A Skeptic Tries Hogwarts Legacy

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The opening sequence on the way to Hogwarts sealed the deal for me.

I started this game up and I was blown away from the beginning, but the real “okay, this game is IT” moment was when I was running down a hallway and swung a door open, two “knights in shining armour” were goofing around on their stands in the corner, and when they saw me, they panicked and stood upright and acted as inanimate objects like they weren’t just animate.. That was basically it for me 😂 I love this game.

I am one of those unfortunate nerds that lived and breathed the books and movies while growing up, and the game is honestly everything I've ever wanted as a fan. Which after so many years of modern remakes and adaptations actively ruining things I love, has me a bit emotional lmao. I just want expansions for year 6 and 7 so badly.
And yeah, there are so many silly and amazing Easter eggs too. Like there's a dumb side quest called "follow the butterflies" and they lead you into the Forbidden Forest. And I was instantly transported back to Chamber of Secrets and Ron Weasley going "follow the Spiders- Follow the Spiders!!! Why couldn't it be Follow the Butterflies!? If Hagrid ever gets outta Azkaban, I'll kill him." 😂

I need a Avatar the Last Airbender game like this.
I’ve never seen a Harry Potter film but I’m glad that a fanbase is getting something that authentically captures why they love the IP. I’m definitely buying this once I watch the saga.

Greatest little “side” thing I’ve seen so far…I was running through the castle and saw 2 suits of armor. One turned to the other and just kicked its ass until it was laying in pieces on the ground. I just stared at it and laughed

Best way I can explain it. Is that this is the Harry Potter game I have always dreamed of. And so, so much more. The little details add up, and the combat is so much more fun and challenging then I thought it would be.

One of the things I really appreciate in the game is how they give narrative reasons for things like why you can't play quidditch or why the character can see thestrals. They could have just left it out as a no brainer but they actually included it

Agreed, this game is something special and I wasn't expecting it at all. The attention to detail is insane

The amount of love and passion put into this game is evident. The rich atrention to detail, the seemingly unending puzzles or secrets you come across, the great characters, a world that feels alive and lived in, a game that doesn’t hold your hand and has you figure out a lot yourself especially when it comes to puzzles or secrets. And it looks visually stunning. This is a great open world and it does a lot right. I was skeptical as the dev had never made a triple A game before, and they seem to have nailed it. I’m 6 to 8 hours in, feel like I have barely scratched the surface and am still encountering tutorial stuff, and I can’t get enough of the world. They actually pulled it off and the game has actually exceeded all expectations.

I’ve been playing this since midnight on the early access release… it’s already one of my favourite titles EVER. I am absolutely in love and blown away. I feel so immersed

It really is astounding how much they passed the bar. Genuinely one of the first games I’ve played in a while where I can’t wait to get back into it.

I love the fact that this can now act as a base line they can build off and make many other stories in this world now that the world has been built ☺️

So pleased one of these big 2023 releases has lived up to the hype. Big congrats to Avalanche Soft and Portkey for their efforts 🙏

I love the detail and the professors' unique characters. The dialogue and story can be a bit clunky, but the exploration is top notch. The first game in a long while I have actual relaxing fun with.

It’s way better than I expected, I was worried we’d get the typical “looks great” until it comes out, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised, I’m loving it

The fade to black is generally to hide them "popping" you into the right place without doing it naturally when it comes to interactables. Other games do it relatively often, depending on how intense the interaction is.

your take on this game was the one i was most interested to see, and i'm so happy that it's impressed you. i've only played a few hours so far but i feel like a little kid again reading the books for the first time. what a gift this game has turned out to be.

As someone who had no hype for this, went in totally blind, and isn’t even a Harry Potter fan- this game is awesome.

I really like this game so far. So much to explore. It may seem like an unimportant detail but it would be kinda cool to chill in a chair or sofa from time to time. You know, lounging in common rooms by the fire or sitting down within the library. It would be a fitting addition to the cozy atmosphere this lore provides.
It's normal stuff within open world games nowadays and can't be that difficult to add. It's also kind of weird that you can place your own furniture within the room of requirements and can't sit on it afterwards. :D

It’s fantastic… I’m already on my way to hogsmede to get my supplies after completing the first 2 quests. Perfect opening, Hogwarts is beautiful the classrooms the hallways the attention to detail. So stunning. It’s so good.

Really looking forward to what this studio does next. If they make a sequel and improve on some of the criticisms, it could be amazing.

