• A Japanese press release confirms Hogwarts Legacy will run up to 1440p on Nintendo Switch 2 using DLSS while docked and 1080p in handheld mode
• It will come with improved lighting and anti-aliasing and a higher frame rate
• There's still no mention of Nvidia's Frame Generation, despite DLSS support

Despite complications and fears of US tariffs affecting sales, the Nintendo Switch 2 is well on its way to consumers on June 5 - and now, there's an update on what we can expect from one of its launch games.

According to 4Gamer, a Japanese press release states that Hogwarts Legacy will run up to a 1440p resolution while docked and 1080p in handheld mode, thanks to Nvidia's DLSS support. This is possible thanks to Nvidia's custom chip, which was recently claimed to be the T239 by PC hardware YouTuber, Geekerwan.

Besides the upgraded resolution, the game will receive a major visual boost with improved lighting, anti-aliasing, and notably an improved frame rate. It's worth highlighting that the Switch port of the critically acclaimed title runs at a playable 30fps, but at the sacrifice of visual quality and potential dips in more graphically intensive areas.

The same applies to the PC version; while performance and visual quality are unsurprisingly much better than the Switch port, Nvidia's Frame Generation is necessary when exploring areas like Hogwarts, as frame pacing and frame rate drops are an issue.

The potential issue for the Switch 2 is that Frame Generation is seemingly missing from the Switch 2's DLSS - and that may not come as a surprise since Nvidia RTX 3000 GPU series owners (and older) don't have access to it at all.

Despite the improved hardware (specifically the T239 GPU), it begs the question of whether demanding games like Hogwarts Legacy - which is prone to major performance dips depending on scenery - will be able to run at higher frame rates, without Frame Generation.

No Frame Generation puts the Switch 2 at a disadvantage against other handhelds

From what it sounds like, Hogwarts Legacy and plenty of other Switch 2 ports will rely on Nvidia DLSS to hit higher frame rates while maintaining good image quality. However, my only concern is that the chip may not be enough to get over the line when playing demanding triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 - at least without access to Frame Generation.

Other handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and now even the Steam Deck (via DeckyLoader) have access to AMD's FSR 3 frame gen, providing higher frame rates where necessary. It certainly isn't the best solution in all cases, as most games need a decent base frame rate to allow frame gen to work smoothly without increased input lag and stuttering.

Regardless, it's a better tool to have than nothing, and right now, it looks like the Nintendo Switch 2 won't have access to frame generation software whatsoever. I hope I'm wrong and when it launches on June 5, we're able to analyze great performance results in demanding games, but I just can't see it happening...

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Warner Bros. Discovery has said that a Hogwarts Legacy sequel is a big priority for the company.

Speaking at the Bank of America conference on September 4 (via Variety) chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels reportedly said that following the massive success of Avalanche Studios' Harry Potter role-playing game (RPG), Warner Bros' games division is now interested in a follow-up.

"Obviously, a successor to Hogwarts Legacy is one of the biggest priorities in a couple of years down the road," Wiedenfels said. 

"So there is certainly a significant growth contribution from that [games] business in our strategic outlook here."

Wiedenfels also brought up the company's most recent AAA release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which underperformed in sales for the company and recently resulted in numerous layoffs at Rocksteady Studios.

The CFO said that the game was a "miss" but that the games business continues to be a "strategic asset" for the overall company. 

Hogwarts Legacy sold more than 24 million copies since launching in February 2023 and has generated over $1 billion in revenue for Warner Bros, making it the best-selling game of the year, overtaking the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur's Gate 3.

According to a Bloomberg report earlier this year, Rocksteady was working on an announced director's cut of Hogwarts Legacy, which would seemingly be an enhanced version of the base game featuring additional content. 

Warner Bros. Games is continuing to cash in on the popular Harry Potter brand as it's just launched Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a spin-off sports game developed by Unbroken Studios for PC and consoles.

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PlayStation Store's Summer Sale is officially here, offering big discounts on some of the best games.

The annual Summer Sale is back this month with hundreds of titles now on offer for users across PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Running until August 14, this year's promotion includes discounts on a total of 4,770 items on the US PlayStation store and 4,520 items on the UK PlayStation Store, although some offers will be removed prior to the sale's end date.

Some of the best discounts also apply to some of our favorite games available on PlayStation, including the critically acclaimed role-playing game from FromSoftware, Elden Ring which is now priced at $41.99 / £34.99. 

This offer only applies to the base game, however, so you'll need to pay full price for the recently released Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

Other games on offer also include 2023's best horror games, Resident Evil 4 and Alan Wake 2, and fantastic Soulslike Lies of P. There are also featured titles that have been released this year, such as one of the best fighting games you can play right now, Tekken 8, and even Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

You can take a look at some of our recommended discounts below:

• Elden Ring - $41.99 / £34.99 (-30%)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - $19.79 / £18.14 (-67%)
• Grand Theft Auto 5: Premium Edition - $14.99 / £14.99 (-50%)
• Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS5) - $19.99 / £17.49 (-50%)
• Tekken 8 - $39.99 / £39.89 (-43%)
• Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth Twin Pack - $74.99 / £71.24 (-25%)
• Resident Evil 4 - $29.99 / £26.24 (-25%)
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - $31.49 / £31.49 (-55%)
• Alan Wake 2 - $38.99 / £32.49 (-35%)
• Lies of P - $35.99 / £29.99 (-40%)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - $38.49 / £38.49 (-45%)

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Nintendo has acquired Miami-based Shiver Entertainment, a port studio that was responsible for bringing titles like Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1 to Nintendo Switch.

As reported by IGN, Nintendo shared a press release that said it had entered an agreement with Embracer Group - Shiver Entertainment's former owner -  to purchase the company in its entirety. "Nintendo will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Shiver and make it a wholly owned subsidiary," the press release reads.

"By welcoming Shiver’s experienced and accomplished development team," the statement continues, "Nintendo aims to secure high-level resources for porting and developing software titles. 

"Going forward, even after it becomes a part of the Nintendo group, Shiver’s focus will remain the same, continuing commissions that port and develop software for multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch."

That last part is important, as it could signal that the Kyoto-based publisher wishes Shiver Entertainment to port and/or develop upcoming games for the Nintendo Switch 2 in addition to its currently available hardware. 

Nintendo has, of course, yet to reveal any solid details about its next-generation console. However, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that the company is preparing to unveil its next system "within this fiscal year".

While we're expecting the Nintendo Switch 2 to feature a typically strong lineup of first-party games, it's likely that the company wishes to keep up a steady stream of third-party releases too. Having access to a notable port studio like Shiver Entertainment on hand for this is potentially a good sign. Especially so, if the succeeding console is to be, as rumors suggest, a more powerful version of what we already have.

In other Nintendo Switch 2-related news, it was reported last month that the console could be larger in size and feature magnetic Joy-Con controllers, which would replace the current rail system that attaches them to the Nintendo Switch.

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Warner Bros. Discovery gaming boss J.B. Perrette has said that the company will focus on its biggest franchises moving forward, as well as live service, free-to-play titles, and mobile games.

During a recent Morgan Stanley event (via GameSpot) Perrette shared the company's gaming strategy and explained that it wants to pivot away from "volatile" AAA console games in favor of its biggest achievers.

"We're doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities we have on the studio where we're uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games," Perrette said.

"Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?"

The gaming boss added that despite the company's focus on outputting AAA games, the success is not guaranteed, pointing out that Warner Bros. Discovery's latest release, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, was a disappointment, as opposed to Hogwarts Legacy, which has gone on to sell over 22 million copies since launching last year. 

Perrette said that the company will focus on its core franchises - listing the likes of Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC, as well as 11 different internal studios, as its most popular brands later on - and will invest in live service games that make money over a long period, which should generate more consistent revenue for Warner Bros. Discovery.

He also said the company will be pushing out new mobile free-to-play games this year, but noted that although it wants to focus on this new strategy, it doesn't mean it will stop making single-player AAA games.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched on February 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. We gave the game two stars in our review, with Jake Tucker praising the "interesting ideas and excellent writing," but that the supervillain shooter "is intent instead on subjecting players to death via live service nonsense."

For more, be sure to check out our list of every upcoming game of 2024, along with our recommendations for the best superhero games.

We're in the home stretch now with just over an hour to go until The Hogwarts Legacy State of Play. While other Sony State of Plays have been a showcase of upcoming games, tonight's is solely dedicated to the Harry Potter RPG.  

This is the second State of Play stream Sony has hosted in March 2022, with the last taking place on March 9 and focusing primarily on games from Japanese publishers. There were no huge announcements in that show, the real takeaway was the reveal of a free expansion to Returnal. Today's stream should be different, there's been little shown of Hogwarts Legacy since its reveal trailer. We should be seeing the game in action and learning a lot about how exactly it will work. We're also hoping a release date will be announced.

