We are often going on about the importance of focus in game design. More often than not the argument being related to certain mechanics at the center of the gameplay loop. Hogwarts: Legacy however, makes a case for level- and environment design to also having the potential to take over the lead, becoming the magic ingredient, that makes this journey through the world of Harry Potter as enchanting as you’d wish for.
Hogwarts: Legacy is, more than anything else, a feeling-simulator than a groundbraking open world game.
This open world’s magic lying in dozens of little things of beauty and signs of love for the background material. It’s what gives us the warm feeling of coming home when booting up the game for the first time, experiencing the unique architechture of Hogwarts and its lovingly strange but comfy-familiar surroundings first hand. Portrayed in a fidelity and a love for detail that makes this world a joy to look at and to take in. It is about the countless small niceties, that do not bear any relevence for story or gameplay, but are only there for the enjoyment of the player and to make this place feel as magical, lively and special, as we got to know- and love it from the books and the movies.
As much as there is to say about the atmosphere and potter-heady giggles the game’s lovingly crafted world brings to the player’s living rooms, there is little to nothing remarkable to be said about it’s gamepay concepts. Simply put, it’s a top-100 of mini games. From collecting, over outfitting to solving shallow puzzles, being scattered among the game’s vast environment in a way, that the player can be sure to never having to travel for long without stumbling apon yet another, unsignificant and undemanding nullity to engage in. Making the experience as motivating and enjoyable as it is, despite the dullness each of its ingredients represent, is probably the most noteworthy achievement in its design.
It’s a perfectly tuned way-back-machine for escapists, promising a return to all of the pleasnat feelings and warm memories we had when we got in touch with this universe for the first time.
Hogwarts: Legacy is then, more than anything else, a feeling-simulator than a groundbraking open world game. A perfectly tuned way-back-machine for escapists, promising a return to all of the pleasant feelings and warm memories we had when we got in touch with this universe, lore and characters the first time. The game concentrating on adressing the player’s hearts rather then triggering their rationale. It’s a concept we allready know from other genres, like horror games – where it’s more about building atmosphere and targeting the player’s emotional complex, than telling an award winning story or inventing impressing gameplay mechanics.
It’s a testiment to Warner Bros. Interactive‘s understanding of its fans and potter-heads, that they decided to go down this road. Creating a strikingly unremarkable open world game in terms of what the player can actually do. But one that excells at the little things, the small details, the things that make the fan’s heart jump and what lets us ask for more, every time we leave this enchanting version of one of pop-culture’s most important and beloved universes for a break and a pint of butter beer.
