Summary
- Hogwarts Legacy's potential sequel could address fan requests, like playable Quidditch, and explore more student experiences.
- Avalanche's attention to detail in explaining the absence of Quidditch in the first game could set expectations for a sequel.
- The developer may need to decide whether to include Quidditch in future games based on player feedback and storytelling choices.
Hogwarts Legacy is due a sequel based on its unfathomable sales and this is fortuitous for Avalanche since it has a lot it could improve in a follow-up to the Harry Potter-inspired action-RPG. More particularly, there are elements of each Hogwarts student’s experiences that didn’t make it into the game and will now hopefully be in a Hogwarts Legacy sequel, such as Gobstones or perhaps a trip to Diagon Alley. That said, playable Quidditch is undoubtedly the feature that has been most requested and it’ll be interesting to see if it makes the cut in a hypothetical upcoming game.
Hogwarts Legacy infamously neglected to feature Quidditch as a mini-game, whether for a lack of trying or not. Avalanche didn’t try to sweep it under a rug, though, and knew it couldn’t if players can literally fly a broomstick or mount in-and-around Hogwarts’ Quidditch pitch. Instead, Hogwarts Legacy went to the effort to explicitly excuse the absence of Quidditch in its depicted school year and with such appreciated attention to detail it would have to do the same once more if a sequel decided to also forgo the magical sport.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Lack of Quidditch May Not Be as Easy to Stomach a Second Time
First of all, Avalanche doesn’t owe players a Quidditch mini-game. It was never stated that Hogwarts Legacy would feature playable Quidditch and, unless Avalanche says differently if or when a sequel is announced, nothing is suggesting that a Hogwarts Legacy 2 would feature Quidditch, either. Therefore, anyone disappointed that there wasn’t playable Quidditch in Hogwarts Legacy needed to have their expectations managed better.
But it’s also true that, as a fully immersive action-RPG, Hogwarts Legacy was always going to need to explain why Quidditch wasn’t on the table succinctly and it did so beautifully, carving out an interesting piece of lore as to why and connecting it to headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black.
Unfortunately, because this excuse is so well-written and immersively implemented in the narrative, a sequel could have a difficult time attempting to sway players once again with more lore-centric rationale. Avalanche would once more need to have a character straightforwardly admit to Quidditch being canceled and if the excuse this time isn’t as immersive it could draw far more ire. Hogwarts Legacy probably doesn’t want to commit to the idea of never adapting Quidditch as a mini-game, but knowing with certainty that it would never be a playable mini-game could be easier to accept and move on from rather than there being a glimmer of hope from game to game.
Hogwarts Legacy Needs to Either Double Down or Cave to What the Community Wants
How Avalanche handles fans’ expectations now will be a testament to how it intends to approach Quidditch henceforth. This could be a fun running gag of Hogwarts Legacy’s where Quidditch is somehow never allowed during the school years that players attend and reasons for why could get playfully sillier as installments go on.
It would become drab if Hogwarts Legacy always needed to have a dramatic reason why, anyhow, and put expectations of a sequel receiving a Quidditch mini-game down lightly. Then, if players do ever get to attend the pitch for an actual Quidditch match, it’ll feel spontaneous and surprising rather than something Avalanche needed to cross off a checklist of features that would appease its fanbase.
Regardless, that’s a bridge Avalanche will inevitably have to cross if it is indeed developing a Hogwarts Legacy sequel. Otherwise, it could burn this particular bridge and confidently confess that it never plans to include Quidditch, which would potentially cleave away part of its playerbase but also make for appropriate presumptions about the game if true.
Hogwarts Legacy
- Released
- February 10, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Avalanche Software
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
- Franchise
- Harry Potter
- 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
- Metascore
- 84
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
