As Harry Potter fans explore the open world in Hogwarts Legacy, there will be many iconic structures and landmarks that will be familiar to them. Avalanche’s brief and guided tour through the castle demonstrated that there will also be many new parts of the castle that they may not be familiar with, which makes sense due to the fact that fans have not been able to visually map out each part of the castle based on what they have watched or read before. In order for there to be immersion in Hogwarts Legacy, there will need to be an appropriate blend of nostalgia and unfamiliarity.
This will keep certain parts of the castle memorable and referential, especially for fans who find themselves mapping the castle for areas they may be familiar with from Harry Potter lore. But it is also great that Avalanche will be able to lend some creativity to other areas of the castle with Hogwarts Legacy’s own 1800s-era iteration, and with that in mind the school should not be an identical representation of the present-day castle that fans love anyway. Still, big changes will almost assuredly cause a stir, and one of the game’s biggest changes may mean that it also loses what makes it so memorable.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Grand Staircase is Not the Iconic Stairway Fans Remember
In what may be one of Hogwarts Legacy’s most significant changes to modern Harry Potter iconography, the Grand Staircase will be nothing like fans remember. Harry Potter’s Grand Staircase is an immensely tall atrium with rigid staircases reaching upward throughout it in different directions.
This stairway’s most notable feature is that each individual staircase connecting to a different floor shifts its placement randomly. Because these staircases are likely to move at any time, it is typically a nuisance for students who are attempting to reach their classroom on time and are suddenly whisked to a different floor.
However, Hogwarts Legacy’s Grand Staircase is much different in both design and appearance. Instead of being a long atrium chamber with separate staircases, this 1800s-era Grand Staircase is a spiral stairway with different sections leading out to different rooms and floors, though there are still lively and animated portraits strewn about.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Grand Staircase Still Needs Frustrating RNG for Immersion
The game’s stairway has a unique appearance, but what fans may be most disappointed by is that its staircase positioning does not seem to shift randomly. In a game like Hogwarts Legacy, it would have been incredible to see the stairway behave with RNG in mind, where the staircases could move at any moment and in any direction.
This could have led players being late to class, needing to find an alternate route to their destination, or to different routes that they might not have discovered otherwise. Instead, the Grand Staircase may simply be a staircase that looks interesting but does not have any unique gimmick to it. The stairs themselves do appear from beneath the player as they walk forward, giving it a magical touch with fun animations, but it will still pale in comparison to what makes Harry Potter’s Grand Staircase unique if it does not include some sort of navigational RNG.
Of course, Hogwarts Legacy also has the opportunity to create locations and structures that have their own memorable iconography added to Harry Potter lore. Therefore, it will be fascinating to see if it can produce lasting memories and monuments that fans instantly associate to the franchise thereafter.
Hogwarts Legacy launches February 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, with PS4 and Xbox One versions coming April 4 and the Switch version launching on July 25.