Want to catch all the action live as it happens? Read on for all the details on how to watch Sony's State of Play event when it kicks off at 2pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm GMT (or March 18 at 8am AEDT) - and what to expect from the Hogwarts Legacy reveal.

How to watch the Sony State of Play livestream

Sony's special Hogwarts Legacy edition of State of Play takes place on March 17 at 2pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm GMT (or March 18 at 8am AEDT).

The stream will last roughly 20 minutes and focus entirely on Hogwarts Legacy. 

You can watch the stream live on Twitch or YouTube via PlayStation's official channels. It will play live at the times listed above, but the show will be automatically uploaded to Sony's YouTube channel immediately after airing, in case you miss it initially. You can also catch all the action live right here, via the embedded stream above.

What to expect

Sony has confirmed that this State of Play showcase will focus entirely on the upcoming Harry Potter RPG, Hogwarts Legacy - so don't expect news or updates on any other new PS5 games or hardware.

The stream is set to last roughly 20 minutes and will feature over 14 minutes of PS5 gameplay for the first time, as well as insight from the development team. In other words, it's going to be our best look yet at Hogwarts Legacy.

Details on the Harry Potter RPG have been somewhat thin on the ground until now, though we do know that Hogwarts Legacy is an open-world adventure that will offer a chance for Harry Potter fans to craft their own adventure in familiar locations from the series, stepping away from the timeline of the books and films to tell an original story in the 1800s. 

We know the game will primarily take place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with fledging witches and wizards able to choose their own house, partake in potions classes, cast spells, and battle dark wizards. Hopefully, the showcase will let us see some of these features in action - and reveal some features we haven't heard about yet.

But the main hope we have for the Hogwarts Legacy reveal is a release date. The game was initially due to release in 2021 before being delayed to 2022, but we haven't had a more solid release date than that - though rumors point to a September 2022 release.

It's worth noting that Hogwarts Legacy isn't without its controversy due to its connection to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, who’s received much criticism over the last couple of years for allegedly making transphobic comments. An FAQ section on the game’s official website states “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game”, while a Bloomberg report suggests Hogwarts Legacy will feature trans-inclusive character creation options. Bloomberg says that push for inclusivity came about as a reaction to Rowling’s comments. We'll likely find out at the State of Play whether its Bloomberg report is accurate.

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The controversy over Hogwarts Legacy has very little to do with the game itself, but that’s not stopped it from becoming ammo in a culture war. 

The open-world Harry Potter RPG is hardly GTA 6; you’re not mowing down civilians, robbing banks, or shooting police. You play a student who joins a school for witches and wizards, attends magic classes, and explores a world filled with fantastical beasts. However, the game, which launched on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on 10 February, is at the center of a huge and often very heated row.

The problem for some gamers is that Harry Potter’s creator JK Rowling – who profits from the game, as it’s an officially licensed title – has become one of the most visible figures in the culture war around transgender issues. It’s very scary to be trans right now, and many trans people believe that buying a Harry Potter product is effectively supporting a movement whose more extreme voices want to eliminate us from society. And that means Hogwarts Legacy has become part of this culture war.

For a lot of people on social media, the question is no longer whether the game is any good. It’s whether you’re a good person if you buy it, or if good people should boycott it. 

Increasing trouble

Since writing about the controversies surrounding Hogwarts Legacy last year, the situation has only become more heated. There are now more than 300 anti-trans bills in front of US legislators, the UK government has blocked Scotland’s proposed gender recognition reforms, and Donald Trump has said if he is elected president, he will pass a law banning minors from receiving gender-affirming healthcare, while a potential Republican presidential candidate rival, Ron DeSantis, says doctors providing this treatment “need to get sued”.

Rowling herself has become more central to the trans/anti-trans culture war – and, as a result, Hogwarts Legacy has become embroiled in it too.

In July last year, Rowling praised Matt Walsh’s film, What is a Woman?, saying it did “a good job exposing the incoherence of gender identity theory and some of the harms it's done”. In the film, Walsh addresses a Loudoun County School Board meeting where residents are debating whether transgender children can use their correct names and pronouns and use toilets and locker rooms that align with their gender. “You are all child abusers," he says. "You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult, a cult which holds many fanatical views but none so deranged as the idea that boys are girls and girls are boys.” The film was described by Science Based Medicine as “a science denying propaganda film disguised as a documentary”.

Rowling has also engaged with people who have stated they would boycott Hogwarts Legacy. In December, filmmaker Jessie Earl said she did not “begrudge anyone their love of past works or things they already own that they take comfort in [...] but any support of something like Hogwarts Legacy is harmful.”

“Deeply disappointed [Earl] doesn't realise purethink is incompatible with owning ANYTHING connected with me, in ANY form," Rowling said. "The truly righteous wouldn't just burn their books and movies but the local library, anything with an owl on it and their own pet dogs.” 

The Harry Potter author also shared another tweet in which someone advocated the position that it was fine to watch and read the books you already owned, but urged people not to buy the new game.

“And as for this, I'm appalled," Rowling said. "This individual actually advocates reading the books because ‘nobody needs to know’. All fine and dandy until you get drunk and accidentally quote one, sonny. 'I never did it in public' won't save you when the police see your Hufflepuff socks.”

The backlash, and the backlash to the backlash

Hogwarts Legacy has become a totem in the trans/anti-trans culture war. The game’s release is being used by both trans people and trans allies, and people who are anti-trans.

There’s currently a donation drive for the trans charity Mermaids, the organizer of which says, “I will not be purchasing the game, so instead, I would like to support Trans folks” and “any amount is accepted but especially the amounts for the cost of Hogwarts Legacy - $59.99 for standard edition, $69.99 for deluxe (£50.00)”. At the time of writing, the campaign has raised over $12,000 / £10,000 / AU$17,000.

There is also a report of purchases of Hogwarts Legacy being used as an anti-trans statement.

“In case you were wondering how Hogwarts Legacy is used to hate on trans people, I regularly get messages from anti-trans folks proudly telling me they’re buying the game to harass me,” Jessie Earl said in a tweet. “The game, due to its association with Rowling… has become synonymous with hate.” 

While it’s probable that many people will have none of these considerations in mind when buying the game, it’s important to see how Hogwarts Legacy has already become ammunition for the anti-trans movement. 

It doesn’t matter if Hogwarts Legacy is good or bad; that it features a character who is implied to be trans; or that a trans voice actor is in the game’s cast. Because of Hogwarts Legacy’s ties to JK Rowling, and the perception that she is part of the anti-trans movement, the game has become an emblem of the debate. People are buying it to make a statement, people are not buying it to make a statement, its sales figures can be perceived as a statement; playing the game, streaming the game, and reviewing the game can all be perceived as a statement of pro or anti-trans intent.

If you’ve taken a side in the trans debate, it’s impossible not to take a side on the issue of Hogwarts Legacy. For many in the trans community, this is not a game.

Hogwarts Legacy, the full-fledged, open-world RPG set in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is out now.

Developed by Avalanche Software, Hogwarts Legacy offers Harry Potter fans the chance to craft their own adventure in familiar locations from the series, stepping away from the timeline of the books and films to tell an original story in the 1800s. 

Want to know more? Read on for everything you need to know about Hogwarts Legacy, including what you can expect from the gameplay and story. 

Hogwarts Legacy: cut to the chase

• What is it? A Harry Potter RPG set in the 1800s
• When did it come out? February 10, 2023 (later on older consoles)
• What can I play it on? PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch
• Score? In our Hogwarts Legacy review, we gave the game 3.5/5 stars

Hogwarts Legacy trailers

Launch trailer

Ahead of the release of Hogwarts Legacy for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S on February 10, 2023, a 4K launch trailer was released on February 1, 2023, which showcased what fans could expect from the Harry Potter RPG.

More trailers

We've included some key Hogwarts Legacy trailers throughout this article but you can find all the trailers that have been released to date on the official Hogwarts Legacy YouTube channel.

Hogwarts Legacy story and setting

Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive, open-world RPG set in the Harry Potter universe. Taking you to the wizarding world of the 1800s – long before Harry, Ron, and Hermione are born – Hogwarts Legacy sees you arriving late at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as a fifth year.

You're not just a normal student, however. Instead, you have the ability to possess and master ancient magic that is the key to tearing apart the wizarding world – but how you wield that power is up to you. You can create your character from scratch and explore locations including the school itself (including themed common rooms), the Forbidden Forest, the neighboring village of Hogsmeade, and a smattering of other hamlets speckled throughout the countryside. These locations are populated with NPCs and side quests you can dig into at your leisure, with dynamic seasons and climates to really bring them to life.

