Hogwarts Legacy - Review After 100%

It still amazes me how fast you can 100% game

Implementing a law system like RDR2, with the ministry catching you and making you serve time for using unforgivable curses would have been cool

The first 5-10 hours is genuinely magical in the immersion.

“(They) let you kill people all over the countryside… they could have at least implemented something like detention” That’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear.

Would’ve liked to see more relationship building between classmates and professors similar to a school simulator, as well as a better looting/rewarding system, since almost everything is pretty much sold right away. Besides that one of my personal favorite open world games, pure nostalgia.

The one thing that completely baffles me about the game is how badass you feel in a fight when you play things right. I would never have guessed that a teenager with a feeble wooden stick could feel just as cool to play as Kratos or Dante. The combat animations for the player character are impeccable, as well as the accompanying visual and sound effects.

A sequel revolving around a Triwizard tournament being held in your year 6, where you could transfer over your witch/wizard SHOULD be the next step. w/ quiditch

I love the difficulty level in this game. They managed to make hard mode without turning every enemy in to a sponge, and in my opinion its the best way to play this game.

would be cool that if you used a lot of unforgivable spells, the ministry of magic would catch you at the end and there would be a quest (maybe even dependent on some previous quests) that could end either by you "dying" by the dementor's kiss or escaping and becoming a villain

God the nostalgia is real! Playing this game made me feel 15 years younger, reading the books under the covers and daydreaming what it would be like if I were whisked away to the wizarding world.

This game was a real surprise to me. I am not a huge Harry Potter fan, but did enjoy the movies, but this game has blown me away. The magical world they created and attention to detail is amazing. I can’t stop playing it.

100% in less than a week?! You're a machine

The sounds for wand combat are so good, the screeches and whispers of different spells during combat are both beautiful and haunting.

Great review, they really did an amazing job making the school so detailed and in depth, been loving it so far.

This game has the 3rd highest peak players for a single player game of all time on steam, just behind Elden Ring. It's crazy how much it blew up.

I'm not even a HP fan and I got this game because the open world looked fascinating. I know I'm missing some references that would probably heighten the level of enjoyment, but it's still a really fun game. The world exploration is top notch. I find myself just getting lost all the time, either in the castle, or just around the world...I just keep exploring. Every once in a while I think "wait, I have to do quests".
Likewise I unlocked some stuff later than normal because I was just caught up in roaming around.

In My Opinion there are a few things i really missed:
1.) A morale system that you can't break into everywhere and steal without being detected.
2.) It would be better if you learned more in class and also learned how to brew a certain potion within a class. For example, that you first have to find the ingredients for the lesson and then actively brew the potion in the lesson (possibly with a minigame)
3.) That there are no randomly generated items in chests you can find. Especially with more special caves, it would be cooler if there were clothes that can really only be found there.
4.) Some minigames only make sense so that you don't get in all over the place. For example, why do I need a minigame for Aloha Mora?
5.) That it matters more which house you're in, and that there's actual competition to win the house cup at the end. E.g. questions at the end of the lesson which, if answered correctly, give you points for your house

Don't use this spell that kills them outright. That would be evil. Turn them into a bomb and kill them like that. This is one of the things I love about video games. Sometimes, morality is as simple as which weapon you kill your enemy with.

Funny how you can roleplay a "good" wizard and not learn the forgivable curses, but you immediately follow it up by explaining how you can, as an alternative, transform an enemy into an explosive barrel and make him and any surrounding enemies explode 😄

I finished it. It was fun. I got my money's worth. It didn't blow me away (no video game has since KCD in 2018) but I thought it was genuinely enjoyable. This is definitely a game where you don't want to overthink it. Day night transitions, everything is open all the time, NPCs standing in the same spot, there's plenty to be critical about if you want to be ... but it was still fun.

By far one of the best AAA launches from the last years. First day of playing I accumulated 13 hours of gameplay 😅. There's just something about the game. Awesome value for the money

I hope they make a blood and wine type dlc, new area and spells and roleplaying oppurtinities while youre already an established witch

This game is like a return to the perfect childhood you never had. It's magical and charming - for lack of better words. It earned its place in my top 3 favorite games list. Terrific review, as always. Cheers.

