The only unique aspect it brings to the open-world genre is franchise branding, making for a shallow experience that doesn’t offer much more than wish fulfillment for fans unable to let go of a dream.

Despite having access to an entire universe of possibilities, its sole trick is using magic to cover up tired video game clichés that feel entirely disconnected from the vibrant source material it’s adapting. Hogwarts Legacy delivers a perfectly competent adventure, but its most unforgivable curse is its lack of imagination.

Strip away all those aesthetic trappings like wallpaper from your childhood bedroom and you’ll find something cold and clinical cleverly disguised by warm nostalgia.

Looking in as an outsider, though, I can’t help but feel like developer Avalanche Software has cast an effective illusory spell. Every corner of it is stuffed with some visual reference or lore tidbit for fans to pore over as they finally get their chance to role-play as a Hogwarts student. The glitzy open-world adventure game goes to painstaking lengths to bring the franchise to life. For some of the series’ most die-hard loyalists, I’m sure Hogwarts Legacy will be a dream come true.

Hogwarts legacy ps5 gameplay