The Early Harry Potter Games Do A Great Job of Making Hogwarts Feel Magical

gamerant.com:

The wizarding world of Harry Potter is a vast one, spanning an entire eight-part series, a soon-to-be trilogy of spinoff movies, a designated theme park, and even a whole Broadway show. Right alongside every movie release, a video game tie-in would also appear, starting with the very first Harry Potter movie over two decades ago.

Though the quality of these video games did vary quite significantly between entries, and the gameplay style changed dramatically over the years, these games were the closest things fans had to feeling as though they were actually in the magical world of the Harry Potter movies. The early Harry Potter games, in particular, managed to capture the fantastical atmosphere of the books and movies surprisingly well, and that's mostly down to their depiction of Hogwarts.

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In the first few Harry Potter games, the first three specifically, players take control of Harry as he goes through his day-to-day life at Hogwarts. In The Sorcerer's Stone, this means that players will chase Malfoy on their broom, journey to Hagrid's hut, and use magical crackers to defeat enemies.

In The Chamber of Secrets game, this daily life gameplay is given more of a free roam emphasis, giving players a checklist of activities to complete before the day ends. These activities often involve attending classes, where new spells and abilities are learned. It's up to the player to make it to class on time, and find their way through Hogwarts' winding corridors and hallways.

Although Prisoner of Azkaban takes a slightly more linear gameplay structure, with the player being encouraged to head straight to an objective, the ability to free-roam around Hogwarts is still present.