The entire first 40 minutes was immaculate.
I was under the impression we would start either at diagon alley or already be in Hogwarts and get sorted RIGHT after the character customization.
Having this new yet familiar story (as well as some dark stuff that I wasn’t expecting) makes this one of my all time favorite game intros.. probably up there with the introduction to rapture in the very first bioshock. I knew this would be good but not THIS good.
Early GOTY contender for sure

I never cared about harry potter, but as a gamer i love that this world was fully realized for the fans and i look forward to playing it myself soon.

I love the little attention to details this game has (Red Dead 2 spoiled me a lot on trying to catch every single insignificant detail as possible). Really makes the whole open world feel more lively.

So far I am impressed. Hogwarts Castle is absolutley HUGE and exploring it makes my head spin but the attention to detail is astonishing. Loving the atmosphere and gameplay along with the music of course!

The fade to black is a HUGE time/money saver for transitions. If you go for something as simple as petting a cat, you can approach the cat from any angle and at any moment of the cat animation loop. You'd need to blend and move both characters into alignment to play the petting animation. That's it's doable but it's tricky and expensive.

I love how downright inspired this game feels, with the emphasis on exploration in a detailed environment, the grandness of the world and the mechanics that you can use to interact with the world. I was fairly sceptical ever since the release of the first trailer but this seems like something I would play regardless of its affiliation to the Harry Potter Series.

I’m buying this game thanks to you, out of all the reviewers I trusted you most because you were skeptical. When you said about it not having the Ubisoft affect, that really put me at ease

Hogwarts legacy is much more than i ever wouldve imagined the level of detail everywhere is very impressive, I'm absolutely loving it on PC. Havent had any bugs or performance issues its amazing. Thanks for your Impressions even tho i preordered its still nice to hear your impressions. Have fun u all in Hogwarts Legacy a true adventure.

I’m like 2 hours in and I’m loving it so far. My tiny critiques are just the animations and voice acting is slightly “eerie”, leaning towards uncanny valley but not terrible. Story wise, I think they missed out on having us start as a first year and playing through it fresh with the other first years, but they can always do that in another game and it’s definitely not bad the way they did it

There is nothing wrong with being skeptical of a new game. Most often we are let down by games and it’s good to have some skepticism

It definitely looks like a game of the year contender. Thank god someone finally released a game that is worth it. We needed this game to be good. To show other companies that releasing games broken on day one isnt the normal. This is how games should be released. Watch the sales go well over expectations.

For me it totally delivered! I've been playing for like 8 hours now and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time. Well worth the money. I grew up with the HP books/movies and this did not dissapoint.

This game is absolutely amazing so proud of Avalanche for delivering this making it a instant success for all of us harry potter fans, the atmosphere, gameplay, exploration everything is all I wished for.... enjoy everyone! 😃

Love Love Love this game. A couple issues are that you don't have that same exciting competition between houses that you saw in HP and I feel like we're missing those deep partnerships/friendships HP had. But then again, I'm only ~7 hours in so that could definitely change. Runs amazingly on PS5 with some annoyances with pop-ins and 3-second loading when exiting the castle.

40h in. it is magnificent. going to start a second save soon. this is the game i have been waiting for since i was 5yo. and it met at least 90% of my expectations. it is the game of the year

I've only played for a couple of hours on the PC and things are looking really good, I'm really into the story already and the atmosphere is great. It feels like Hogwarts and the art direction is 10/10 for me.

I was pretty skeptical going into this as well. I knew it would meet my Harry Potter fanboy expectations when it came to the world and running around Hogwarts. But the combat is legit super fun and varied and I'm mostly enjoying the story and characters. There are definitely flaws but they absolutely exceeded my expectations. And based on sales, I'm excited to see how they improve on things in the sequel. More enemy variety, better story pacing, and hopefully better technical performance.

