Thanks in no small part to the Room of Requirement, Hogwarts Legacy gives players every opportunity and means to become a formidable Potions and Herbology master. If they have an optimal loadout of gear traits and talent skills, players can even wade into a mob of enemies and never cast a single spell while wielding cruciferous vegetables and imbibing concoctions. Rather, spellcasting combat is so compelling and satisfying in Hogwarts Legacy that potions and plants can easily become an afterthought, even if spells and their assigned slots do become underwhelming or excessive.
When Hogwarts Legacy’s sequel takes place and how spells are designed will be illuminating. Hogwarts Legacy’s approach to spells wasn’t outright dysfunctional, but there are arguments to be made about how effective or accessible they all were. Likewise, some spells leaned too closely on others with unique ones being all too rare and familiar by the end of professors’ extracurricular lessons. In this case, while it would go a little out of the way of the norm for a student’s ordinary schooling, it could be terrific if players were able to create their own spell in a Hogwarts Legacy sequel.
After Hogwarts Legacy, a Sequel is Ready to Break the Bank
Hogwarts Legacy has a full vault's worth of content it could likely adapt in the future and one dashed feature should find its way to the sequel.
Hogwarts Legacy Opens a Door to Players Customizing Their Own Spell in a Sequel
Being able to craft a novel spell in Hogwarts Legacy 2 could be an outstanding customization feature with potential for versatility in gameplay thereafter, and yet it would also come with obstacles that’d have to be ironed out in development. A custom spell would be fairly difficult to design in terms of having a catalog of spells already embedded in wizarding world lore as, for continuity’s sake, there will always be spells that players won’t be able to learn or cast.
For example, Sectumsempra is a curse that Severus Snape himself created and, unless the sequel was set during or after Snape’s days as a student, it wouldn’t exist. Perhaps a list of abilities could be presented to players to choose from that haven’t already been created in Harry Potter lore yet, though that alone would be a tall order with so many having been conceived and named. Still, it would be fascinating if players could become a ‘Half-Blood Prince’ themselves with a spell known to them and no one else.
The fact that students are capable of crafting brand-new spells at all is an idea that Hogwarts Legacy has already touched on with Gryffindor’s Cressida Blume, who has trouble creating a spell and asks players to help her retrieve flying books (a lighthearted exercise in casting Hogwarts Legacy’s Accio).
Professor Snape’s Half-Blood Prince Moniker is a Dark Corner of Harry Potter Lore That Hogwarts Legacy Should Bask in
Because so many witches and wizards have apparently created their own spells trivially while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Half-Blood Prince wouldn’t necessarily need to be the sole inspiration for a custom spell being created in Hogwarts Legacy 2. Rather, if a spell was invented with the particular intention to do harm or wield it in combat, it could be.
Sectumsempra causing lacerations obviously makes it a violent spell, for instance, and for players to craft a violent spell of their own could call for some appropriately graphic or dark subject matter to follow. It might be difficult to have custom spells impact the overall narrative of the game but, while the flippant use of Unforgivable Curses went unpunished in Hogwarts Legacy, it would be great to see choices have legitimate consequences in a sequel.
Choosing a combat-oriented spell instead of a puzzle- or traversal-oriented spell, for example, could result in alarmed or fearful responses from classmates. If Hogwarts Legacy’s sequel dives wholly into a thorough morality system, wielding such spells could even contribute to players’ actions that lead to a ‘bad’ ending. Only time will tell if there is a morality system planned for Hogwarts Legacy’s sequel, but there are countless opportunities for custom spellcrafting regardless.
Hogwarts Legacy
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- February 10, 2023
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Avalanche Software
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Cross-Platform Play
- Hogwarts Legacy doesn't have crossplay or crossplatform support
- Cross Save
- you can freely use your saved data between each console as long as you are connected to the internet and signed into the same account where the saved data was created
WHERE TO PLAY
- Franchise
- Harry Potter
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 26 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- yes
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