You must be a wizard yourselves to have 100%'ted this game so fast, great review of a beautifully crafted game, kudos!! 🙂🙂🙏🙏

Such a great, in-depth review. I've come to appreciate such reviews over others.

Loved the Hogwarts part, the outside world was fun the first hour. Then it got really stale and turned into an open world game from 15 years ago.

I love this game, best harry potter universe game to date and still playing it to this day despite finishing the main story weeks ago.. that being said i do wish choices mattered more in the game. I suppose the developers wanted us to have free rein and use our imaginations for most of the character stuff. Still wish perhaps the character personality was a little different depending on your house, being able to chance outcomes to certain companion quest lines.. just stuff to make it feel like our actions mattered.

Great review! Fantastic work, sir. Won't be surprised when the Quidditch DLC drops!

I just finished the main story and I really enjoy this game! I waited years for this and I’m not disappointed at all. Ofc there are a few things I wish were done different but nothing major.

The one thing i wish they focused on a bit more(SOPILERS i guess) was the night time in hogwards, there are a couple of missions where stealth is a necessity but other than that there really aren’t any consequences for night time explorations.

With the amount of pre-orders and day one sales they have made with this game I do believe this game will get a sequel.
This game is great and feels like an excellent foundation for something more spectacular to come in the future provided if avalanche is able to improve upon the negatives, expand and refine the combat and add more elements if the Wizarding world like quidditch.

I am absolutely loving the game. I'm playing my first playthrough as my normal goodie two shoes hufflepuff self and not learning anything to do with the dark arts and being nice to everyone, but im so excited to do another playthrough on hard mode doing dark arts and learning the unforgivable curses

A good and fair review. I’ve personally spent a much longer time getting to 100% just because of spending so much time running around in the castle looking at things and really learning the layout of it. But then I don’t have a review I’m trying to get out so that would certainly make a difference. The castle itself is the real star of the game and it is absolutely beautiful. I have never seen such a tremendous structure in an open world game that is completely open and accessible without any loading screens. That plus the level of detail and everything that is moving, along with so many things to interact with make it unlike any gaming experience I’ve had to this point. The fact that it is also Hogwarts makes it that much better. I have really enjoyed everything about this experience.

An absolutely fantastic review. Thanks for your hardwork!

Agree with this review completely You get achievements to complete during some of the combat I think the story is descent helped by the detailed environments and attention to detail It’s definitely worth progressing the story to get those talents and new abilities to access areas when exploring

I'm having loads of fun, and it's mostly with exploration and finding secrets. This game basically did what ubisoft has been trying to do, having a map saturated with similar quests/collectables but actually managed to make it fun.

A fun game. I don't think it's going to blow anyone away with story or characters, which seem rather bland, but if you just want to run around and cast some spells in this setting, it's a very fun way to do so.

The lack of consequences thing reminds me of the Fable series. There wasn't necessarily "punishment" for going evil I guess, but the game did change, yah know? NPCs would have new dialogue about you, both when you were just passing by or when you spoke to them directly, they'd still give you things but out of fear instead of a reward, etc. I feel like something as simple as that would have worked? They didn't need to go all out and even have the whole 6 endings thing like the Fables (considering there are SO many different stories within this game already between houses and levels and stuff). But even walking around Hogsmeade and hearing "he's/she's just as bad as Rookwood was, what's the good in that?" or people whispering insults, enemies talking about you in fear while you sneak up on them, and so on, would have been an easy and mild thing to add in that would still make you feel a little guilty about killing people, you know? 😅 Edited add on: Especially because in the game you can also demand more money, keep items for yourself, etc. it's not even just the unforgivable curses that make you "bad". So there are already mechanisms within the game that could easily make you set up to establish a "bad reputation". Which would then affect the dialogue on the following quests as you progress through the game. Usually, when you end quests and beat everyone, they're all just *gone*, so there's no "proof" you killed anyone, so it would just be rumors and that would be enough to get the villagers talking and scared of you.

Mortismal, you became my go-to game reviewer.
Your reviews are pretty thorough with all the game's aspects : gameplay, look and story... You aren't overly negative, so much so that I often am surprised when you have a strong negative stance toward a game. And last, but not least, you take the time to address some aspects and problems others talk about.

