Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive experience in an atmospheric wizarding world. This is achieved through nostalgia that all Harry Potter fans share, and in Hogwarts Legacy’s attention to detail in terms of lore and mechanics that are presented to the player. Certain features were omitted for one reason or another, but the game makes up for these omissions by offering an epic action-RPG that is also a refreshing change of pace for the franchise it belongs to. One feature that Hogwarts Legacy excels at is its wand-dueling combat, which is fluid and creative in encounters with different enemy types.
Spells are obviously a huge part of what makes the wizarding world feel magical as students continue to hone their skills while attending classes at Hogwarts. Hogwarts Legacy introduces exciting Ancient Magic abilities alongside a slew of iconic spells that fans will surely be familiar with, such as the Unforgivable Curses, and many spells are not learned until players indulge in extracurricular assignments from their professors. Unfortunately, Hogwarts Legacy hardly has space enough for players to fully capitalize on them all.
Hogwarts Legacy Has Too Few Spell Slots Available
Hogwarts Legacy gives players a single spell diamond in the beginning of the game that represents each of a console controller’s face buttons. Players can then assign any slottable spells they have into this diamond to their preference, and soon enough muscle memory can play a role in remembering which spell is assigned to which input. However, spells are routinely rotated out with others swapped in once this diamond is fully occupied and the function of a particular spell is needed instead.
Players do eventually have the opportunity to unlock three additional spell diamonds through the Core Talent tree, which is obviously helpful in micromanaging spell rotations that can be sifted through, but even four spell diamonds is not enough. Hogwarts Legacy features so many spells that it is impossible to slot all of them at any given time, and therefore one or two spells may always need to be swapped out, if only for a moment, and that can become tedious if such spells are needed infrequently.
Hogwarts Legacy Wants Players to Pick and Choose Spells
Players do not need to slot Wingardium Leviosa because Accio casts eventually have an automatic Wingardium Leviosa effect. Likewise, Alohomora is an Essential spell for picking locks that can be cast without needing to be slotted beforehand. However, there are multiple Utility and Transfiguration spells that players will want to use on an irregular basis.
Disillusionment is used whenever players decide to use stealth, but popping an Invisibility Potion is always a viable yet limited alternative. Reparo is used sparingly, but players will likely not have it slotted due to it being largely backburned as a spell in Hogwarts Legacy. Moreover, there are numerous enemy exploits that players can abuse to turn a tedious fight into a seconds-long one, and these exploits may require players to completely reevaluate what their spell slots look like.
The most problematic spell assignments in Hogwarts Legacy are its beast care ‘spells’ that include the player’s nab-sack, a brush to groom beasts, and food pellets to feed beasts. These are slottable spells that are obviously only used when players are out rescuing beasts in the open world or tending to them in the Room of Requirement’s Vivariums. Thus it is unfortunate that other important spells might need to be swapped out for them in these sparse moments of gameplay.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One versions are scheduled to release on April 4, and the Nintendo Switch version arrives July 25, 2023.
