Highlights
- Hogwarts Legacy captured the essence of the wizarding world with its accurate adaptation of the iconic castle, interesting side quests, and customization options.
- The sequel of Hogwarts Legacy has the potential to explore different directions, including a distant past setting or interactions with beloved characters from the Harry Potter books and films. However, it doesn't need to get darker to be good.
- The weakest element of Hogwarts Legacy 's story was the lack of development and believability of the villains, Ranrok and Victor Rookwood. The sequel should focus on a lighter, more light-hearted tone to capitalize on what Harry Potter does best and create a more whimsical and fun atmosphere.
Hogwarts Legacy did well to capture the heart, spirit, and tone of the wizarding world. It's an experience that some may have thought that developer Avalanche Software was ill-equipped for, but though it has its issues, the end result was something that gaming has needed for a long time. An accurate adaptation of the iconic castle, plenty of interesting side quests with compelling characters, and enough customization to go around kept even the keenest fans satisfied. Its sales were astronomical, so a follow-up seems inevitable, meaning it looks as though the developer has a successful IP on its hands.
That sequel could go in any number of different directions, from a distant past setting to interactions with personalities that are seen in the much-loved Harry Potter books and films. It's an exciting time to be a fan of the license, as the quality of Hogwarts Legacy shows that Avalanche is more than up to the task. Tonally it could do with something brighter, however, as the first game presented a rather grim reality where evil was lurking in all corners from the get-go.
Ranrok and Rookwood were Hogwarts Legacy's Achilles Heel
The weakest element of Hogwarts Legacy's story was the lack of development and believability for Ranrok and his accomplice, Victor Rookwood. They didn't have much screen time, and when they were the focal point of a scene they rarely felt unique or interesting. Ranrok paled in comparison to Voldemort, and Rookwood was not as compelling as Severus Snape or Bellatrix Lestrange. That meant that the game's darker or more adversarial story beats fell flatter than the more uplifting ones like discovering Hogsmeade for the first time or soaring across the clouds on a new broom.
Instead of trying to make a more elaborate villain, running the risk of making them too cartoonish in the process, Hogwarts Legacy's follow-up should take the limelight off the baddies, and deviate into something more light-hearted. A sequel needs to be some kind of antagonist to overcome, but that could be something simple like the Ministry of Magic or an unknown secret order. Doing this would free up the space to make the rest of the story more jovial, and thus it would capitalize on what Harry Potter does best.
Hogwarts is a Place of Wonder
Some of the best scenes in Harry Potter are the ones where the students are engaging with magic, and showing their wonderment when riding a broomstick for the first time or holding the perfect wand makes the world feel so whimsical and fun. Voldemort's plans have to be foiled, but there is still time to stop and smell the roses, and Hogwarts Legacy's sequel would do well to lean more into these moments, forging a lighter, brighter atmosphere that doesn't weight too heavy on the players' conscience if they don't complete every side quest.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a perfect template that Avalanche Software should duplicate. In that game, the expectations placed on Link's shoulders and the stakes of the story aren't any lower that usual, but the game spends enough time on the nicer, more colorful elements of the world to more than balance the threatening presence of Ganondorf. Somehow, these two elements never clash tonally, and create one of the best Zelda games, something that Hogwarts Legacy 2 would surely be hoping to achieve, too. To do this, it has to take itself less seriously.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch release scheduled for November 14, 2023.
