Hogwarts Legacy scratches many immersive Harry Potter itches. Players will be able to fully explore the fantastical castle that they know and love from the franchise, assuming their role as a student in any Hogwarts house they wish. Social simulation elements are also exciting, offering fans an opportunity to interact with other students and professors as they attend their magical classes. Further, players wield wands, a handy tool wheel, and a plethora of unique spells that can be combined in exciting duels with other students and enemies lurking around the castle grounds.
Hogwarts Legacy has given fans fairly comprehensive looks at combat recently through its gameplay showcases. The game thankfully avoids a hack-’n-slash approach and opts for a more considered and engaging combat system, where players juggle enemies midair with devastating spells. Multiple enemies might attack the player at once, and players must be ready to ward themselves with Protego and counterattack with Stupefy. However, players will have more than a wand at their disposal when it comes to making the most out of Hogwarts Legacy’s unique combat; the tool wheel matters too.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Combat is Multifaceted
Thankfully, studious classwork will not be for nothing in Hogwarts Legacy. Players will learn how to duel and defend themselves with spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but they will also learn to brew elixirs and other items in Potions. Therefore, while classes may be scripted for certain narrative sequences, it will be in every player's best interest to pay attention to their professors in order to learn about potential aids in combat.
Classes likely introduce these mechanics to players for them to then use in the open world, and once certain potions can be crafted it is likely that players will know the recipe to brew them in Hogwarts Legacy’s personalized Room of Requirement. This takes potion brewing from the dingy Potions dungeon to a colorful and customizable space where players may spend a lot of their time while in the castle, especially with an entire Vivarium of magical creatures to tend to.
Likewise, Herbology is likely to introduce many kinds of organic flora to players. Hogwarts Legacy’s tool wheel encompasses all these consumables and items that players can grow, brew, or purchase, and they will be accessible from the tool wheel for quick use between spell casts.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Potions and Tools May Turn the Tide in Combat
The tool wheel has been explicitly hidden from view as an attempt to not spoil certain items, but it was recently shown in Hogwarts Legacy’s second gameplay showcase, highlighting two items players can equip in combat. The first was a Chinese Chomping Cabbage, and the second was a Focus Potion.
The latter is described as temporarily reducing the cooldown times for spells cast, and is brewed with one lacewing fly, one fluxweed stem, and one dugbog tongue. In this particular tool wheel, which was brandished in Hogwarts Legacy’s Dark Arts Battle Arena, other items included a Venomous Tentacula, an Edurus Potion, and a Mandrake. The Edurus Potion has been depicted a couple different times now and encases the protagonist in a rock skin for better defense.
It will be exciting to see how many items there are for players to slot into the tool wheel, as well as which items are better for different enemies or encounters. Otherwise, a great incentive to use items and consumables from the tool wheel could simply relate to bonus feats that combat encounters propose.
Hogwarts Legacy launches February 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, April 4 for PS4 and Xbox One, and July 25 for Nintendo Switch.
