Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy is a 2023 action role-playing video game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label. It is part of the Wizarding World franchise, taking place a century before the Harry Potter novels. Players control a student enrolled at the magical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who attends classes, learns spells, and explores Hogwarts Castle and its surroundings. With the assistance of fellow students and professors, the protagonist embarks on a journey to uncover an ancient secret hidden within the wizarding world.

Following Warner Bros.' acquisition of Avalanche Software in 2017, Hogwarts Legacy became the studio's first project unrelated to Disney Interactive Studios since 2005. Officially announced in 2020, the game cost an estimated $150 million to produce. The storyline was designed to take place in a period largely untouched by established Wizarding World characters, offering players the opportunity to immerse themselves in their own distinct universe. Avalanche emphasised the importance of having the game resemble the Harry Potter novels, while also expanding beyond known locations to enrich the experience.

Hogwarts Legacy was highly anticipated, according to several publications. It attracted controversy over Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling's views on transgender people and accusations of antisemitic tropes, leading to calls for a boycott. The early-access period of Hogwarts Legacy resulted in record-breaking viewership on streaming platform Twitch, making it the most-watched single-player game on the platform. Following some delays, it was released on 10 February 2023 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, on 5 May 2023 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on 14 November 2023 for Nintendo Switch. A Nintendo Switch 2 version was released on 5 June 2025.

Hogwarts Legacy received praise for its combat, world design, characters, variety of content, and faithfulness to the source material, but criticism for its technical problems at release and lack of innovation as an open-world game. In its first two weeks, it sold over 12 million copies and generated $850 million in global sales revenue. It became one of the best-selling video games, selling 40 million copies and reaching $1 billion in total revenue. Hogwarts Legacy appeared on several publications' year-end lists and received accolades including nominations at the BAFTA Games Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, and Grammy Awards.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the 1890s at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its surrounding areas. The areas include magical village Hogsmeade and the Scottish Highlands, influenced by the Wizarding World franchise. Players take on the role of a student (voiced by Sebastian Croft or Amelia Gething) starting their studies at Hogwarts in the fifth year. The protagonist can control a mysterious form of ancient magic that threatens the stability of the wizarding world. Their mission is to discover the reasons behind the resurgence of this forgotten magic and stand against those who are trying to harness its power.

Professor Eleazar Fig (Nicholas Guy Smith), a wizard who teaches magic theory at Hogwarts, is a central ally throughout the protagonist's adventure. Other characters include Hogwarts students Amit Thakkar (Asif Ali) and Everett Clopton (Luke Youngblood), Professors Onai (Kandace Caine) and Shah (Sohm Kapila), as well as Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black (Simon Pegg) and Professor Matilda Weasley (Lesley Nicol). The protagonist also partners with students Natsai Onai, Poppy Sweeting, Sebastian Sallow and Ominis Gaunt, who serve as companion characters. Antagonists include Ranrok, the leader of a goblin rebellion, and Victor Rookwood, the leader of a group of Dark Wizards.

Plot

The protagonist receives a letter from Professor Matilda Weasley, which confirms their attendance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student and assigns Professor Eleazar Fig as the protagonist's mentor. Fig escorts the protagonist from London to Hogwarts via a flying coach. While investigating an unknown artefact, a dragon attacks them, prompting the two to reach for a Portkey hidden inside the artefact that teleports them to the Scottish Highlands. In the Highlands, they find a ruin with a portal to Gringotts. Using the Portkey to enter an old vault, the protagonist learns they can see traces of ancient magic. The duo is confronted by a hostile goblin named Ranrok before escaping to Hogwarts, where the protagonist is sorted into one of the four houses. The protagonist learns various spells during classes and goes on a trip to Hogsmeade with a companion, where they defeat a troll sent by Ranrok. The protagonist also sneaks into the library and finds a book with missing pages. While Fig studies the book, the protagonist locates the missing pages and finds a secret room below Hogwarts known as the Map Chamber. The protagonist visits the Map Chamber several times with Fig later in the game. They talk to the portraits of four deceased Hogwarts professors who refer to themselves as the "Keepers", whose goal is to protect the secrets of ancient magic from the wizarding world.

To reveal the secrets of ancient magic, the protagonist completes four trials left by the Keepers. Each trial leads to a Pensieve, a magical device used to store and review memories. The protagonist learns from these memories about Isidora Morganach, a Hogwarts student and later professor with abilities similar to the protagonist. Isidora was in conflict with the Keepers and left behind a hidden repository of ancient magic after using it to extract negative emotions, particularly from her suffering father. The Keepers realised that Isidora was inhaling the extracted emotions to increase her own power and failed to dissuade her, forcing one of them to eliminate her with the Killing Curse. Through their other adventures, the protagonist also learns that Ranrok, the leader of an ongoing goblin rebellion against wizards, seeks to find the repository and exploit it for his own ends. He collaborates with a group of dark wizards led by Victor Rookwood, a descendant of one of the Keepers, to locate it.

After the protagonist completes all four trials, they receive a final task from the Keepers: to create a special type of magic wand from the artefacts found at the Pensieves. Fig sends the protagonist to Gerbold Ollivander, a wandmaker, to craft the special wand. As the protagonist leaves Ollivander's, they are ambushed by Rookwood, who proposes an alliance against the goblins. The protagonist refuses, resulting in a battle in which the protagonist manages to defeat him. The protagonist and Professor Fig discover the repository. Ranrok interrupts them and destroys Isidora's repository. Absorbing the ancient power, he transforms himself into a dragon, injuring Fig. The protagonist defeats Ranrok, ending the goblin rebellion, and the protagonist makes a choice between keeping the ancient magic sealed away or absorbing the power for themselves. Regardless of their choice, Fig dies, and Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black and Professor Weasley hold a eulogy in honour of him.

The protagonist returns to finish regular school studies and prepare for the O.W.L. exams at the end of the year. They also continue to explore the castle's surrounding areas and go through adventures with companions Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, Poppy Sweeting, and Natsai Onai if they have not completed them already. The journey ends with Weasley awarding the protagonist 100 house points for their extraordinary adventure, which ultimately leads to winning the House Cup for their respective house.

Gameplay

Hogwarts Legacy is an action role-playing video game played from a third-person perspective. Players create a character by customising features such as appearance, voice, and complexion. They choose whether to be housed in a witch or wizard dormitory and select one of the four Hogwarts Houses, guided by the Sorting Hat. Each Hogwarts House (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) features a unique common room accessible only to its members and exclusive quests. Attending and completing classes is essential to progression, as it unlocks gameplay mechanics, such as broom flight. As the game advances, players learn to cast spells, brew potions, and master combat abilities, eventually developing a personalised combat style. Experience points are earned by completing quests and challenges, while a separate talent tree for enhancing spells and abilities unlocks as players progress through the game. Players can engage with various non-player characters (NPCs), and some of them become companions. Companions provide a series of side quests focused on relationships and can join players on select missions.