child.
There are multiple types of turners, with varying types of restrictions but the most common one has an hour-reversal charm that allows someone to travel back in time by one hour, up to a maximum of five-hours before serious damage may be done to the user. No one in Hogwarts has been knowingly given a Time-Turner except for Hermione Granger but that doesn't mean one couldn't be obtained in secret and used for some time-travel goodness (hopefully mixed in with some sort of combat like dueling)!
It's been almost an entire year since the original footage for Harry Potter RPG leaked online without even a peep from Warner Bros. as to whether this game was really in production or not. The Harry Potter universe is ripe for video games and fans have yet to receive the RPG they've been asking about for years. If this game does eventually come to fruition, let's hope that some of these weird and fascinating things from the films make their way into the game.
Harry PotterRPG is rumored to be in development at WB Games for unknown platforms.