Hogwarts Legacy is a big game and finishing every quest is going to take a while. The main quests should take around twenty hours or so, depending on the difficulty level chosen. It is a challenge to be sure, but it is a fairly easy plot to follow. However, there are some things that don't make sense about the story and the game’s mechanics.
It's great to get another game set in the Harry Potter universe, but Hogwarts Legacy brings to light a lot of problems with the series too. For fun, let's see what is a little strange about the game. There will be some minor spoilers in the game, mostly about unlockable gameplay mechanics.
This list contains spoilers
8 Classes And Rules Don’t Apply To You
This is barely a game wherein the player-created character attends Hogwarts to learn witchcraft and wizardry. Classes last only about five minutes and players don’t even have to attend them on a regular basis. They can galavant through the castle and countryside as if they were the Minister of Magic.
Rules do not apply to players which is good from a gameplay perspective, but it butts heads against established school rules. One of the biggest is not being able to go anywhere at night, and yet that rule is broken all the time.
7 Trusting A Child
Another funny thing about the player-created character’s general disregard for rules is that everyone trusts them. Students asking for favors is one thing as that is normal amongst teens. Adults asking a fifteen or sixteen-year-old for help with complex problems is another thing.
Don’t they realize this student has schoolwork to do and doesn’t have time to go into spider-infested caves to retrieve heirlooms like a wand? The player should be studying that is, but who has the time in all this chaos?
6 Unforgivable Curses Are…Forgivable
Players get to learn the best Unforgivable Curses in Hogwarts Legacy through Sebastian’s quest line. The first one they can receive is Crucio which deals a decent amount of curse damage to targets. Players do have a choice on whether or not they wish to learn it, or simply have Sebastian use it on them instead.
There is no reason not to learn and use it though because the game lacks a morality system, unlike a lot of open-world RPGs. Players can use Crucio all the live long day in front of professors like Fig, and they won’t say a word, which is odd.
5 You Can’t Use Levioso On Objects You’re On
Levioso is one of the first spells players get to learn in the game. It allows players to cause objects to float, which is useful for puzzles. Players can use crates, for example, to get to higher ledges if they are floating above the ground. It’s not explained why players cannot be on the object in question to then use it like a surfboard.
Does the character weight factor into the spell? Is that why players can’t cast Levioso on objects they stand on or is this just a limitation on the game and not a limitation on the grander Harry Potter universe?
4 Sure, Drink That 10th Century Brew
It’s kind of weird that the game allows players to grab drinks lying on any counter to drink from. Food is also a bit weird, but at least most food in the game looks untouched. It’s hard to tell if a random mug on a table in Hogsmeade, for example, has been touched by a patron or not and if that liquid is appropriate for a teen.
The weirdest instance can be found in the quest that leads Sebastian, Ominis, and the player to Salazar Slytherin’s Scriptorium. There is a mug on a table to drink from presumably from when Salazar was around in the tenth century. It’s a bit out of date.
3 The Pointlessness Of The Graphorn
Every one of The Keepers in Hogwarts Legacy has a trial for the players to go through. The final one belongs to Professor Bakar and players have to fight a Graphorn to proceed. They need to capture it as well and must bring it back to a pedestal so that this creature can unlock a gateway.
Once the gateway is open, the quest is over. The Graphorn is no more than a giant key recovered at the very end of the game when the creature is practically useless as a mount at that point. It feels like a weird oversight on the developer’s side almost as if this quest was rushed.
2 The Sorting Hat
One thing fans may have been waiting to see in Hogwarts Legacy was the Sorting Hat ceremony. What questions will they get to then get sorted into a Hogwarts House? The Sorting Hat asks the player two questions and then decides from there. RPGs that don’t have as iconic hats, like Tactics Ogre: Reborn, ask way more questions to give players a more diverse starting character.
This element was a letdown to be sure, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense either especially when players can change their minds anyway. Also, on the created character, why don’t they have a name or title like Shepard from Mass Effect to make conversations less awkward?
1 RPG Tropes
There is a litany of RPG tropes that this game commits. Let’s talk about two of the funniest ones that don’t add up. One, stealing treasure from someone’s house is one thing in an RPG wherein heroes take from adults. It’s another thing when a student steals from another student like in Hogwarts Legacy. That seems a bit more devious.
Two, players have a set number of inventory slots despite having ways to magically hide items in the first place. How can magic bags or magic voids run out of room, especially from just a dozen pieces of clothing?
Hogwarts Legacy was released on February 10, 2023 and is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.