The intro was phenomenal but realistically it only has gotten better since then. After being sorted into your house (I got ravenclaw), and after a couple of missions to help set the tone of the game you get the reigns taken off you and I've already spent a good 6-7 hours just appreciating the work that the devs took into crafting hogwarts/hogsmeade and hogsmeade station alone. There's so many other locations I'm yet to dive into but it's a game I'm taking slow and that doesn't happen often, if ever for me anymore. I'm happy that there's so much to do.
Now I have my broom! I'm now enjoying hogwarts externally as well as internally (and vertically!).
In terms of a team making a game world based on the books and movies, this is a true and faithful addition to the franchise. honestly, until now the games i enjoyed was only order of the phoenix, half blood and prisoner of azkaban. I was growing up at that point and loved (and still do) the harry potter franchise. I liked those games at the time because of the exploring of the castle you could do... but this truly is next level. Even though it's set before harry potter, I'm falling in love with the whole open world here and honestly I'm not even thinking about harry potter. The games good enough as just an overall RPG that even if you weren't or aren't a fan of the potterverse you could pick this game up and have a damn fun time playing it.
Combat is like arkham knight with wand combat.
Exploration is magical and always encouraged (pun intended)
Story is pleasantly well told and engaging
Locations are fun, inventive and faithful to the lore
Side missions and activities let you really take the atmosphere of the world in more
Regardless of how you play- slow or fast. There's weeks worth of content to explore and no doubt there's some serious opportunities for great dlc.
This game is as close to a masterpiece for someone whose been waiting for THE game set in this fantasy world. Of course there are things that you can't do and it does have its own limitations, but there's enough there for this to still be considered a 10/10 experience and that's why I'm sticking with my opinion on that. To me, it's everything I ever wanted, and now that I have it if they ever make a follow up this is the foundation for them to be even more creative!

‘Because I simply want to play it now’ That line killed me 😂😂😂 Cannot wait to play this

I'm so happy and proud of the developers, that had absolutely nothing impressive under their belt, imo, and this game is much better than it should be. Goes to show what a passionate studio can do when given the opportunity

The developers nailed it absolutely to implement the Ubisoft formula into a game,much better than Ubisoft ever did😂. I haven't been very deep into the "Potterverse" ever,I watched the first three movies and read the first two books,but this game is absolute fun to play and I'm literally laughing my ass off while I'm discovering crazy and funny things back to back to back😂👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Having an absolute blast so far. Amazing dedication by Avalanche studios. This is a masterpiece.

I was skeptical and it blew me away. I read the first few books when I was a kid and wasn’t really even that into it but this game is amazing. A must buy

i like how in the opening part you dont see the thestrals but later on immediately after someone dies then you can see them. They really put in so much detail

One that gave me chills is the sound effects. When I cast “Lumus” and the sound came out of the controller, I gave my whole to this game. It’s one of the games where you have this rare connection with. It’s like the same reaction from the “Ratatouille” taste scene! That’s how powerful this game influenced me.

Yeah,it's the perfect start for a year with 3 great games (dead space remake,hifi rush,hogwarts legacy) and forspoken to make sure we don't get our hopes high!!!As i said perfect starting for the year!

I'm just gonna say it. I was not expecting an immersive sim out of this experience. Colour me impressed.

So glad this game is as good as it is, I'm not the biggest Potter fan by a long shot but the series has always been a major nostalgia/comfort thing for me despite not being heavily involved in the general fandom, so finally having a HP game of this quality is great to experience now just to order some more RAM so that I don't need to do my entire playthrough with heavy stutters as my laptop currently only has 8GB's and it's struggling!

The only real differences other than coming out of the "witch" or "wizard" section of the dorm are the houses. Each house has it's own experience and their own exclusive quest revolving around the name "Jackdaw".

Jacob absolutely killed it with that instant replay.

Jacob is having loads of fun with the editing. That KO bit had me in stitches.

It is truly amazing! I've basically waited for a game like this for over 2 decades and suffice it to say.. It's everything I wanted it to be! 😀

This game is extremely packed with content I’m 10 hours in and still on level 6 quests and I’m level 15 and just acquired my broomstick for flying GAME OF THE YEAR MOST DEFINITELY

The sheer size of this game is crazy. Hogwarts is massive, the area surrounding it, plus hogsmeade and a few other towns in addition to that? I’m blown away by the quality of this game so far

The immersion is insane, the dialogue changes depending on what you do in game. I captured a certain magical beast just off my own back exploring (not part of a quest) and NPCs I spoke to knew about it ahah

This game ticks all the boxes needed for a HP game. You can clearly see where the game tries to be a jack of all trades game with a little bit of everything. However the fact that the setting, lore and overall *love* put into this game just elevates the gameplay so much. The implementation is masterful. You can clearly see that the people who made the game love the Wizarding World.

