“Hogwarts Legacy” unfolds a century before the action of the books and movies, so there won’t be any Hagrid or Hermione cameos, although fans will be able to pick out references to the history cited in the books and a familiar name or two (one of your professors is a Weasley, for example). You play a student that you create at the beginning of the game with a robust amount of detail. Pick your name, gender, appearance, and even the house of Hogwarts. Your character will be voiced by Sebastian Croft or Amelia Gething and start their journey as a fifth-year Hogwarts student.
The game opens in London as you travel with your mentor, Professor Fig, to Hogwarts via flying coach. The journey is interrupted by a dragon that destroys the coach, instantly thrusting you into an adventure that involves the history of magic in this region and your very special role as a chosen savior. Yes, once again, a Potter-world story tells the arc of a hero who can see and do things that others cannot, a sort of human key to unlocking the past and saving the future.
While you investigate what your ability to see and use ancient magic means, you start by attending classes and making friends at Hogwarts. The setting of “Hogwarts Legacy” is brilliantly conceived and gorgeously rendered. There’s a real sense of life at Hogwarts as you explore the halls and find new secrets behind every door. You will also travel out to the town of Hogsmeade and to many enemy-populated regions around it, but you will keep returning to Hogwarts, which even changes through the seasons as the game progresses. It’s one of the most alive settings in a game in a long time.
Between classes like Potions and Beasts that give you a consistently upgrading sense of power and new toys to play with after nearly every quest, you and Fig discover a massive chamber underneath Hogwarts, where you literally communicate with the Keepers, ancient staff members who guarded the secrets of dangerous magic that evil forces are now trying to unleash. You will make friends through side quests that can accompany you on main ones, and the whole experience runs well over 30 hours, and that’s if you hurry. It’s reportedly closer to 70 if you take your time, explore, and unlock every secret around in this enormous gaming world.