Hogwarts Legacy 2 Will Only Work If It’s Way Less Forgiving

screenrant.com:

offered a great taste of 's wizarding world, finally allowing players to forge their own path at the famed school of witchcraft and wizardry. However, a glaring omission held the game back from true greatness: the lack of meaningful consequences. While students could do a lot in the game, their actions rarely resulted in more than a fleeting, inconsequential remark from an NPC. This lack of impact significantly diminished the roleplaying experience, reducing player agency to a superficial level.

The idea that players got to be Hogwarts students in the world felt more hollow as the game went on. The game world remained largely static regardless of morality or choices. It felt like an open-world game with linear progression, and while that works for a first game, it's not going to work in a sequel. Warner Bros wants to keep the magic oflive with a sequel, but the studio has to do more than just make a similar game.

This disconnect between action and consequence is especially jarring in a world built on a rich, established narrative. The Harry Potter universe hasalways emphasized the weight of moral choices, with the unforgivable curses serving as a benchmark for the darkest acts of magic. Their casual use in without substantial repercussions clashes with this established canon. The whispered warnings about Azkaban and the potential for darkness feel empty when those very threats never materialize. Once players use curses enough, it feels like Azkaban is a boogieman the adults made up to scare younger students.

Hogwarts Legacy’s potion feature can provide some enhancements for players to make the game more enjoyable, especially one particular potion.

The same can be said for missions and classes. Very few choices in actually matter; there are so few, in fact, that one of the bigger ones is which house to pick. Without the potential for branching storylines or altered relationships based on player choices, the experience becomes predictable and stagnant. It loses its