Hogwarts Legacy is by no means a perfect game, but it does get a lot right, and one of its biggest highlights is the titular castle itself, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After a brief prologue, players are given free rein over the castle and its surrounding grounds, and from the get-go, Hogwarts Legacy absolutely nails the whimsical atmosphere of exploring a magical school, with nostalgic musical cues, lively NPCs, and a slew of hidden pathways and secrets to discover. But while this is the perfect setting for a Wizarding World video game, especially the first sprawling RPG in the franchise, future Wizarding World games could take players outside of Hogwarts.
The Wizarding World is a massive one. In the UK alone, there are a plethora of magical settings that players don't get to visit in Hogwarts Legacy, and that's only multiplied exponentially when the rest of the Wizarding World is taken into consideration. While Hogwarts was a perfect starting point, a future Wizarding World RPG should take players on a magical globe-trotting adventure.
A Hogwarts Legacy Sequel Can Open Up The Wizarding World
The Hogwarts Legacy map is much, much bigger than many fans were expecting before launch. While Avalanche Software had confirmed that iconic locations like Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest would be included in the game, fans weren't expecting them to be quite as expansive as they are in-game. On top of those locales, players can also explore the vast surrounding areas of Hogwarts to the north and south, filled with castles, little hamlets, and caves.
One of Hogwarts Legacy's greatest features is its heavy emphasis on hands-free exploration, letting the player explore practically the entire map as soon as they're sorted into a Hogwarts house. Hogwarts Legacy's flying mechanics only make this exploration even more thrilling, allowing players to hop on a broomstick anytime, anyplace, and take to the skies. Along with acting as a means of faster traversal, these flight mechanics also allow players to quickly reach higher ledges and rooms of castles, saving time that would otherwise be spent on climbing, and rewarding the player for thinking creatively about the game's mechanics.
While Hogwarts Legacy's vast map is wonderful, and packed to the brim with genuinely engaging side activities, some of it does run the risk of feeling a bit too samey. Though ancient structures and ruins, villages, and other landmarks are used to distinguish each area of Hogwarts' surrounding valleys, the general look green look of everything can make certain areas of the map blend together, and for a sequel, it would be great to see even more visual variation in its locations.
A future Wizarding World RPG should take players across the Wizarding World, beginning with other iconic locations from the Harry Potter movies that players don't get to see in Hogwarts Legacy. It would be great to explore iconic areas like the Ministry of Magic, especially during a different time period from the one fans saw in the movies. It would also be great to explore the other schools across the Wizarding World.
Players could go to the floating mountainside school of Uagadou, or the Hogwarts-inspired North American school of Ilvermorny. Other schools like Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Castelobruxo would all also be excellent choices for new settings for a Hogwarts Legacy successor, with each school having its own unique customs and classes, and each offering its own distinct visuals and atmosphere.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on April 4, and the Nintendo Switch version is arriving July 25, 2023.
