Hogwarts Legacy is packed with a lot of exciting content that can easily take upwards of 60–70 hours to fully complete. That is not even considering its 100 percent completion in achievements or trophies, which will take much longer since players need to reach Hogwarts Legacy’s Map Chamber as a student enrolled in each Hogwarts house. But even in a single playthrough there is enough to occupy and satisfy players for as long as they would like, with activities that include potion brewing and plant growing in the Room of Requirement and tending to magical beasts in four separate Vivariums.
Hogwarts Legacy has features and mechanics galore, which is impressive due to how immense and ambitious the game is from the first few opening hours. The game only continues to expand and elaborate upon itself, and therefore it is unsurprising that many other popular features needed to either be cut or omitted in the final product. One of these features is Quidditch, a magical sporting event that many players hoped would be included. However, there is a legitimate reason why Quidditch is not viewable or playable in Hogwarts Legacy.
Hogwarts Legacy Gives a Narrative Excuse for Quidditch Cancelation
Hogwarts Legacy begins far from the actual castle, but players are sorted into their desired house as soon as they arrive. It is here that Hogwarts Legacy’s Professor Phineas Nigellus Black offers a Quidditch cancelation announcement during the Sorting Ceremony. The only details stated at that time is that there was a Quidditch-related injury in the spring final of the previous year.
Students lament about Quidditch being canceled while flying races are still orchestrated, and it is here that players can put flight skills to the test to beat record times from fellow students and earn subsequent broomstick upgrades from Albie Weekes in Hogsmeade. It is not learned until later that there is more to the cancelation than expressed beforehand. According to the nurse on staff who had attended to the injured student in Hogwarts’ Hospital Wing, the student was hardly injured at all.
Rather, because the student is pure-blooded, the nurse believes that Black has canceled Quidditch due to the fact that the student was pure-blooded and perhaps feels offended that they were harmed. Of course, the real reason why Quidditch is not playable in Hogwarts Legacy has to do with the decision for it to be omitted from gameplay, and this gives Hogwarts Legacy a narratively viable excuse as to why.
If Quidditch was going on in the pitch outside the school and players could fly around but not take part in the sport, it would have likely been hugely disappointing. But having an excuse for why Quidditch was canceled in-game makes up for that.
Hogwarts Legacy Still Hasn’t Ruled Out Quidditch DLC
Just like how Ravenclaw’s Amit Thakkar is notably missing his own companion quest, there are a couple instances throughout Hogwarts Legacy where it seems clear that content was cut in the middle of development. It is uncertain if that is why they are not included as their own features or mini-games, but it would make sense with regard to the game’s present scope.
Wizard’s Chess, Gobstones, and Quidditch stand out sorely as features that seem like they nearly made it into the game but were unfortunately cut due to how much is already packed into Hogwarts Legacy to begin with. Further, the absence of Quidditch is felt when players fly near the fully detailed pitch outside Hogwarts. It is fortunate that an invisible wall of collision did not block players from flying through it, and this pitch presents the perfect opportunity for Quidditch in the future if Hogwarts Legacy decided to devote efforts toward it.
The pieces are already all in place minus crucial mechanics for each role on the team, assuming that players would be able to choose a role other than the traditional Seeker choice. If DLC is being considered for Hogwarts Legacy, Quidditch could certainly be a high priority.
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, whereas the Nintendo Switch version is arriving on July 25, 2023.