Im not super into harry potter but so far im enjoying the game alot. Would of liked to see more landmarks from the movies like that killer tree or the changing staircases. Combat is fun and you can get pretty creative with combos and builds. Id like to see more in depth stats like crit chance or burn damage from basic casts or something like that. Overall I give it 8/10 very fun

The game is good. If you are a fan of wizarding world you will find a lot of interesting things and you will make connections which will immerse you more. The game is gorgeous and the combat is fun. Potions and plants alongside spells, plenty of options to deal with enemies. In my opinion the game could be a bit harder on hard as I find it easy at hard difficulty. Hope to see a sequel in the near future with the year 6, another adventure

I have never read the books or watched any of the movies, but im amazed at how much i'm enjoying the game! Western fantasy done right.

Seriously impressed by both the combat and world building in this game.

3:19 loved that bit when the horse thingies became visible to us after the "near-death experience" of the dragon attack.

I'm not a big fan of the movies, but I loved the books!
For me this game is really showing a difference between a AAA game made just for profit and the one that's also made with heart. Little details, really good story, artstyle, fun little encounters and so on, make it a fantastic experience!

So impressed by you consistency! Absolutely my favourite source of reliable and truthful information on games. Keep it up! I'll be sure to follow along on the journey

Such a great game. Felt like I was in that world.

Looks like a very good game. I've never been interested in the franchise, but the game world looks so beautiful and charming I think I am going to give it a try.

I love some of the random things I've found along the way during the game. For instance, I came across a random quest marker in Hogsmead during winter. It was a house elf. They gave me a quest that turned into something like a Scarecrow sequence from an Arkham game, but with actual puzzles you had to solve, and ended with a boss fight (of a monster I haven't found elsewhere in the game yet, either), part of which had me playing upside down.
I thought it would be a quick, ten minute quest. Turned into an hour. It was awesome.

I really didnt expect this game to be so awesome. Great video as always.

Best reviewer in the game :)
Couldn't agree more with this review. I wish they had made a better rpg system but truth be told with the games we have been served lately a properly done game feels like a miracle. 9/10 game for sure.

Coolest part of the intro: when the guy gets chomped by a dragon and suddenly you and Professor Fig can all of a sudden see thestrals pulling the destroyed carriage.

As a reader of the books and lover of the movies, I'm enjoying this game a lot. It's a very good game even if you are not a fan of the wizarding world. Thank you so much for this amazing review and all the effort. Hugs

Fantastic review as always, keep up the great work!

Great review. What I take away from it personally is, "wait to see the volume/quality of DLC which we all know will be coming." That gives a chance for any patches to fix/break the PC side of things. I personally really dislike it when control schemes are obviously console-optimized, so hopefully, they'll add the ability to remap things on PC at some point. Also, games like this are always cheaper when you buy the bundle including the DLC later (and I haven't even finished Wrath of the Righteous yet, so it isn't like I'm lacking for other games).

Wands were actually one of my biggest let downs...surprisingly enough. I expected it to be a core component to your offensive abilities. I would imagine that wands vary in quality (The Ollivanders mention this a lot) but in the case of Harry Potter, and in the case of the game, your character are given the "perfect" wand from the start which just seems weird...especially given that a wand is supposed to attach itself to a person but people change a lot over the years, especially the teenage years.

Thanks for this review! It was helpful to have an evaluation of HL as a game. On a game pylon,it's one I've been waiting for. Great worldbuilding,character customization and casting a whimsical cinematic spell. My first impressions found the same problems though. No roleplay consequence,but maybe Good\Evil. Obviously,there's some repetitive gameplay. AAA cycles. I also think the combat is dependant on dipping into the Dark Arts a bit. But overall,it's a faithful rpg with only problems that a sequel could well fix in recasting.

Glad the combat turned out better than you had originally expected! Looks like a good game

Great review!😁 I'm on my way to get the platinum for this game, and I'm really enjoying it so far

It’s so good and so much fun, exceeded all my expectations

This is the only review of the game Ive actually read/listened to.
That is a good sign. I dont have to worry about spoilers since I know you care and also use timestamps.
You have a good, and thourogh format so I know that all the key points will be covered.
So. Thank you for your continous quality content!

This is the perfect segway game to get my wife into more traditional, RPG, third-person action games. All of its systems and gameplay are just the right balance of beginner-friendly bit still fun for all types of gamers. She can get a feel for these types of games, while also loving the immersion in the Harry Potter universe.