They really captured the feeling of the movies well

Beyond thrilled to see a lot of extremely critical youtubers enjoying the game. Helps me know the game is actually good, not just talked up by all the big companies

I think the fade to black is not a big problem because it happens quickly, the problem with Forspoken was that during those fades to black the screen would stay dark for 1 to 2 seconds, it is too long and very frequent. While in Hogwarts Legacy it's as fast as the blink of an eye. It doesn't bother me here at all, actually,y a hadn't noticed it until you said it.

Thanks for your objective thoughts on the game throughout the hype, can't wait to play it!
I hope there will eventually be a first person pov mod for pc. Would use it just for exploring the castle! It's massive!

I was blown away by how good it looks as well. It’s one of those games that really let me notice the difference between my old console and my gaming pc. Buttery smooth frames and just overall great graphics.

The fade to black is likely because the cutscene animation has your character in a certain position, and it's hiding the 'animation vacuum' that would pull your character into position.

I was highly skeptical myself, glad to see game is actually nice can't wait to play it, overall looks great.

I hope they continue to support this game with dlc stories,and sequels.

As fun as so many rpg/open world games are (RDR2, Skyrim, AC, BOTW, Witcher 3), this is the first time in awhile I feel genuinely excited to experience an open world. All those games I mentioned are amazing and are some of my favorite games of all time but Hogwarts Legacy offers lore that I love and have loved for so many years. I really hope this game does well and incentivizes studios to adapt other book series and universes into video games. I'm largely thinking of Brandon Sanderson's fantasy universe the Cosmere which has many series (Stormlight, Mistborn) and it would be awesome to see a game adapted from a universe like that. Experiencing new worlds is fun but seeing a world that you already know and love and getting to walk around in it takes the cake for me.

I am so impressed. The character creation is awesome (only critique is if they had more voice options. I'm Latino and the voice sounds so white/English) Other than that, OMG! This game is amazing,
I'm also playing with all setting on Ultra with ray tracing off, and I have to say the graphics are breathtakingly beautiful. I'm finding myself constantly stopping to admire the view like I do in the Witcher 3. I was worried cause this is the first time I've ever paid full price for a game. I usually wait for a sale, but I am so glad I did. Dios mío! This is going to be fun. Wish you all the best fellow witches and wizards.

I’m really happy your channel is growing! You deserve it so much! Love your video’s and the vibe you give it ❤

Yeah, the fade to black is to hide player animation and/or location changes. Hence why it fades when you start petting a cat, because if you're behind the cat or not in the right location, you would need to move to that location before the animation plays. They took the easy route and just teleport the player behind a black screen. It doesn't fade when you finish petting, because you're already in position. You just need to do the animation to stand up.

Also for any viewers wondering about what he said at 18:07 every house has its own unique side quests and missions, ravenclaw has the least amount so keep that in mind when choosing your house. But yeah you can essentially play the game 4 times over and have different experiences, although the main story remains the same of course (as far as I know.. I’m still on my first play through. But my buddy chose ravenclaw and he fucked up😂

The moment I saw a night slap his partner and then straiten back up I was intrigued. Then I saw the opening scenes and I was sold. Well done.

I honestly didn't expect to see Peeves in this game. Nice to see it's full of details from the books as well as the movies.

Re: this game it really looks like, aside from combat having the potential to be better, the devs really did a fantastic job at the world building, the UI and the stylistic comprehensiveness like the menu formats etc. Really a lot of great finishing touches as you mentioned

Luke being a ravenclaw like me is the best thing, so many people picked slythrin but LAW OF THE CLAW 🦅🦅🦅will prevail

I grew up with Harry Potter. My family and I went to midnight releases of every single book fully dressed up in costumes. We went to every single midnight first release for the films (also dressed up). The shitty sorcerer's stone pc game was the first video game I ever played, and the only one to date that my mom has ever played with me. No joke, Harry Potter was literally the only time that everyone in my family came together, ever. This game has fulfilled everything I could want and more. I could cry honestly, lol.

DOWNLOADED IT LAST NIGHT AND PAST OUT AS I WAS CHOOSING MY HOUSE. WOKE UP AND PUT 7 HOURS IN AND I JUST LEFT HOGWARTS FOR THE FIRST TIME. THIS IS AWESOME.

OMG I was gonna wait for more reviews and Steam Deck performance info but with how (rightfully so) skeptical you've been this positive view of the early game is VERY encouraging. I might just pay the extra ten damn dollars to start playing it today!

