I’m not here to judge how well Hogwarts Legacy crams in bits of fan service. I know that the Weasleys I’ve met are ancestors of the ones in the books, sure ( Hogwarts Legacy takes place in the 1890s), and I recognize plenty of other family names and nods to magical dynasties, but for every reference I catch, I’m sure that a dozen fly over my head. While I remember the broad strokes of the series’ narrative, I’ve forgotten most of the smaller details, so I’m not going to catch every reference and Easter egg. As a player and a critic, I approached all of that with an open mind.Īt the same time, I’m not a die-hard fan, steeped in Potter lore. I understand the appeal of a game like Hogwarts Legacy–the chance to step into an immersively detailed recreation of a place one loves from books and films and craft your own compelling story by attending classes, making friends, learning spells, getting into mischief, visiting Hogsmeade, exploring the castle, and finding yourself at the heart of a conflict that threatens the wizarding world. (I am trans, which makes her attitude about trans people particularly hard to overlook.) I was already older than the series’ target audience, but I liked them fine, and thought that they deserved to become new classics of children’s literature. Rowling would one day become known as much for her transphobic ideology as she is for being the author of an outrageously popular series of children’s books. I read the Harry Potter books around the time they came out, back when I was blissfully unaware that J.K. Normally I wouldn’t go to such lengths, but given the intensity of the conversation around the game, I think it’s important that readers understand where I’m coming from. Harry Potter and meīefore I get to the game itself, I want to be clear about my relationship to its world. So I prepared to take the unusual step of enrolling at Hogwarts as a fifth-year. I think that the cultural impact of the game is so vast, and the issues swirling around it so important, that it demands thoughtful critical engagement, and that requires playing the game. I respect this viewpoint, but I don’t share it. Some have argued that the right way to cover Hogwarts Legacy is not to cover it at all.

Hogwarts legacy game review