Hogwarts Legacy gameplay

Hogwarts Legacy is an entirely single-player experience with no online or co-op modes. With that focus on the single-player experience, the game is about crafting your own personal adventure in the wizarding world. 

Once you've created your character and selected your house, there'll be classes to catch up on and new friends (including beasts) to make. To add an extra layer to the social aspect of the story, you'll nurture those connections, with your magical new pals able to teach you abilities and act as companions on quests and adventures.

During school hours, you'll be learning and casting spells and charms, brewing potions, and attending a host of classes so you can graduate alongside your classmates. The new spells and abilities that you learn from your professors and fellow students will be useable in combat and in puzzles through the wider game world. The range of spells that you learn will allow for choice when it comes to combat styles. The spells you learn won’t necessarily just be the nice kind, either. Like any talented Hogwarts student, you’ll face the temptation of powerful dark magic and unforgivable curses.

In your downtime, you can explore the school, uncovering secret passageways that contain puzzles for you to solve. There will also be in-game challenges you can undertake to gain experience points and, ultimately, level up. Leveling up lets you upgrade certain abilities, talents, and spells, so you can hone your character to your own playstyle.

You'll also have access to the Room of Requirement, where can grow plants for ingredients, brew potions, upgrade gear, and more. You even have your own House Elf to do your bidding. To top that all off, you'll have a menagerie where you can keep the various magical creatures you'll run into throughout the course of the game. 

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In a corridor near the Gryffindor common room, there is a suit of armor that hums to itself. Forgetting that it’s supposed to be stoically standing guard, it lets out a vibrating trill that can be heard by the robed students going by, rushing between classes. Its neighbor, another suit of armor, urges it to shut up by punching it on the arm. 

My first hours in Hogwarts Legacy, the open-world Harry Potter RPG, are filled with moments of discovery. Where, like with the suits of armor, I stop in my tracks to watch what is going on around me. 

I find a set of portraits of musicians playing melodies to one another, with a student sitting on a bench listening to the impromptu band practice. A gargoyle built into the foot of a grand staircase busied by throngs of loud students, complaining, “A hundred and forty-two staircases, and this is where they put me”. Or, Peeves the Poltergeist flying out from a closed door to surprise a child carrying a stack of heavy books.

Strangely, the school is both new and familiar to me; a place I’ve never explored before but one that I’ve known for years from reading and re-reading the Harry Potter books when I was younger.

Hogwarts Legacy price and release date

• What is it? A third-person open-world RPG set in the Harry Potter universe
• Release date? February 10, 2023
• What can I play it on? PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
• Price? $69.99 / £64.99 / $AU79.99

Unusual beginnings 

There are important differences between Hogwarts Legacy and the books. For a start, you don’t play Harry Potter or any other characters you may know from the series. Set in the 1800s, centuries before the novels, most of the cast is not yet born. There are some familiar faces in the forms of Hogwarts’ ghost population, such as Gryffindor’s house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, but for the most part, you can consider this to be an entirely different set of heroes and villains; they’re just inhabiting the same locations.

Another key difference between Harry Potter and Hogwarts Legacy is that you don’t start at the school with the other students; you are a late arrival, entering as a fifth year. Something your mentor, Professor Fig, tells you in the introduction is practically unheard of. But, he soon sees why you may have had this rare dispensation to join the school.

On your journey to the school, you are joined by a friend of Fig’s, a member of the Ministry of Magic. You overhear the two talking about a goblin called Ranrok, amassing an army of loyalists and harassing witches and wizards all over Britain. The friend pulls out a package he received from someone who Ranrok was hunting. To the two older men, it looks like an ordinary cylinder, but you can see a strange glow upon it. This is the first hint as to what makes you special; you can see and interact with this magic that other wizards can’t even perceive.

Hogwarts Legacy’s story sees you exploring this ancient magic and why Ranrok is so intent on harnessing it for himself.

School days

After a detour involving a dragon, a portkey, and a set of puzzles in the depths of Gringotts bank, you arrive at Hogwarts just in time to take part in the Sorting Hat ceremony. Answering questions from the headwear, you’re placed in a house that fits your sensibilities. (Because I’m a goodie-two-shoes, I ended up in Gryffindor, although my head wanted to land in Ravenclaw.)

At this point, Hogwarts Legacy begins to open up. Deputy headmistress Weasley gives you a journal called the Wizard’s Field Guide, which tracks your quests and contains a map of the school, Hogsmeade, the wider world, and all the challenges and collectibles you can cross off. Your lessons in Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology appear as missions to complete, a scripted set-piece that rewards you with a new spell to use around the world.

The only way to collect experience points in Hogwarts Legacy is to complete quests and challenges logged in your Field Guide. And there are lots of them to take on. Hogwarts and the world around it are full of pages to discover. Some of them are ghostly outlines that you’ll spot in front of statues and landmarks, and casting Revelio nearby will manifest them into the world for you to collect. Others pages fly around the vaulted ceilings of the school like pigeons, and you can summon them to your hand by casting Accio. 

I lost myself in those first hours of Hogwarts Legacy, submerged in the story of Rankrok’s growing rebellion, wandering the corridors of Hogwarts looking for Field Guide pages, helping out students with puzzles, and taking in the charming details added by designers. But then I pass the suits of armor in the corridor near the Gryffindor common room. Again, one of them is humming, and the other, tired of its colleague’s noise, punches it on the arm. I see Peeves surprise a student again. The Gargoyle complains about its placement again.

Then I realize I’m looping, too. I’m going through the halls in circles, casting Revelio every few seconds, trying to spot the telltale glint of a hidden Field Guide page. I heard the same conversations around me, the same music playing, and the same interactions between the ghosts, the portraits, and the students. It has the appearance of life but becomes stale once it turns into repetition.

Many open-world games struggle with repetition in their environments. Built to make a great first impression, they don’t often reward revisiting. But then, when you’re in a world filled with collectibles and missions that push you to retread your steps, all you’re going to do is spot the loops.

Tour of the wizarding world 

For all those unexpected moments of discovery, Hogwarts Legacy is at its best when it puts you on a scripted path. 

The development team at Avalanche has done a clever job of taking all the world of the Harry Potter books and weaving its plot and quests through as many familiar sites as it can. You’ll sneak into the basement of the Honeydukes sweet shop by taking the secret passage behind the one-eyed witch statue; steal your way into what will one day be Dumbledore’s office, past the sleeping portraits of previous headteachers; and even explore the house elf kitchen below the great hall, where the indentured servants load up tables of food to be magicked up to the waiting students above.

In those scripted quests, you don’t encounter the repetition of the open world. That’s when I most feel like I’m playing through a fresh adventure in the world of Harry Potter.

Some of the later missions, too, become huge setpieces. In one, you infiltrate a den of poachers in the Forbidden Forest. The dark wizards have captured dragons and are forcing them to fight each other in the magical equivalent of a cock fight. While you wind your way through the space beneath the audience’s feet, taking out poachers and goblins, two giant dragons are tearing each other apart in your peripheral vision. 

The scripted missions often give you multiple methods to approach each encounter. While the choice comes down to sneak or fight (or, more often: sneak first, then fight), I enjoy casting disillusionment on myself to become invisible, and working my way through a goblin camp, getting up behind my enemies and tapping them on the shoulder with my wand, whispering ‘Petrificus Totalus’. The victim then snaps to attention, locked immobile like a board of wood.

When combat starts, you have a surprisingly deep toolset at your fingertips. Tapping the right trigger on your gamepad will send off a basic attack at your enemy, but holding the right trigger down lets, you cast more powerful spells that you’ve assigned to your face buttons. You can launch an enemy into the air with Levioso and then hit them with a string of basic spell attacks while they hang helplessly in the air. I’m a particular fan of using Accio to draw my enemies toward me and then hitting them with Incedio, the magic equivalent of a flamethrower. 

You can also use the ancient magic your wizard wields to fling objects in the environment into your enemies. It’s deeply satisfying to hear the clang of an anvil hitting a troll in the face. You charge up your reserve of this special power by using your normal attacks and dodging or deflecting incoming assaults from your enemies. If you charge up enough, you can tap both shoulder buttons together to unleash an execution attack on your enemies.

A talented wizard 

As you progress through Hogwarts Legacy’s story, you unlock a talent tree where you can spend points you earn when leveling up to buff your spells and abilities. An upgraded Accio doesn’t just summon the enemy you’re targeting; it draws in all the enemies standing near them. Incendio becomes more than a flamethrower; it sends out a wave of fire in all directions, letting you hit people standing to the sides and behind you. 

The talent tree also lets you unlock new spell wheels. As you can only assign four spells to the face buttons on your gamepad, this lets you have another set of spells ready to go at a moment’s notice. Hold the right trigger and press a direction on the D-pad to access this different set of spells.

