Harry Potter fans may not have gotten each and every little feature they would have liked out of Hogwarts Legacy, but as the first installment in what could be a rich and fruitful franchise it is wonderfully ambitious on its own. There are only a handful of nostalgic details from Harry Potter lore that fans still wish they had in Avalanche’s action-RPG, at least in terms of what would make sense to have appear in a late-1800s interpretation of a student’s schooling experience. Diagon Alley is a huge one that players would surely enjoy if it was fully explorable with a sum of Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons dropped into their lap to spend at available shops.
But aside from Diagon Alley, there is another integral part of most students’ introductions to Hogwarts that is missing from Hogwarts Legacy. It is true that Hogwarts Legacy has essentially already become that warm-welcoming introduction to the castle and its grounds already, and maybe the locomotive Hogwarts Express wouldn’t be as fascinating from that perspective anymore. But getting to board and ride the train to Hogwarts would still afford an extraordinary amount of world-building and nostalgia in a Hogwarts Legacy sequel, especially if players were able to move freely from car to car and mingle with classmates, professors, and potential companions.
A Train to Hogwarts Sequence Would Be Great for World-Building
Riding the Hogwarts Express could be an incredible opening sequence in a Hogwarts Legacy sequel as players look out from car windows, talk to other students, and purchase sweets from a trolley. If the player character had not been sorted yet and was with other students who had not been yet either, this would be a terrific opportunity for players to meet other classmates before they were sorted and not judge or stereotype them based on which house they might be affiliated with.
However, that would either mean that players need to be first-year students, or there would need to be some particular circumstance as to why they and a train full of students are older but have not been sorted yet. Hogwarts Legacy had great reasoning behind why its protagonist was special, but an entire train’s worth of students could be more difficult to justify.
Regardless, it would be fantastic if players could walk back and forth throughout the train and enter into certain unlocked cars in order to talk to students who are patiently awaiting their arrival at the castle. This would let players get to know potential companions and other characters well in advance and outside the school setting while they are not yet certain of which house they’ll be sorted into or what life could be like living in Hogwarts’ dormitories.
Likewise, having a trolley come by with a plethora of unique treats for purchase would be an outstanding hit of nostalgia, and players starting out with a handful of money could allow them to choose one or two from the bunch. It would be interesting if the Hogwarts Express’ sweets trolley could also behave as Elden Ring’s Keepsakes, where players get to choose one item that they will begin their playthrough with, and another student could lend them the money for it instead to make it free for them.
Having Dementors board the train in search of someone might be too on-the-nose of a reference, but it would also be neat to see something attack the train to give players a quick tutorial on combat that could make for an exciting and cinematic spectacle. The Hogwarts Express does appear in Hogwarts Legacy as a set piece, but riding it as an opening sequence could offer a sequel many memorable moments and help establish character relationships before players arrive at Hogwarts.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version releasing November 14.
