Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy is a 2023 action role-playing 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 prior to the Harry Potter novels. The player controls a student enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who learns to wield an array of magical abilities and objects. With the assistance of fellow students and professors, the protagonist embarks on a journey to unearth an ancient secret concealed within the wizarding world.

Hogwarts Legacy is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. It is set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its surrounding areas, influenced by the Wizarding World franchise. When creating a character, players can customize several features, such as their character’s look, complexion, vocal characteristics, and whether they wish to be housed in a Witch or Wizard dormitory. They must also choose one of the four Hogwarts Houses. Taking part in and completing classes is essential to the storyline, as it unlocks certain gameplay mechanics, including the option to fly on brooms. 

As players progress, their player character learns to cast spells, brew potions, and master combat abilities, eventually developing their own special combat style. Through in-game challenges, the player character can earn experience points to gain levels, which allows the player to access and upgrade different spells, talents, and abilities. These challenges come in the form of combat, quests, and exploration. Player characters can establish friendships with non-player characters (NPCs).

As these relationships grow, schoolmates become companions who can accompany players on their journey, expand their abilities, and offer unique companion quests as players learn their stories. Each of the four Hogwarts Houses—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—also offers a unique common room; these rooms are only accessible for the player’s current house chosen by the Sorting Hat. Accompanied by the choice of house, the player receives different exclusive quests. While house points for the four Hogwarts houses play a part in the plot, they are not influenced by player actions.

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the late 1800s, taking place in several Wizarding World locations such as Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade, and the Scottish Highlands. The player takes on the role of a student (voiced by Sebastian Croft or Amelia Gething) starting their studies at Hogwarts in the fifth year. The player character possesses the power to control a mysterious ancient magic and holds the key to an “ancient secret” that threatens the stability of the wizarding world. Their mission is to discover the reasons behind the resurgence of this forgotten magic and those who are trying to harness its power.

The protagonist receives a letter from Professor Weasley, which confirms their attendance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student and assigns Professor 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 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 a troll sent by Ranrok attacks them and is defeated by them. The protagonist also sneaks into the library and finds a book with missing pages. While Professor Fig studies the book, the protagonist locates the missing pages and finds a secret room below Hogwarts known as the Map Chamber, where they later visit several times with Fig and 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.