A few weeks ago I made a post about Hogwarts Legacy, and I laid the praise on pretty thick. I've now beaten the game, and while I still very much enjoyed the game I do need to dial back the compliments a bit. I've completed the vast majority of the game's content and seen the true ending, and while I had a great time, this game does fall victim to the failings as every other AAA video game in the past decade.

Many people came into this game expecting something like Bully, where you have a set schedule, attend classes, and generally live the life of a student at Hogwarts. I think this is what everyone wanted, but this isn't the game we got. In fact, you spend a very disappointingly little amount of time actually inside of Hogwarts, especially in the back half of the game. The castle is a joy to explore, full of twisting hallways and dead ends and tons of verticality, but there just isn't much reason to explore unless you're trying to 100% your field guide, which the game doesn't really incentivize at all. Instead, much of your time is spent running or flying around the countryside, delving into very samey dungeons and clearing bandit camps. The landscape is pretty enough, but it's painfully generic and gets boring quickly, and I feel like it was a huge missed opportunity to not set the focus on the castle itself. 

The game goes to great lengths to divorce itself from the main series of books, turning back time to the late 1800s and having no reference to any characters from the books, except a few cameo ancestors. This is fine, but the setting does nothing to make itself stand out. I would have no idea the game is set in the 1800s if I wasn't explicitly told so. I feel like they could've done much more to flesh out the setting if they weren't allowed to or didn't want to use known characters.

The game's story is a bit of a mixed bag. The main plot didn't really do much for me. Goblins were never very interesting to me, and I found myself not really caring about the main thread of the story. Your character's backstory is also a little silly - he comes into the school as a 5th year having never done magic, and in no time you're taking on trained Dark wizards on your own, incinerating them and turning them to dust. A bit silly, but the game's aware of this, even letting you learn the unforgivable curses and having your character make little quips and one-liners as he destroys another dozen goblins and "poachers". I did find it a little unbelievable that dozens of poacher camps are allowed to roam just minutes from the Hogwarts grounds, but every game needs its respawnable enemies I guess.

Most of the side quests are fetch quests and are thus hit or miss, but a few of the quest lines were really interesting. One quest in Hogsmeade is really rather spooky, and was far more fleshed out than I expected. That one was a highlight, as were Sebastian and Poppy's questlines. The rest can be safely ignored. 

Combat is enjoyable, but gets a little repetitive as you get close to the end of the game. Enemies can be a little spongy. It's fun coming up with different combinations of spells, but once you've seen them all you can figure out optimal builds (especially if you learn the Unforgivables) that make the game rather trivial. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the roughly 26 hours I got out of the game. I wish far more of the game took place in the castle and not in copy-pasted landscapes, but for a first effort I think the studio did a great job. Combat is weighty and makes great use of the PS5 controller's features. Some side quests were really interesting, though the main plot didn't do much for me. People who expected this game to fulfill their dreams of going to Hogwarts as a kid will likely be disappointed, but those looking for a well-made open world game with a Harry Potter theme will find lots to like here, even if it's not doing much to push the genre forward.