The main story of Hogwarts Legacy was fairly solid, with it containing plenty of set pieces, intriguing character dynamics, and connections to the wider Wizarding World. But the main appeal of Hogwarts Legacy was its open-world, something that the Harry Potter franchise had never really tackled before, at least not on the scale of Hogwarts Legacy's.
From Dueling Club to broomstick races to Merlin Trials, Hogwarts Legacy had all the optional content fans of the Wizarding World could want. That said, there's still plenty of room left for a sequel to expand, and there's one particular type of side quest that become the star of the show in a sequel if it was given enough care and attention.
Hogwarts Legacy 2's Best Path to Being a Deeper RPG Is Obvious
Hogwarts Legacy 2 should strive to polish the original's combat mechanics, and there could be a relatively straight path to this solution.
Hogwarts Legacy's Sleuthing Side Quests Should Take Center Stage in a Sequel
Hogwarts Legacy Has a Few Side Quests That See Players Becoming a Magical Detective
Hogwarts Legacy's side quests aren't the most varied in RPG history, but there's an intriguing throughline between a handful that could pave the way for something even better in a potential sequel. Hogwarts Legacy's 'A Basis for Blackmail' quest sees players teaming up with fellow student Natsai Onai to investigate reports of extortion conducted by criminal leader Victor Rookwood and right-hand man, Harlow. After speaking with those who are being blackmailed, the player needs to find their missing friend and rescue them from a cursed dungeon.
The 'Tale of Rowland Oakes' side quest sees players engaging in a similar activity, albeit in a much different context. Players need to find and free Rowland Oakes, a man who's seemingly been kidnaped by goblins. The 'Thief in the Night' quest also sees players tracking down a target by analyzing environmental clues, though this time the target is a mischievous Niffler.
Though these Hogwarts Legacy side quests don't have the most exciting gameplay sequences or even the most engaging stories, there's a lot of potential behind the general premise of the player becoming some sort of magical detective who uses their skills with a wand to analyze clues, solve mysteries, find culprits, and bring them to justice.
Hogwarts Legacy's Sequel Should Double Down on These Detective Missions
With enough care, effort, and attention, these detective missions could easily become a show-stealing side activity in a potential Hogwarts Legacy sequel. There are plenty of ways these quests could be expanded and improved upon, one of which would be to have players solve a wider variety of magical crimes.
Rather than just track down thieves using environmental clues, players could be tasked with solving more complex and nefarious schemes, crimes that take multiple missions to solve rather than simple one-and-done cases. It would be great to see these missions gain some new gameplay mechanics as well, such as a more in-depth investigation system that allows players to observe evidence, and the ability to question suspects and make a final judgment on who committed the crime, similar to that one Dantooine side quest in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
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
