Summary
- Saints Row developer Volition once developed a Harry Potter RPG with PS1-era graphics, compared to Baldur's Gate.
- The game was later scrapped, and footage of the game is preserved at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
The Harry Potter franchise not only delivered the nostalgic EA games during the 2000s, but 2023’s Hogwarts Legacy from Avalanche Software was also a modern success. Now, American developer Volition, the studio behind the Saints Row series, has revealed a Baldur’s Gate-styled Harry Potter game it was working on once upon a time that ultimately got shelved, and there’s secret footage to prove this endeavor is not just myth.
Hogwarts Legacy has been fulfilling Harry Potter fans’ dreams for two years now, and the title will be given a second wind on the Nintendo Switch 2 console when it releases on June 5, 2025. The magical title joins an eye-widening list of confirmed Nintendo Switch 2 games, including new releases, Nintendo exclusives, and third-party gems, and the catalog is so large the Room of Requirement would have trouble storing them all. Some of the most anticipated additions to the successor console include launch title Mario Kart World, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and FromSoftware’s new IP, The Duskbloods.
Future Harry Potter Games May Be Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
There are likely plenty more Harry Potter games looming on the horizon, but the direction they decide to take may put them in a tough spot.
Reported by GamesRadar+, The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, hosted a tour that revealed footage of Volition’s scrapped Harry Potter game, presented by the museum’s director of digital preservation, Andrew Borman. The publication described the footage as having PS1-era graphics, showcasing Harry and Hagrid navigating a half-baked town. Environments and character models were compared to those found in a Baldur’s Gate-styled top-down game. Since very few will ever know what Volition’s Harry Potter game looked like, fantasy fans will hopefully garner a newfound appreciation for Avalanche’s adaptation, and Hogwarts Legacy has already got confirmed specs for the Switch 2.
Saints Row Developer Volition Once Had a Baldur's Gate-Styled Harry Potter RPG in the Works
Both the Dungeons and Dragons-based franchise and the wizarding world IP have crossed paths before, when one Harry Potter villain actor was hired to voice a role in Baldur’s Gate 3, but Volition’s endeavor is thought to have been developed before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters in 2001. According to Borman, it only took the team a couple of weeks to create the presented footage, just enough for Volition and THQ to present the pitch.
In addition to Hogwarts Legacy’s Switch 2 debut, wizards, witches, and muggles alike have another spectacle to look forward to. HBO’s Harry Potter reboot may have found its golden trio, who will helm the network’s retelling of The Boy Who Lived story. Since the original films are so beloved, the Harry Potter community has been very vocal about recent casting choices, including confirmed Professor Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape roles going to John Lithgow and Paapa Essiedu, respectively.
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
