Review: 'Hogwarts Legacy' a big bust

One out of Five Stars

By Jonah Unger
Staff Writer

“Hogwarts Legacy” is an action role-playing game that was released Feb. 10, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation systems, both current and new generation.

The game sells for $69.99 for Xbox series S. I ended up paying $74 after taxes, though. 

“Hogwarts Legacy” takes place in the same universe as the Harry Potter series, during the 1800s.

Because of the lore and Easter eggs, this game could be a gold mine for Harry Potter fans. This game offers a good perspective on what was going on in the Harry Potter universe during this time and, yes, the game is Canon. 

With that being said, the game is far from a gold mine for anyone only interested in the game itself. The gameplay is stiff. It feels as if there is no strategy to it, with little movement.

This would be OK if there were good dialogue options to choose from, but there are not. The player sits there and watches boring cut-scene after boring cut-scene without anything to add.

Maybe that would be somewhat manageable, if the player had more options to explore the world and walk their own path. Instead the game punishes the player if they choose to explore during a mission. 

The cherry on top is that the voice acting in the game is embarrassing and hard to sit through. NBA 2K games have better voice acting, as well as dialogue options. The game's story also has very cliché plots, and genuinely feels like a waste of time when speaking to other characters in the game. 

A game this terrible should be illegal. It frustrates me because the producer, Warner Bros. Games, is taking advantage of Harry Potter fans. They knew they could release a terrible game and they were going to make a ridiculous amount of money anyway. 

This game cost more than this month's groceries. I have no problem spending quality money for a quality product, but I do not agree with being taken advantage of. For that reason I give it a rating of 1 out of 5 stars.