When I first played Hogwarts Legacy, I found the combat too demanding for my clumsy fingers. I would try and swap between spell wheels in combat and become confused, never finding the type of spell I needed at the moment I needed it. That’s particularly the case when you need to match the color of the spell you’re using to break through the color of the shield your enemy is using. You can use Accio to break a purple shield, but it has no effect on a yellow shield; for that, you need a spell like Levioso.

After 18 hours with Hogwarts Legacy, I still find that swapping between spell wheels mid-combat is too much for me. Instead, I stick to the same four combat spells in every battle because I have it set up that no matter what kind of shield I’m facing, I have the necessary spell types ready to go.

I still use the spell wheels but have them set up by tasks. So, up on the D-pad brings up all my combat spells, and right on the D-pad are all my utility spells.

Stuffed pockets 

Hogwarts Legacy has a lot going on. It has a scripted story that is full of set pieces that take you on a tour of the vaults of Harry Potter lore; it has a rich combat system that lets you toss and singe your enemies with combinations of spells; it has an open world filled with collectibles and looping interactions; and there’s more besides.

There’s the talent system, which you unlock midway through the game. There’s the room of requirement, which you can customize and fill with equipment to grow plants and brew potions. You can capture beasts in the Forbidden Forest and keep them in your own private sanctuary, where you can feed them, groom them, and take resources from them. A magical loom lets you upgrade your gear and fit it with new traits, like increased fire damage or defense against spider venom. You can fly around Hogwarts on a broom or a hippogryph, exploring the world or popping balloons for your flying teacher.

Hogwarts Legacy is a game that you can sink into. Sometimes I found that to be rewarding; other times, it was exasperating. Why, when a goblin rebellion threatens the wizarding world, am I being told I have to grow a mandrake for my herbology teacher? It is both the best Harry Potter game I’ve played and one which I often wished was leaner and more directed. I would play for hours and walk away feeling unsatisfied because I spent so much of that time running around looking for collectibles or completing small assignments for teachers rather than taking on the grand threat set up in the game’s opening hour.

It can be magical to walk the corridors of Hogwarts Legacy, but once you see through the illusion, it can feel empty.

• There is understandable controversy around Hogwarts Legacy.

Hogwarts Legacy’s magical duels are simple in principle. Smack enemy wizards with spells until their health bar hits zero, and repeat until there are no wizards left standing. Basic as that may be, that doesn’t stop me from getting roundly trounced in my first battle, or my second, or third. I even struggle to string combos together against the training dummy.

In Hogwarts Legacy, the open-world Harry Potter RPG, you join the school as a fifth-year student. My wizened tutor, Professor Fig,  tells me no other student has had such a late admission to the school of witchcraft and wizardry, though he doesn’t say why I get preferential treatment, nor do I see my first days in the school and how other students react to my introduction. Going off how hard they come at me in the dueling arena, I’d say they’re not great fans. 

Training duels in Hogwarts Legacy take place in a tucked-away tower, out of earshot of any professors. Students gather around, waiting their turn to paste each other with powerful spells. Quite a few are waiting to battle me.

As you may expect, your enemies don’t stand idle, begging for you to hit them with a bolt from your wand. They’ll often be encased in a colorful bubble shield, which protects them from all damage except a specific spell type. If a wizard is in a yellow bubble, I need to send them skyward with Wingardium Leviosa, which I can do easily by holding down the right trigger and pressing the square button on my PS5 controller. Purple shields need Accio on the cross button, red shields need Expelliarmus on the circle button. Once a shield is disarmed, your enemy will stand staggered (or levitate in a daze), and you can hit them with generic attacks, cast with a tap of R1.

When you’re battling well, you’ll be clocking the shield type of your enemies, stunning them, piling on the damage, and keeping aware of incoming attacks – telegraphed to you by a spidey-sense-like symbol above your head. Tap triangle at the right time, and you activate your own bubble shield, and send incoming spells back at their casters.

I wasn’t often battling well, and it’s not entirely because I’m a klutz of a wizard.

Many times I send the wrong colored spell type against my opponents’ shields, doing them no damage and looking blundering to all the onlooking AI Hogwarts students. And, getting caught up in the action, I forget to look out for the telltale sign I’m about to be shot at. So, rather than block, counter, or even just dodge an enemy attack, I take a spell bolt straight to the face. This, I console myself, will come with practice. Hopefully, in time for my exams.

My fumbling isn’t helped by Hogwarts Legacy’s targeting, however. As I sweep the camera over my enemies, a circle icon appears on the chest of the student in my direct view, telling me every attack I fire will be directed at their smug face – when fighting children, I find it’s necessary to justify being quite so violent. While a solid system in principle, my enemies often cluster together in the dueling arena. Numerous times, I’m all set to send Wingardium Leviosa at a yellow-bubbled nerd when their red-bubbled poindexter of a pal steps in the way, and the autotargeting switches to them, and I waste my spell on the wrong shield.

Wasted spells don’t have a steep cost, you just have to wait for the short cooldown to expire before you can use it again, but, when I’m in a later battle, facing a large group of magical creature poachers, every missed attack drags the fight out and increases the chance of me getting charred to a cinder.

That later battle presents another challenge for a klutz wizard, such as myself: multiple spell wheels. While you have your standard spell attack mapped to R1, you can swap between groups of spells that you have mapped to the face buttons by holding R2 and pressing a direction on the D-pad. For each direction on the D-pad, you can access a different group of spells mapped to the face buttons. It means that, at any time, you can have readily access more than 20 spells – R1, four basic utility spells on the face buttons, and four groups of four spells you access through R2 and the D-pad.

 If that sounds confusing, it’s because I find it a massive hurdle myself. In the heat of battle, I make an absolute hash of using the spell wheel.  Forgetting what spells are mapped to which submenu, I run in circles while trying to find the right color to disable my enemies’ shields. Again, I look like a dunce to onlooking wizards – and a very judgy centaur.

This later battle, against poachers in the dark Forbidden Forest that encircles surrounds Hogwarts, comes further into the game than my duels against students. Presumably, the extra spells and spell wheels I’ve unlocked would have been handed to me gradually, and I hope in the course of playing Hogwarts Legacy normally, rather than skipping between sections, I will be a competent wizard when the combat demands it. However, all I can say of my experience so far, is that I won, not with grace, but by running round in circles, throwing chairs and pots at my enemies, and generally looking like a chump.

My place in Hufflepuff’s storied annals is practically assured.

• While you wait for Hogwarts Legacy, there are loads of great RPGs to play.

Warner Bros. Games has announced that its upcoming Harry Potter RPG will be delayed once again, this time only for last-gen console owners.

Announced via the official Twitter page, Hogwarts Legacy has been delayed on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One to allow developer Avalanche Software to “deliver the best possible game experience across all platforms”. 

Hogwarts Legacy is still set to release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on February 10, 2022, but those planning to play on PS4 and Xbox One will have to wait until April 4, while Nintendo Switch players won’t get their hands on the game until July 25.

This is the second time that Hogwarts Legacy has seen a push-back in its planned release date, with the open-world Harry Potter game originally being slated to launch at the tail end of 2022

Delay no more

Taking place a hundred years before the events of the books and their film adaptations, Hogwarts Legacy opens the doors of the prestigious school of magic and presents an entirely original story. Harry and his friends aren’t anywhere to be seen – they’re not even a twinkle in their great-grandparents’ eyes right now – so that leaves room for you, the new witch or wizard in town, to carve a name for yourself in these hallowed halls. Sure, we won’t get to play Quidditch, but the official gameplay trailer revealed at a State Of Play showcase earlier this year gives us plenty to get excited about in this expansive open-world RPG that promises branching quests, forbidden curses, and an intriguing mystery to solve.

The most recent last-gen delays are nothing new, unfortunately, as Hogwarts Legacy has already seen one deflating delay that moved its goalpost from late 2022 to early 2023. Where current-gen console and PC players will gain 72 hours of early access with their purchase of the Deluxe Edition of the game, the same is not true for past-gen users. Whether you purchased the Standard or Deluxe versions, you’ll be getting access on April 4. This is according to the Hogwarts Legacy FAQ page.

If you planned to play on your Switch, you’ll have to sit tight for a brutal five extra months for your acceptance letter to arrive in July 2023. But hey, what’s another few months when you’ve already been waiting 25 years?

The delay is likely to disappoint some Harry Potter fans as, by shifting the release date for only part of the community, there’s an increased risk that last-gen players will have the experience spoiled for them by their current-gen peers. What’s more, since you can always cancel your pre-order, it could be that disgruntled fans will express their displeasure by using their wallets – especially if there’s no longer a key reason to have spent the extra money on the Deluxe version.