Jacob's edit for when you pet the cat was the highlight of my morning 🤣

An awesome The Last of Us tv series adaptation and now an awesome Harry Potter game adaptation. Good times for games/gamers lately

Hearing you talk about it as a fellow skeptic sealed the deal for me. My interest for this game has increased and i have decided to get it next paycheck. I even decided to see the opening sequence and as someone who never really got into Harry Potter it actually got me interested. And yes the cancel culture bs going on is also a factor in building up my interest for this game.

I absolutely fell in love with this thing. Went in with no expectations, but was impressed by how many gameplay streams the team did.
This game really needs a photomode. The world really deserves it. It's like living through a fairytale lens. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible.
The lighting, the absolute attention to details on the architecture, the small assets scattered around in the right areas and the music is oh so epic, the common rooms and the clothing..
Such a beautiful creation! Hats off for all the love the creators poured into this!

It's so enjoyable to play. Great game so far, one of the best i've played in a while

I got to play this game for around 3 hours this morning before work and I have to say, it is SO nice to have a game come out that plays this smoothly and is this fun at the same time on day one. Not even Elden Ring was this smooth for me the first day. Its all just so refreshing.

Really appreciate your quick review Luke!! Always trust your takes and can't wait to play!

Those landscape shots with Hogwarts shining in the background. My gosh, those visuals are amazing

I can't fucking wait for this game to release so that I can try it for myself...it's one of those games that doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it's good it's long overdue for this fictional universe

This game is amazing. The attire is straight 🔥. I wish they made some of the cloaks and scarfs in real life.

I wasn't a Potter fan before this game . I love this game . I'm normally not a wizard in games ,I like melee combat best . The combat is so much better than I thought . It is addictive and keeps getting better . Once I got the broom ,I got Elden Ring vibes while exploring . It's freaking great

totally agree with you on the fade to black thing. Kinda breaks the immersion for me. Nevertheless I can’t wait to play this game on Friday. It looks incredible

I'm a few hours into it and so far it's amazing. The artowkr the way you think of Hogwarts and have seen in the movies and read in the books is there. It's all there. It's insane the amount of detail in the smallest damn thing is insanely cool. This game is great and I do recommend this game highly. It's fun, it's Harry Potter in the best way possible. I love it. And I'm not even the biggest Harry Potter fan either. This is a great game get it. Just buy it. Even if you aren't into Harry Potter just get it. As I said it's grand.

Your comment about it being easy to play, is exactly right - everything feels very natural, very quickly. The control system, the feel of the world, the way you learn new spells/potions in a believable non-nannying way. Looked forward to this release ever since it was announced, and for once, the product delivered has lived up to expectations. Playing this between a desktop rig and my Steam Deck is a nice experience, and while the fast travel system works well, quite happy to just explore the world and take it all in at my own pace, which says everything you need to know about this game.

It reminds me of older games where the goal is exploration, immersion, and mini challenges. Not hyper violent shock value.

Probably the most FUN I’ve ever had playing a video game. My wife got me into the Potterverse. I can’t imagine how great it is for people who grew up loving this franchise.

one of the greatest games i ever played, no-lifed it for 3 days, 30 hours, to beat the main story. will continue to play it until 100%, will probably take 100+ hours

This was the one game in my life that I pre ordered with no doubts that it would be good and now about 20 hours in I’d say this lives up to the hype man, it took me longer in this game to get my own broom than it did for me to platinum Spider-Man ps4, this game is truly insane

Polar opposite to a game like Forspoken. It's actually a fun game and the open world activities doesnt just feel like a chore. AVALANCHE did an AMAZING job.

Been very good with keeping away from spoilers and now started playing this game together with my partner. She's in Ravenclaw and I'm I Huffelpuff and so far it's already been worth the price of pre-ordering. She notices the little bugs/technical issues more than I do because she's playing on a proper gaming pc with everything fully maxed out, but so far nothing major yet.

This is the best open world game I've played since red dead 2 tbh. Games like this, rdr2 and botw have something where you just get absolutely lost and absorbed into the world they created. Hogwarts has so much attention to detail its crazy, when I think I can't find any more hidden rooms in hogwarts I take some stairs and I'm in an area I've never even explored before. Exploring hogwarts could be its own metroidvania. Anyways just saying this game is very immersive and very good. I wish the map was better for hogwarts though

With the current state of gaming the fact I’m playing this early before the day one patch and I’m not getting anything but some lighting glitches is refreshing. The developers were under a microscope with all of this and came out in stride