First announced almost two years ago, Hogwarts Legacy has finally received a full gameplay trailer. Coming in at a fairly lengthy 14 minutes, this gameplay deep-dive showcased a vast array of activities, creatures, and mechanics, all looking suitably magical. If Harry Potter fans weren't already excited for this game's release, then they almost certainly will be now.
As the game has remained pretty secretive up until this point, this gameplay trailer revealed a lot, like the overall narrative of the game, the backstory of the player-character, and what the general gameplay loop of Hogwarts Legacy will be. While these critical elements were the main focus of the trailer, eagle-eyed fans were still rewarded with countless references and nods to the source material, from the house elf-manned kitchens to the Fat Lady portrait of Gryffindor Common Room. However, as should be expected of a Wizarding World video game, the element that caught most fans' eye was the plethora of spells that were shown off, which pulled from the entire Harry Potter saga and beyond.
Every Spell Shown in the Hogwarts Legacy State of Play
During the lengthy trailer, a whopping total of 15 named spells were showcased. While fans of the Harry Potter series will likely recognize the majority of these, there are some more unique spells in there that don't make frequent appearances in the Harry Potter books or movies but have appeared a few times in previous video games.
The first spell shown off in the trailer was Lumos, a simple charm that produces a ball of light from the end of the wand. This can be seen throughout the Harry Potter series, often used to repel vines, as can be seen in this trailer.
Accio has a dominant presence in this trailer, with the player-character using it in a variety of situations. In combat, Accio is shown to pull the enemy in close, removing them from cover. In exploration, Accio is used in the trailer to pull levers and platforms to open new paths around Hogwarts.
The "Spells & Combat" section of the trailer was where much of the wand magic of the trailer was showcased. The red bolts used by the player-character throughout the combat encounters is the spell Stupefy, used to briefly stun an opponent. A series of Curses were also displayed, including the explosive Confringo, and Petrificus Totalus, a Curse that temporarily freezes the body, most famously used on Neville Longbottom in The Sorcerer's Stone.
A few Jinxes can also be spotted in the trailer, such as Oppugno, which bewitches an object into attacking an opponent, and Levicorpus, which hurls enemies into the air and keeps them there for a few moments. These Jinxes aren't the most recognizable spells, but Levicorpus has appeared in past Harry Potter games and is actually the spell James Potter uses to torment Snape in the flashback scene of Order of the Phoenix.
The most prevalent type of spell shown in the trailer is the Charm. Expelliarmus, the disarming spell and one of the most prominent in the Harry Potter series, can be seen in the trailer, along with Diffindo, a severing Charm, Incendio, which sets a target ablaze, Reparo, which fixes objects, and Descendo, which slams an airborne target into the ground. Glacius can also be seen in the trailer, being used to stop a charging troll in its tracks.
Protego looks like it may be one of the most useful spells in the game, acting as a shield from enemy spells. It seemed as though the player-character was also using this spell to parry and deflect enemy attacks, which should add a nice variety to Hogwarts Legacy's combat.
Throughout the trailer, the player-character was also shown to use some unknown magical abilities, apparently being a hidden power that the character mysteriously has. These powers included summoning a lightning bolt and dashing around the arena using what looked to be a water-based spell.
Toward the end of the trailer, the player-character is also shown to use the killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. Being one of the "Unforgivable Curses," it's pretty interesting seeing the player-character wield the spell, as it's often only used by the villainous characters of the franchise. Fans will have to wait until the end of the year to find out whether they'll be able to actually use the killing Curse for themselves, or whether it's restricted to a cinematic.
Hogwarts Legacy is coming Holiday 2022 to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.