• Can't wait for Hogwarts Legacy? Play one of the best RPGs in the meantime.

Since before its official announcement, there has been a cloud of speculation surrounding key aspects of Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter RPG. In particular, how the game would handle character creation.

It may sound odd that a character creator would be the focus of so much attention, but there are good reasons for it. In the Harry Potter books, each character goes through the process of being sorted into a house, immediately reflecting something within themselves. So, for Hogwarts Legacy, a roleplaying game, where you get to embody your wizarding fantasy, it’s important players can create and inhabit a character that reflects how they intend to play.

Another reason for the attention is because of the statements made by the books’ author, JK Rowling. On Twitter and in essays, the writer has taken a stand against trans rights, for instance, arguing against allowing trans women to use women’s bathrooms, writing in one essay that “When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman ... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.”

Hogwarts Legacy’s developer has confirmed in the game’s FAQ that “J.K. Rowling is not involved in the creation of the game” but, nor has it distanced itself from the writer, going on to say “as creator of the wizarding world and one of the world’s greatest storytellers, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World. [W]e have collaborated closely with her team on all aspects of the game to ensure it remains in line with the magical experiences fans expect.”

This is why, when tonight’s Hogwarts Legacy stream opened with a developer saying they would be showing off the game’s character creator, it was so interesting: how would the game treat sex and gender? Would it be a reflection of JK Rowling’s stated beliefs?

Much of the Hogwarts Legacy character creator is as you would expect. You can pick from preset character builds, change your facial features, skin and hair color, hairstyle, and even select a pair of glasses for your character. The full circular rim appeals for its Harry Potter-like quality, but I may have to go with the semi-circle, half-moon frames, myself.

In the final panel of the character creator, you can choose between ‘Voice one’ and ‘Voice two,’ with one sounding more masculine and one more feminine, and, then, after making your choice, you can alter the pitch of your selection, too.

The final choice is whether you will be placed in the witches’ or wizards’ bedroom in your house’s dormitory. There is no reference to gender throughout the creation process. You appear to be entirely free to create a male-presenting, feminine-sounding character, who has a bed in either dormitory, with no prejudice from the game’s tools.

After a lot of speculation of how developers Avalanche Studios would handle this sensitive subject, it appears to that the team has threaded the needle well, allowing players to create avatars that represent and reflect the characters they wish to play. Hopefully, this same sensitivity will carry through the entire game with how you address other characters and how they address you.

For Harry Potter fans who have found their relationships with the books challenged by JK Rowling’s statements, this is an important step to making Hogwarts Legacy into a welcoming space for them to play.

• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers,

Upcoming Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy won’t feature quidditch, but will still let you fly around on a broomstick.

The fictional fantasy sport has been a staple of the Harry Potter franchise since the first novel, and fans have been eagerly waiting to see whether it would appear in Hogwarts Legacy. A new FAQ post on the game’s website confirms players won’t get to try their hand at the sport when the game releases next year.

“Quidditch is not playable in Hogwarts Legacy,” the FAQ page says. “However, broom flight for traversal and broom race challenges are part of the game. Players can also fly brooms to explore new and familiar locations surrounding Hogwarts Castle.”

A big ask

Quidditch has long been a fan-favorite part of the Harry Potter universe, even inspiring a real-life sport that imitates the magical game. It featured heavily in the original novels and film series and appeared in some of the older Harry Potter video games from the last few decades.

But its omission from Hogwarts Legacy isn’t too surprising. Recreating an entire fictional sport within an already large RPG is a tall order. Between designing all the additional gameplay mechanics, creating unique animations, producing new dialogue, passing it all through quality assurance testers, and then finding a way to integrate it into the main game without having it feel like a tacked-on aside, adding quidditch would be no quick job.

Not that you'll be totally broomless in the final game. Pitched as an open-world RPG, Hogwarts Legacy will have you exploring the titular wizarding school, the nearby village of Hogsmeade, and the Forbidden Forest. Gameplay snippets have already shown that you'll be able to tour those locales on the back of a flying hippogriff or a magical broomstick.

It’s possible, although not confirmed, that larger expansions for the game will be released after launch. Developer Avalanche has also created several DLC cosmetic packs as pre-order bonuses. Given the popularity of quidditch among Harry Potter fans, and its strong association with the brand, we wouldn’t be surprised if the fictional sport was added in some form through post-launch DLC.

Hogwarts Legacy will release on February 10 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. But if quidditch isn’t turning up, don’t expect wizard chess to appear either.

• Xbox Game Pass family plan officially launches with a pretty agreeable price tag

The biggest game of the Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase is Hogwarts Legacy and its latest trailer.

While we saw a big deep dive into the Harry Potter RPG back in February, Warner Bros has been pretty quiet in the months since, except to say that Hogwarts Legacy has been pushed back into 2023.

However, the latest trailer goes some way to easing that pain by showing off the Hogwarts Legacy's darker side. 

See that in the trailer below:

It looks like you'll have the opportunity to take some quite dark paths in Hogwarts Legacy, with the trailer showing you can either reject the dark arts or embrace them by using them on one of your companions, Sebastian Sallow. Quite the grim turn for this wizarding world game.

Presumably, each of your companions will open up options like this, and maybe we'll see branches like this in the main campaign, too.

I'm looking forward to learning more about this soon.

• Sonic Frontiers finally has a release date

 Last we had heard, Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter RPG set in a Victorian-era version of the wizarding school, was going to be coming out around Christmas 2022. However, publisher Warner Bros has revealed the final Hogwarts Legacy release date, and we’ve lousy news.

Yes, the Harry Potter game has been held back again and won’t be graduating in 2022. Instead, the Hogwarts Legacy release date is February 10, 2023. And that’s if you want to play Xbox Series X, PS5, or PC. There’s worse news for Nintendo Switch fans.

While Warner Bros says it’s committed to releasing the Nintendo Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy, it can’t say when it will be ready. Considering, what the developer revealed at the Sony State of Play, it’s not surprising getting the open-world RPG running smoothly on Nintendo’s console is proving a challenge.

The delay into 2023 may be disappointing for you. Still, personally speaking, with so many upcoming games crammed together into the coming months, it’s frankly a bit of a relief to see a massive game like Hogwarts Legacy take a step back. I want to be able to really immerse myself into school life and not feel pressured to wrap up my campaign to start playing God of War Ragnarok or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. (You may think they’re pretty different games from Harry Potter, but I’m allowed to have varied tastes.)

While Hogwarts Legacy can’t escape the influence of the books’ author, we've been impressed each time we’ve seen the game in action. While the old Playstation games were a joy, they pale compared to the sheer scope of Hogwarts Legacy. As well as a whole suite of skills you’ll be able to train your young magician in, the combat looks to be much deeper than you may expect, letting you create complicated combos by layering different styles of spells on top of one another – levitating enemies to disable them before hitting them with fireballs, for instance.

While we have to wait a few months longer than we expected, it looks like 2023 will start with a strong contender for Game of the Year.

• Here are some games to play in the meantime.

An update to a retail listing for the official Hogwarts Legacy art book might have just offered us a hint at when the game could release.

As spotted by Hogwarts Legacy fans on Reddit (via VGC), the Amazon UK listing for The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy: Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World has been updated with a release date of December 6. 

Customers who have pre-ordered the book have also, VGC reports, received emails to state that the release date has been revised to December 6. 

amazon_uk_has_the_hogwarts_legacy_art_book_slated from r/HarryPotterGame

In light of this updated release date for the official art book, fans are speculating that it could mean that the game will launch, if not exactly on December 6, then perhaps around the same time in early December. At the moment, Hogwarts Legacy only has an official release window of ‘Holiday 2022’.

Although the art book for the game won’t necessarily release on the same day as the game, one Reddit user in the thread points out another major Warner Bros release in 2022, Gotham Knights, also has an art book due out and that it’s scheduled to release on the same day as the game: October 25.

• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers
• Best new games 2022: the biggest titles coming to console and PC this year
• PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which next-gen console should you buy?

This feels familiar

Now, if you’re thinking ‘wait, haven’t we been here before?’ then you’d be right. It was back in February of this year that the Hogwarts Legacy art book was first announced and its then-release date of September 6 prompted speculation that the game would get a September launch.

However, this proved to be inaccurate as it was later confirmed that the game will be released in ‘Holiday 2022’ and the book's release date has naturally shifted too. In all fairness, this December 6 date does indeed fall within the game’s official ‘Holiday 2022’ window but this could still be a placeholder release date for the art book. 

That said, even if the release date for the art book does prove to be December 6, it’s still not necessarily any guarantee of the actual game’s final release date. We'll have to wait for an official announcement from Warner Bros to be sure of that.