This game is definitely really polished, you dont need be a harry potter fan to appreciate how well done this game is.

I was so excited to watch this. I just beat the game myself and man, what a time to be 30 plus and grew up on the harry potter franchise haha. Great video!!! love your thoughts and opinions

I'm a few hours into the game and I haven't unlocked talents yet. I already like the combat system without talents, but I'm really looking forward to customizing some of my spells to make the combat more fleshed out!

Such an underrated reviewer! Keep up the good work Mortem!

The biggest flaw of this game is lack of RP elements. Vendors are at your disposal in the middle of the night, no one sleeps in beds, there is no interaction in common rooms. Also, stats and gear could be more developed. But Avalanche can always upgrade these mechanisms in a sequel. And with these sales, there definitely will be a sequel :) Overall, the game is awesome, and I sincerely can recommend it to anyone that wishes to feel some magic in their sad, muggle life :)

I haven’t come close to 100% completing it but the game is really fun and I definitely recommend it. Definitely worth the money

To me it lasted way longer, 54 hours I was done with the story + some side quests and 20 more hours to get all the achievements. Thoroughly loved it all.

This sounds like just the beginning of this universe. I hope future entries can maintain the quality and perhaps be even better.

You are by far the best reviewer on this platform for me. You have to respect your knowledge on these things

Thanks for the review, looking at your and others' footage I have to say that what stands out to me is there was clearly a lot of love put into crafting the world with nods, winks, embellishments and flourishes to the source material jumping out of every frame it seems, visually speaking they've done a very good job with this game. BUT I've already seen plenty of HP universe films, I'm not here to gawk, I'm here for the roleplay and the combat so unfortunately the limited state of the game on both fronts means for me this falls into the Duke Nukem Forever category of games which needed to release about 10 years earlier to catch me out with hype over function. Shame.

Coming off Elden Ring and Shadow Man, this game is super chill. It’s not Bully with magic, but it’s more fun than I expected.

Great review! I've literally only just finished the game around 1hr ago and you've 100% it lol that's insane! My 1 issue i had was, why did they chose too give us the Graphorn so late in the game! I love just trotting down the roads on Highwing

Great review! Can't even imagine watching reviews by people that haven't done 100% for the game since finding your vids.

Great review.
For negatives, I would add a lack of enemy types, I think there is only 5 different enemies, that's how I feel.

Worth noting on difficulty, the bigest leap happens from normal to hard simply from stupify becoming less broken since it no longer breaks shields, I first tried on normal and it felt extremely easy then jumped to hard which was a solid challange, alltough i really wish there was a setting above it, but hopefully that comes in a later update

1 week in and 90% on Hard Mode and I still have not explored the whole area. 😂 Your dedication is very amazing, Sir. Kudos.
P.S.
It legit puts you on your toes in Hard Mode. I can easily win a battle if I'm attentive enough or lose to Mongrels if I don't concentrate for even at least 40%. Game Balance is amazing!

I absolutely love the game. It hits all the right buttons and is a very well put together game in all aspects: story, game world, combat, immersion, etc. Where the game starts to fail, and even that is being a bit harsh, is in the performance department. I and many others suspect that the constant stuttering we're getting is because of the DRM, Denuvo; and my experience with other Denuvo games certainly backs that up. While the stuttering isn't as bad as it was pre-launch; it's still enough to be very annoying. Another compaint I have is with the controls. They're not well optimized for PC and causes way more headache that is necessary. My final compaint is with the talents system. The fact that we can't change or reset talents is just idiotic; you're supposed to know right off the bat how you want to play your character and build accordingly or get stuck with a certain playstyle. And gods forbid if you choose wrong because you're now stuck with it.

My favorite part of your whole style is not doing pointless anticipation, in the form of being vague, to extend someone's play time on your video. While I get making less money always sucks, moves like that is why I trust your reviews so much.

Great review, detailed, dynamic, multi-threaded, 100% Quidditch will be available as DLC, maybe as suggested earlier game of the year, time will tell.

That's great to hear the XP tap dries up at 30... I'm sititng around 25% completion with a lv 22 character and feeling pretty indestructable right now. Most of my progress has been from just looking around and finding pages/bonus objectives in world. I think XP should have been linked to combat and missions only, that might have felt a little more natural. Instead I got to the map room at lv 18ish and immediatly started with decent chunk of trait points to spend all at once - The whole experience felt a little jarring.
Love your content, thanks for the 100% review!

