Hogwarts Legacy is an upcoming Avalanche Software RPG set in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the late 1800s. The reveal trailer for the game shows that players will have the opportunity to add their “own story to these hallowed halls” as a student of Hogwarts, while also exploring a “larger world beyond these walls.” The game’s announcement will be hugely exciting for many Harry Potter fans who have long-waited for a high-budget RPG set in the Wizarding World.
Hogwarts Legacy should learn one thing from Dragon Age 4, which is currently in development at BioWare. Comments made by the BioWare team in Dragon Age’s Gamescom video reveal a part of the studio’s design philosophy for the upcoming game which Avalanche should also try and follow when creating Hogwarts Legacy.
Dragon Age 4's Protagonist
In the Dragon Age 4 Gamescom video, one developer talked about how the new game would explore “what happens when you don’t have power.” This implies that Dragon Age 4’s protagonist will not fall into a Chosen One archetype, but instead that their involvement in the story will more naturally develop. This was already pulled off to fantastic effect in Dragon Age: Origins, where the player wasn’t chosen, but was merely one of two known remaining Grey Wardens in Ferelden due to a series of events that prevented their death at the Battle of Ostagar.
It can often be both far more satisfying and far more immersive to play through an open-world RPG without the player character feeling more than just another citizen of that world. It’s for this reason that so many Skyrim players avoid the main Dragonborn quest, and a reason why there are so many Skyrim mods which provide different starting experiences to make that as easy as possible.
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the player character was quickly launched from nobody to Inquisitor during the game’s first act, and as a result, some players felt dragged along by the main story without an opportunity to fully explore the roleplaying opportunities their character provided. Hogwarts Legacy shouldn’t single out the player character, but should give them opportunities to roleplay as one student among many at Hogwarts long before the main questline begins to gain traction.
The Importance of Freedom in RPGs
Ultimately, being a Chosen One is restrictive. By making the player just one of many students at Hogwarts, the game would allow players the greatest breadth of roleplaying opportunities in Hogwarts Legacy. If the player is singled out as special for any reason, they will be robbed of the opportunity to simply explore iconic Wizarding World locations like the Hogsmeade shown in the trailer without the main quest imposing itself on players who want to leave that part of the game until later, or ignore it entirely.
The less prescriptive the game is, the greater the replay value Hogwarts Legacy will have as well, making it easier to experience totally new stories when restarting the game as a new character. In Dragon Age: Inquisition the player always becomes the Inquisitor if they want to progress through the game at all, whereas in Dragon Age: Origins, the Warden already has a backstory established in the origin chapter which makes their story feel far more unique on a different playthrough.
Hogwarts Legacy should not only avoid telling a story where the player is singled out as special in order to progress the plot, but could reach its full potential if players are given enough freedom to be whoever they want and enough freedom to play through different quests and explore different areas in any order that each playthrough has the potential to feel totally distinct. The exact approach and style of RPG that Hogwarts Legacy will become at Avalanche Software, however, remains to be seen.
Hogwarts Legacy is in development for the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.