It’s worth noting that at the time of writing the Amazon US listing for the art book has a different date attached: December 31 2022. The official Game Guide also has a December 31 date. December 31 actually seems much more likely to be a placeholder date than December 6 and, indeed, Reddit users have noted that the UK listing previously had this December 31 release date too before it was updated. 

This news comes only a few days after the contents of the Hogwarts Legacy collector’s edition and deluxe edition appear to have leaked online (via VGC) after a Reddit user claimed to have found hidden files on the Hogwarts Legacy website. 

If this updated art book release date and the information found on the game’s various editions prove to be accurate, then we could possibly see the final release date announced in the not-too-distant future. That ‘Holiday’ release window is fast approaching, after all. 

• How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order

Following a major gameplay presentation, we've now learned how Hogwarts Legacy takes advantage of the PS5's unique features, particularly the DualSense controller.

Developer Avalanche Studios has that Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 will make full use of the DualSense controller. Shared in a PlayStation Blog post, the studio starts with the adaptive triggers, saying: "You’ll feel the magical resistance at your fingertips through every spell, whether firing off a basic cast or summoning the strength for a more powerful charm."

According to Avalanche, casting spells will feel unique thanks to the DualSense's haptic feedback. Uniquely, the developer confirms this only affects the right side of the DualSense controller in Hogwarts Legacy, explaining, "we've specifically isolated these effects to the right side of the controller to let the DualSense become an extension of the wand you hold in the game."

But it doesn't stop there. Calling the DualSense "your connection to the magic on PS5," Avalanche confirms Hogwarts Legacy goes further with these features. You'll feel effects when crushing ingredients in Potions class, hearing the screech of a Mandrake, or when taking to the skies with your broom or hippogriff. 

Finally, for some added personalization, the DualSense controller lightbar will show your house colors when you aren't spellcasting. Avalanche revealed those will be "blue and bronze for Ravenclaw, scarlet and gold for Gryffindor, green and silver for Slytherin, and yellow and black for Hufflepuff."

Visual flair

Avalanche Studios also discussed what players can expect from Hogwarts Legacy's visuals: "We’ve come a long way since the days of the beloved Hagrid on the original PlayStation..." referencing Hagrid's unfortunate appearance in Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone on PS1.

Like many new-gen games, Hogwarts Legacy also provides a choice in graphics modes, offering Performance and Fidelity options. These let you prioritize a higher frame rate or visual fidelity. Backing this up is the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio tech, which Avalanche claims will let players "hear the crackle of fire as you cast Incendio, potions bubbling in cauldrons."

Warner Bros is banking a lot on Hogwarts Legacy this Holiday season. Following a big gameplay reveal back in March, we learned that it won't feature microtransactions. We also found out that Hogwarts Legacy is coming to Nintendo Switch. 

• Curses! Hogwarts Legacy has cast its spell on me and now I'm a believer

We finally got an in-depth look at the Hogwarts Legacy at PlayStation’s latest State of Play event. Although the average Harry Potter fan will have found plenty of things to be excited about, I’m personally keen to see something that may not even be in the development pipeline yet. And that’s PSVR 2 support.

PSVR 2 is already widely expected to be among the best VR headsets on the market. The second iteration of PlayStation VR is set to include some drastic improvements, including the upgraded Sense VR2 controllers and newer features such as eye-tracking, 4K displays for each eye, and even a little ventilation port that keeps you cool mid-game.

Hogwarts in VR would be Sirius-ly good 

From what we’ve seen during the latest State of Play event, players will have plenty of chances to explore the vast grounds of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and beyond. In fact, the prospect of roaming the richly-detailed world of Harry Potter has even caught the eye of those who aren’t even fans of the franchise.

The upcoming open-world RPG is set to release on all platforms, including Xbox Series X, PC, and even the Nintendo Switch. However, this could also be a great opportunity for PlayStation to plump up its offering and give PS5 owners a more unique perspective into the wizarding world. 

Interacting with the environment in VR would undoubtedly bring an entirely new level to the gameplay. From brewing potions to flying around Hogwarts on a Hippogriff and caring for fantastic beasts in your very own menagerie, the possibilities would be endless. 

And don’t even get me started on Quidditch. While there was an unofficial fan-made game called Seeker VR that gave Oculus Quest 2 owners a small taste of what it would be like to play Quidditch, having the opportunity to zoom around on a broomstick in a triple-A game like Hogwarts Legacy would be a great selling point in itself.

Swish and flick  

Naturally, spell-casting will be a huge part of the Harry Potter RPG. Considering the large emphasis that the game seems to place on magical combat, the prospect of waving a VR2 Sense controller around like a wand is incredibly exciting (admittedly at the risk of breaking a living room window).

According to Harry Potter lore, each spell requires a specific type of wand movement to execute successfully. With a flurry of charms, curses, counter-spells that your player character will be able to learn throughout their journey, implementing this type of interactivity into the game’s dueling mechanics would make my childhood dreams come true. Some older games like the PC version of 2009’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince did something similar by tying spellcasting to mouse movements, and I personally found it to be one of the most memorable gameplay mechanics to date. 

Although the possibility of VR support is fairly questionable, to begin with, wand movements may not be so far off the mark. Considering Hogwarts Legacy is also set to be released for Nintendo Switch, the developers could potentially be eyeing a chance to use the Joy-Con controllers as a wand too. 

How realistic is VR support? 

PSVR 2 support for Hogwarts Legacy sounds spellbinding on paper, but it’s difficult to gauge just how realistic it would be for developers to bring it to fruition.

First of all, the potential price for the PSVR 2 headset could play a major role in how far and wide it spreads. According to Forbes, the original PlayStation VR headset sold over five million units since it launched in 2016. But if the newest iteration is too expensive and prices out most consumers, it might prove difficult for PlayStation to convince Avalanche Software to dedicate the resources needed to implement VR support for what would be a very small player base. There's also the ongoing problem of actually getting PS5 consoles into consumers' hands.

Being a natively third-person game, it could also be a bit tricky for Hogwarts Legacy to implement its gameplay into VR without having to make separate, bespoke modes. While it’s certainly been done before with big-name titles like Skyrim, this takes a significant amount of time and effort that most developers may not be ready to commit to. But should they ever decide to, I’ll have no other choice than to shout “Accio wallet!”.

• PSVR 2 already has its killer app - Sony just needs to make it happen

Hogwarts Legacy must have cast an enchantment spell on me during Sony’s State of Play event because I’m utterly spellbound by how good it looks. 

My interest in Harry Potter petered out shortly after the release of the third book, The Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s not because I didn’t like the books, I place the blame solely on the shoulders of the film adaptations. The Harry Potter in my head was usurped by the bad acting of a young Daniel Radcliffe and co. and I’ve never been able to shift their portrayals since. 

So I didn’t expect to have anything but a passing interest in Hogwarts Legacy but I was drawn in by its richly-detailed world, the magical combat mechanics, and RPG systems on show. The State of Play lifted the petrification curse that hit my heart many years ago.

Massive muggle

Hogwarts Legacy is the reinvigoration tonic that I’ve been waiting for. I’m excited to rediscover what has always been a fascinating wizarding world, and one that has never been presented so intricately before. From exploring the labyrinthine halls of Hogwarts itself with all its secret nooks and crannies to hopping on a broom and soaring through the sky, Hogwarts Legacy is so densely populated with things to do I can only imagine how excited diehard Potter fans must be.

Even the game’s combat, an area that I was sure would be a stumbling block, appears to be slick, engaging, and – as you’d probably expect – rather magical. You can slam enemies into the ground repeatedly like something out of a cartoon sketch, brew stat-enhancing potions to deliver more damage, burn foes to a cinder with scorching fire attacks, and unleash a firework display of spells from your wand like it’s Chinese New Year. It’s quite the spectacle.

I was also surprised to hear that you can actually kill people in Hogwarts Legacy. The Killing Curse spell is included in the game, which isn't something I expected in a franchise that’s as family-friendly as Harry Potter. I’m not a sadist or anything – it’s not like I’m desperate to shank Bowser with a star in the next Super Mario game – but knowing the developer Avalanche Software isn’t afraid to lean into the darker side of the source material has me intrigued.

You’re a wizard, Adam

Crucially, though, Harry and the rest of his other affluent child-star actors are nowhere to be seen in Hogwarts Legacy. It’s a clean break from the films and books in many respects, as the game is set in the late 1800s and features a unique story that doesn’t require any past knowledge to take part.

Hogwarts Legacy also lets you create your own wizard, an important step that will let you immerse yourself in the world, and you can define your combat style by choosing what talents and skills to unlock. That alone is a huge boon, and judging by the gameplay trailer we saw, your created character won’t look out of place among the rest of the game’s cast.