Harry Potter is the first book about magic I read , it still amazes me a lot, I am so happy to see that it can be played in this way.

​Seeing the DNA of the genre, it's an amalgamation of the open-world titles and a culmination of HP franchise, seeing the DNA of its predecessors from HP titles back from PS1-2 to Deathly Hollows (2010). Oddly, offered a broom for flight open-world traversal, no quidditch.

i didnt follow the game until its release, but seeing the actual gameplay and the progression ssystems plus build variety really hyped me up

Thanks for the review. In an earlier comment of mine, you mentioned how the game doesn't succumb to the tyranny of ARPGs, and just devolve into a button masher. I now see your point about that. Its refreshing to see that this game doesn't equate difficulty to how many powerbars the enemy ate in their life. The ability to one-shot bosses is impressive. I wish more titles did that, because that variety really opens up the gameplay. Onward to 200k. All glory to the algorithm.

How the world doesn't interact with you is my main problem, Most of the side quest is just mind-numbing formulatic, the random chance encounter doesn't involved you too , It's like seeing play on a stage.

Everybody always ask "how can mortim" but not "how is mortim?"
Take care of yourself, dude. 👍
Good stuff!! ❤️👍

I'm almost at 100% with around 30 hours, just grinding the last remaining collectibles in Hogwarts, got everything else. A lot grindier than I thought, not a lot of full collectible guides online either.

Damn that was fast but good review and the game has been fun so far... planning my Dark Wizard from Hufflepuff for the final playthrough after each house but this was fun as I have been liking others opinions or experiences

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite channel on the Citadel"
Honestly though, your review is the only one I've watched. Mortym always comes in fast with all the info you want and more.

The only actual decision storywise you can make in the game is choosing your house and I get why they wanted to do it that way, but I feel like having a few important choices throughout the main story (maybe like choosing a dark magic arc etc.) would've been more interesting. Maybe as a 100% completion bonus you could've unlocked the ability to play through story events of other arcs.

So glad to see a review of just the game itself, great work!

Well if nothing else I'm happy for you that you managed to finish the game. I personally preordered deluxe and started the moment it was out - put a LOT for time into it. And then yesterday (I was at 40 hours at this point) a power outage happened while i was playing. When power came back and i started the game it was as if I just installed it for the first time - therms of agreement and all that - 40 hours of progress completely gone, just...down the drain. It is actually hard to describe how that felt...
I liked the game a lot but I wont be playing it any time soon. What happened hurt me in a bad way, I felt really awful, honestly still do...Some day when they hopefully fix this BS I MIGHT start it again but...not any time soon.

I thought the first few hours were very boring and repetitive!! I was almost getting out of even wanting to play it. But once you FINALLY break out of Hogwarts and get the broom and can fly and go over the entire map, it became very fun!! There’s so much to do, it’s almost overwhelming. There’s soooo many Merlin trials, caves, and enemy camps…. The battling is so fun casting 4 spells at once, then switching to another set all very fast. It’s very good and fun. I haven’t beat it or 100% or anything, but it is a very fun game!! If you’re a Harry Potter fan you’ll be obsessed!!

I missed the Harry Potter train and never got into them at all, but this does look like a really really good game that fans of the series are going to love.

I'm just excited we now have a somewhat canon universe to go back to now. We could have games anywhere from the 11th century all the way up through the 20th.

This game is so fun. I'm not a huge HP fan but it's just a good fun game for anyone. They really get the little stuff right like allowiing you to easily customize the apperance of your outfit and character at any time, from anything you have previously owned, fast travel, mounts & flying, etc. The wisps that lead you to your quest destination are amazing considering what a maze Hogwarts is. If you are a HP fan the game literally has everything you could ever want... all the classes, spells, locations, herbology, mixing potions, even collecting beasts from the fantastic beasts movies. The game looks great, plays smoothly, combat is fun, even the puzzles are fun without being too easy or too frustrating.

Great review! Thank you for all your hard work!

This is a great review! I'm roleplaying as a Hufflepuff who will do anything for their friends....Anything. ☠️ I can't wait to learn the unforgivable curses lol.