Game News Hogwarts Legacy: What to expect from the State of Play on the Harry Potter game?
After a State of Play dedicated to Japanese games, Sony is doing it again this week with another event, this time dedicated to the highly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy. This open-world role-playing game in the Harry Potter universe is eagerly awaited by players and fans of the license created by JK Rowling. On paper, this is the ultimate Harry Potter game, but we don’t really know anything about the upcoming title. Suffice to say that this State of Play will finally be able to lift the veil on Hogwarts Legacy, but what can we expect?
Summary
- What we know
- What we expect
- Student life at Hogwarts
- An open world: how and for what?
- Plus qu’un simple State of Play ?
- Accio release date
What we know
Rumors said we’d hear about it againHogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy. And for once, they were telling the truth. Indeed, it was on March 14 that PlayStation proudly announced to us the arrival of a State of Play dedicated to gambling. Good news for Harry Potter fans, who hadn’t heard from the game since last January. Because who says dedicated State of Play, of course says new information to discover. Especially since Warner remained quite mysterious on this game, yet planned for later this year.
We already have information on the duration and content of this State of Play. For 20 minutes, he will give the floor to members of the Avalanche Software team. We are also promised a 14-minute sequence of gameplay captured on PS5. Subsequently, an article on PlayStation Blog will come back in more detail on the content unveiled. Appointment next Thursday, March 17 from 10 p.m. to see what’s going on. We will of course be present on Le Stream to discover this State of Play with you and comment on it. And to wait, we come back today on what we can expect from this event.
What we expect
Student life at Hogwarts
We said it above, we know very little about this Hogwarts Legacy, except that it will plunge us into the late 1800s. This means that this video game adventure will take place long before those of Harry Potter or the birth of Tom Riddle. Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, on the other hand, were born recently. If there is little chance of meeting the second in play, the young Dumbledore could well be there. Indeed, he sat on the benches of the British school of witchcraft from 1892 to 1899. From there to say that his presence could be revealed during this State of Play, there is only one step.
Plus, Hogwarts Legacy, as the name suggests, should take us on a a short tour of the history of Hogwarts and the great names who have rubbed shoulders with its ranks. We think in particular of the four founders of this great school, namely Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Hogwarts Legacy could allow us to learn more about the circumstances of the creation of the school and the splits that separated the four founders. The same goes for the past of the ghosts roaming the corridors of Hogwarts, like Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (Nick Nearly Headless) or Helena Ravenclaw. Here again, this State of Play could be the opportunity to learn more about this glimpse of the legacy of Hogwarts that the developers have promised us.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember that JK Rowling does not participate in the development of the title. While it has provided enough material over the years for the Hogwarts Legacy story to fit into the established timeline of the world of Harry Potter, it’s hard to say how canon it will be. In view of previous PlayStation Blog post on the subjectthe developers have been careful to produce a coherent game in the large universe of Harry Potter. Hogwarts Legacy must also respond to the principles supported by the Portkey Games label. Depending on what this State of Play will show, we may well have details on the canon aspect of the title.
In addition, this event is also an opportunity to detail what we already know. In Hogwarts Legacy, we are invited to embody a fifth-year wizard, endowed with a power as ancient as it is powerful. Throughout his studies, he will therefore have to learn more about the origin of his extraordinary abilities and choose what he wants to do with them. The developers promised us a game with impactful choices and a morality system. But we still don’t know how important these elements will be and what form they will take. Add to that questions about the choice of house, the place of lessons, the possibility or not of being part of the quidditch team and you get a number of expectations that certainly cannot all be met in just 20 minutes. Especially since the story does not seem to be the main priority of this State of Play.
With nearly three quarters of this State of Play dedicated to gameplay, we can expect to have a clear idea of what Avalanche Software is preparing for us on this side. In addition to the video that had leaked long before the announcement of the game, we never got to see the real gameplay of this title. A great first therefore which should allow us to answer a good number of questions.
First, we know that Hogwarts Legacy will allow us to roam freely in the British magic school. We can therefore expect to see some gameplay sessions in the corridors of Hogwarts castle. But if this point is predictable enough, it is above all the other areas that we would like to discover. We know that the title will take us to other places in the universe of JK Rowling. The trailer notably let us see the village of Hogsmeade and the prison of Azkaban. But a small point listing the different areas available would not be refused. We therefore hope to see some images of the Forbidden Forest, Diagon Alley or places less emblematic but specific to the history of the game.
Secondly, we can expect a point on the use of the wand and magic. This gameplay trait is paramount to any self-respecting Harry Potter game. Everyone went there with their little variant, more or less convincing. Complex process or simple hammering of keys to cast spells as one shoots with a gun? We expect this State of Play to position itself on the subject.
These are the two major points expected and there is enough to go around the announced fourteen minutes. But we can also expect some details on the structure of the game’s quests, the freedom we will be granted (obligation to go to class at a specific time or not), additional activities such as Bavboules or sorcerer’s version chess , the importance given to our house, rumors about enemy camps, the role of infiltration and exploration etc. It’s simple, we know so little that we can expect just about anything.
Plus qu’un simple State of Play ?
Sony tells us “an exceptional event that we have been working on for a long time now”. A little phrase that may seem innocuous, but which could just as well announce something bigger. Especially since it is rare to see Sony using such words for a State of Play. All of this is no doubt the result of very enthusiastic communication, but we are not immune to a few little surprises.
In particular, fans of the films could hope see their favorite actors appear during this State of Play. We are indeed not immune to seeing them double characters in the game. Admittedly, this would not be very coherent since the vast majority of the characters they embodied will not be in Hogwarts Legacy. But the wink would undoubtedly please the fans, enough for them to forgive this little prank. But it is most certainly a crazy dream destined not to materialize, or at least not during this State of Play.
Accio release date
We are obviously waiting for a release date to conclude this State of Play. It must be said that we are already in March and the title is still content with a vague 2022. Rumors suggest that the game should arrive sometime in September. But nothing has been confirmed. Given the lack of information disclosed so far, the threat of a delay persists. But Jason Kilar, CEO of Warner Media, had confirmed to us the maintenance of a release in 2022 for Hogwarts Legacy, and this less than two months ago. A delay therefore seems unlikely, even if it cannot be ruled out. See you Thursday evening to see what it’s all about.
Note that if the communication around the game is provided by Sony, the game will indeed be multi-platform. It is indeed planned on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, PS4 and Xbox One.
By meakayaWriting jeuxvideo.com
MP