Hogwarts Legacy Will Let You Potter Around The Wizarding World

We haven’t had a decent Harry Potter game in forever – no, Harry Potter Go does not count. That will hopefully change next year, when Hogwarts Legacy releases. It’s an open world action RPG set in the world of wizards, and its set a hundred or so years before the books. It’s not strictly a Harry Potter game, since it takes place before any of the characters we’ve learned to love was even born, but it’s set in the Potterverse at least.

You’ll get to explore familiar but also new locations, discover fantastic beasts, craft potions, upgrade your skills, cast spells and generally be a wizard. It’s going to take place at some point during the nineteenth century, and you’ll play as a Hogwarts student who “holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart”. No pressure though.

You have the rare ability to use Ancient Magic, and you’ll be able to decide whether and how to use it. There’s no mention of what this special beed of magic actually entails, but it’s Very Important. The trailer, which you can watch in its entirety below, shows off the activities you’ll engage in, as well as some of the locations you’ll visit outside the school, like the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade Village.

There’s also a bunch of creatures in the video, some of which I think are new? It’s hard to keep up, if we’re being honest. There’s also dark wizards to battle, and the press release mentions making choices, which might mean you’ll be allowed to become one of them yourself, or it might just be hollow PR talk.

We’ll find out for sure next year. No firm release date yet, but it’s going to come out on PC, the Playstations and the numerous, confusingly named Xbox consoles.