Perhaps Hogwarts Legacy’s greatest strength, however, is just how dense and detailed the world is. There are magical beasts to find, mystical threats to combat, secret areas to discover, and even dynamic seasons to mark the changing season of the school year as you potter around Hogwarts’ grounds. It’s staggering how much content Avalanche Software has packed into the game – there’s more to consume here than what you’d find in Hogwarts’ Great Hall during dinner – and nothing looked out of place or needlessly shoed in. 

I was Ron

Hogwarts Legacy still has a lot to prove: a carefully put-together trailer isn’t indicative of the final game, but it’s undeniably full of promise. I’m still taken aback by how polished everything appeared, and it definitely looks like a game that will be best enjoyed with all the bells and whistles present on PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

Like your character in Hogwarts Legacy, who joins the wizarding school at an older age, this muggle has some catching up to do when it comes to Harry Potter. (I also really want to ride a Griffin.)

• How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order

Upcoming Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy will release on Nintendo Switch, despite the platform not being mentioned during the recent gameplay reveal.

As spotted by Nintendo Everything, the official Hogwarts Legacy website FAQ section lists Nintendo Switch among the platforms that the game will be available on, while the bottom of the website shows a Switch icon alongside PlayStation, Xbox and PC icons.

In addition, Amazon is listing pre-orders (which are now sold out) for a physical version of Hogwarts Legacy on Switch - suggesting this will be a fully-fledged version of the game rather than simply a cloud version.

When Hogwarts Legacy was first announced back in 2020, it was confirmed that the Harry Potter RPG would be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS4, Xbox One and PC, but there was no mention of a Nintendo Switch version. Even at the Sony State of Play showcase on March 17, where Hogwarts Legacy was revealed properly for the first time, there was no mention of the game coming to Switch. Although, as a PlayStation-focused show, that's not entirely surprising.

Opinion: it'll take magic to make it good

While a Nintendo Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy is good news, I can't help but be surprised that the Harry Potter RPG is coming to Nintendo's console. 

Hogwarts Legacy's gameplay reveal introduced us to a richly detailed and, frankly, gorgeous take on the Harry Potter universe. The build we saw in the State of Play showcase was running on PS5, so we were seeing the game at its current-gen best. The question is, with so much going on on-screen, will the Nintendo Switch be able to capture that magic? I'm worried the PS4 and Xbox One will be able to cope, let alone the Nintendo Switch.

There's almost no way that Hogwarts Legacy will look the same on Switch as it did in the PS5 gameplay, but it's likely it won't perform as well either. Creating a game across generations isn't an easy task, and Hogwarts Legacy doesn't seem to be pulling any punches when it comes to utilizing the PS5's power - we saw combat between multiple enemies and tons of spells (and special effects) whizzing past the camera, then there's the ability to fly around Hogwarts on the back of a broom, demanding significant draw distances from the console. 

All this means the developer could run into performance issues developing Hogwarts Legacy for the less powerful Switch. I certainly don't expect the experience to be the same as it will be on the latest hardware. 

I'm hoping Avalanche takes the time and care Hogwarts Legacy on Switch needs, but only time will tell if the game on Switch is as spellbinding as its PS5 counterpart appears to be.

• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers

Hogwarts Legacy will not include microtransactions, the community manager of developer Avalanche Software has confirmed.

The upcoming Harry Potter RPG was finally fully revealed in PlayStation’s March 17 State of Play showcase through an extensive gameplay trailer. The preview gave us an in-depth look into the game’s spell-slinging combat, a glimpse of its open-world exploration, and narrowed its release window down to this year’s holiday season. 

After the show aired, however, some excited fans were worried that in-game purchases would creep into Hogwarts Legacy. Avalanche didn't touch on the topic during the stream, leaving many to speculate that microtransactions would be included in the game through its potion-brewing or spell-casting mechanics.

That won’t be the case, however, as Avalanche’s community manager Chandler Wood has made explicitly clear on Twitter.

“We've seen this question coming up and want to set the record straight,” Wood said. 

“There are no microtransactions in Hogwarts Legacy.”

It’s difficult for Wood to be any clearer than that. Don’t expect any in-game purchases to appear in Hogwarts Legacy, and by the way Wood is framing the issue, don’t expect any to crop up in the future.

Analysis: a common nuisance

Microtransactions don’t have a glowing reputation across the world of video games. While publishers see them as an easy way of monetizing games to make an extra buck after release, predatory in-game purchase systems are often implemented to the detriment of a game’s core experience, or pushed so aggressively onto players that they spoil their enjoyment. 

You need only look at the latest Gran Turismo 7 update to understand that poorly implemented microtransactions can turn off a game’s community. Pushing players towards digital purchases in a game they’ve already splashed out on is a surefire way to upset them.

Avalanche’s decision to exclude microtransactions from Hogwarts Legacy, however, is a surprising one, as the game appears ripe for them. Between all the potions to brew, the spells to learn, the common room upgrades to unlock, and skills to acquire, there are plenty of opportunities to build costly cash purchases into the game’s core mechanics. Throw in a hugely recognizable license like Harry Potter, and they could attract many casual players willing to part with their money.

Hogwarts Legacy fans, then, will be relieved to hear the Harry Potter RPG won’t feature the often-maligned purchases. Instead, they can focus on exploring and enjoying the magical world around them, living out the Hogwarts fantasy they’ve been dreaming about since they were young. Let’s hope other developers follow suit and the trend of heavily monetized triple-A games recedes.

If child wizards aren't your bag, take a peek at our selection of the best RPGs for console and PC.

• Best PS5 games

Hogwarts Legacy has finally been revealed with a dedicated PlayStation State of Play all of its own. The show opened with a juicy helping of gameplay that was very generous in terms of what it dove into.

You can catch up with all of the details so far in our Hogwarts Legacy live blog. We got a fairly in-depth look at the various gameplay features. If you're a lover of the books and the lore, this will be right up your alley.

Players will be stepping into the shoes of a fifth year new to Hogwarts during the 1800s. There's tons to explore, from Hogwarts to Hogsmead and beyond.

But on to the release date; an exact date wasn't announced. We weren't that spoiled unfortunately. But we have been given a narrowed down the window of Holiday 2022, which means we should be seeing the game released in November or December. This might pose a dilemma for those of you looking to pick up Starfield on November 11. 

It also means Hogwarts Legacy is coming a little later than the rumored September release.

Well, that's a wrap on our Hogwarts Legacy live blog. The Sony State of Play did exactly what we'd hoped, giving us a whole heap of detail about how the Harry Potter RPG would play.

After two long years of waiting since the original reveal trailer, it's good to finally have a sense of the adventure Warner Bros is working on. Set in the 1800s, Hogwarts Legacy will have enough distance from the books that it won't star many familiar faces (outside of the ghosts walking the school halls), but it will the spirit of the game is that of a Harry Potter adventure. What came through strongly in the stream was the sense of discovery and adventure Hogwarts Legacy holds.

The stream didn't directly address the controversies surrounding the game and JK Rowling, the books' author. The developers have talked about wanting to make an inclusive game for all Harry Potter fans, and by opening on the character creator, and having the player character in the demo be an Asian avatar will have been nods to that. Though, whether it's enough will be evident in the reaction to today's reveals in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, you can watch the full presentation below or have a read through our archived liveblog to see a running a commentary of what was shown off.

Now, onto the show.

And we're off!

The stream begins with an introduction to the character creator and sorting system. You will be shuffled into one of the houses based off your answers to the hat's questions and each house will offer a different path through the school.

Unusually, you won't be starting the school in first year, but jumping straight into fifth.

Interestingly, Hogwarts Legacy isn't set in the modern day, like the Harry Potter books. You'll be a student in the 1800s, which is why none of the professors you know from the books will feature in the game. Though, some of the ghosts will be familiar - with Nearly Headless Nick making an appearance.

I look forward to the side quest where you're trying to get him enrolled on the headless hunt.

There's a main story that runs through Hogwarts Legacy, just in case you were worried that the game would let you loose in the school with no direction. Working with Professor Fig, you'll be investigating a goblin rebellion.

This should give us a closer look at the inner workings of Gringotts Bank, but personally, I'd be keen to have the action remain centered in the school and its many nooks and crannies.

While combat and lessons will be a big part of your time in Hogwarts Legacy, it's clear that there will be a lot of wandering around the school and discovering its secrets.

Using the spells you unlock, through lessons and friendships with other students, you'll find new ways of navigating the space. Dragging bookcases together in the library to open up pathways to hidden rooms, for instance.

For Harry Potter fans who have been absorbed by the books, it must be a thrilling prospect to be able to walk the halls of this school and see places for your own eyes that have only lived on the pages.

Next we're onto combat. Naturally, there's a lots of it in Hogwarts Legacy - from duelling with other students, fighting dark wizards, and putting a stop to a goblin rebellion.

Spells will be your main tool in combat - though, there are also powerful potions to give you an edge in battle. Your spells can be stitched together to perform combos, too, with a flick of your wand sending stunning enemies and sending them high up into the air where you can hit them with follow up attacks.

As a fifth-year student you'll be catching up with your classmates, and for that you'll be using the Room of Requirement. In the books this space changes to fit the needs of whoever walks through its doors, becoming a training room for Dumbledore's Army (or a bathroom for a wizard caught short late at night). 

In Hogwarts Legacy it becomes a room where you can install equipment that lets you unlock and upgrade your abilities, leveling up your power. As you grow stronger you'll unlock and improve your spells for combat, but also learn skills that let you reach new parts of the school and areas beyond.

While we were expecting Warner Bros would announce a specific Hogwarts Legacy release date, the publisher wasn't quite as exact as we were hoping. Instead, the State of Play's main segment ended simply by saying that it would be released in 'Holiday 2022'. Will that be as late as December or is September still on the cards? After all, International Literacy Day is right there on September 8 - what better way to mark the occasion than with a massive Harry Potter game?

If you don't have time to watch the full State of Play, Warner Bros has released a cut down version focusing on just the action of Hogwarts Legacy.

You can see that below:

It really does look like a magical open-world game. While you will be leaving the school at times, it feels rare that you have so much attention paid to a single location. I know everything gets compared to Dark Souls these days, but is Hogwarts Legacy going to the Lordran of Harry Potter games?

(No, Julian, obviously not, that's the pressure of the live blog getting to you.)

There are a lot of happy Harry Potter fans on Twitter at the moment, saying how beautiful the game looks but also likening it to the way they felt when they first saw the films 20 years ago:

(Side note, realizing the films were released 20 years ago has made me feel exceedingly old.)

As dilemma go, I hadn't even considered there was a possibility God of War would be competing with Harry Potter. But then again, both games are likely to feature goblins, dragons, and potions. They're basically one and the same:

A detail I missed during the stream, with one eye on the feed and the other on the live blog was that we were given a quick look at the common rooms of all four houses.

This includes the first time we've ever seen inside the Hufflepuff common room. A big day for Hufflepuffs around the world:

Okami Games sums up what a lot of fans seem to be reaching for on Twitter. Hogwarts Legacy doesn't seem to be a thin approach to a Harry Potter game, instead it looks like a fully-realized open-world exploration of the wizarding world:

Hogwarts Legacy will receive a dedicated State of Play preview stream on March 17.

The 20-minute broadcast will feature more than 14 minutes of the upcoming Harry Potter game running on a PS5, rounding out with some insights from a couple of developers behind the game.

You can watch the State of Play at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 9pm GMT (or March 18 at 8am AEDT) on the PlayStation Twitch or YouTube channel.

The preview follows last week’s Japanese-focused State of Play, which revealed a bunch of upcoming PS4 and PS5 releases, including Exoprimal, Valkyrie Chronicles, and a co-op expansion for Returnal.

It also gave us a pre-launch trailer of Ghostwire: Tokyo that’s due to release on March 25.

Analysis: what can we expect to see?

Following its official announcement in 2020, Hogwarts Legacy has remained something of a mystery. The open-world RPG is set in the titular magical school during the 19th century and will see you explore familiar locations from the Harry Potter books and film series. You’ll be creating potions, casting spells, and upgrading your magical talents as you battle against the dark wizarding forces.

However, with only one reveal trailer released so far, Harry Potter fans will be excited to see the game in action. Even a quarter of an hour is likely to give us a better understanding of the game’s combat, character creation, and open-world traversal. 

Although Hogwarts Legacy will release on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, this Sony State of Play might delve into its PlayStation-exclusive features, such as its use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.

Of course, there’s also the possibility the State of Play will reveal the game’s release date, which was originally set at 2021 before being delayed to sometime this year. That still looks like a firm release window. In a Twitter thread earlier in the year, WarnerMedia’s CEO reiterated the publisher’s plans to release the game in 2022, and this upcoming State of Play all but confirms the game’s launch is on the horizon.

We wouldn’t be surprised if this dedicated showcase finally revealed the launch date of the much-anticipated game.

Hogwarts Legacy has sparked controversy over its connection to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, who’s received much criticism over the last couple of years for allegedly making transphobic comments. An FAQ section on the game’s official website states “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game”, while a Bloomberg report suggests Hogwarts Legacy will feature trans-inclusive character creation options. Bloomberg says that push for inclusivity came about as a reaction to Rowling’s comments.

• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers

Despite claims to the contrary, Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter action-RPG, is apparently still on track to release at some point in 2022.

The official Warner Bros. Brazil Twitter account recently put together a thread of the company's upcoming video game releases, which includes Gotham Knights, Multiversus, and Hogwarts Legacy.

Not only that, but a blog post on the Wizarding World website also insists that Hogwarts Legacy is releasing in 2022, although it doesn't provide any new information on the game.

Leaker AccountNGT, who has accurately reported on the game in past, believes the delay rumors to be untrue, saying development is progressing smoothly and that Hogwarts Legacy should release in Q3 (July - September).

The delay rumor

Only a couple of days ago, journalist Colin Moriarty said on his podcast (as transcribed by VGC) that Hogwarts Legacy is facing development trouble, which could see it delayed until 2023 or even 2024.

AccountNGT's claims directly contradict this and judging by comments from Warner Bros., the company appears to intend to have the game out by the end of the year.

The possibility of a delay arguably seems believable as WB has yet to share any sort of meaningful update or new gameplay footage since the game was announced in September 2020.

All that's known about it is that it's being developed by Avalanche Software (the Disney Infinity studio), it's set in the late 1800s and sees you attend Hogwarts as your own customizable wizard or witch.

2022 is certainly a big year for the Harry Potter franchise, with it marking the 25th anniversary of the books and the 20th anniversary of the movies. Die-hard fans have no doubt already seen the Return to Hogwarts TV special which celebrated the occasion.

The third Fantastic Beasts movie, The Secrets of Dumbledore, is also releasing this year in April and will see Dumbledore assemble a team to help him stop Grindelwald.

The franchise, however, remains mired in controversy due to author J.K. Rowling's comments on transgender people. It's reached a point where it seems Warner Bros. is doing all it can to distance her from the franchise, as evidenced by her supposed lack of involvement with Hogwarts Legacy's development (it's even rumored that the game will let you create a transgender character) and her absence from the Return to Hogwarts TV special.

• How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order

The official trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has finally arrived – bringing with it the first proper look at Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald.

Fans were given a sneak preview of the trailer in a promotional video released by Warner Bros. on Friday, December 10, but this full-length offering reveals more of what audiences can expect when the movie releases in theaters in April 2022. 

The third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise – and the eleventh film to be set in the Wizarding World – The Secrets of Dumbledore will see Eddie Redmayne reprise his role as Newt Scamander, as he digs deeper into the potentially chequered past of Jude Law’s titular wizard.

You can check out the trailer below:

In the new footage, Dumbledore can be heard giving Scamander an ominous warning: “The world as we know it is coming undone," he says, "Grindelwald's pulling it apart with hate. If we're to defeat him, you'll have to trust me."

Judging by the title, it's a safe bet to assume that Law’s character – played by both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter series – could hold the key to defeating Mikkelsen's silver-haired antagonist. 

Speaking of which, we get to see the Danish actor's version of Grindelwald in full cry for the first time in this trailer, too. Mikkelsen was chosen to replace Johnny Depp in the role following unrelated legal action against the latter last year, and he looks every bit as menacing as you’d expect.

It’s no surprise, though, given the actor’s history playing the foil to heroes such as Doctor Strange (as Kaecilius) and James Bond (as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, with whom Grindelwald shares a similarly sinister discolored pupil). 

Don’t expect a carbon copy of Depp’s Grindelwald, either. Mikkelsen told Entertainment Weekly in 2020: “There has to be a bridge between what Johnny did and what I’m going to do. And at the same time, I also have to make it my own. But also we have to find a few links [to the previous version of the character] and some bridges so it doesn’t completely detach from what he’s already masterfully achieved.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will also reunite long-time Harry Potter director David Yates with producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis – all of whom collaborated on the previous two films in the Fantastic Beasts series.

Whether the third entry in the franchise can ignite the same interest as its predecessors remains to be seen, but with Harry Potter's Return To Hogwarts special arriving on HBO Max this New Year’s Day, you can be sure that fans of the Wizarding World have an exciting few months ahead. 

• Hogwarts Legacy: everything we know about the Harry Potter RPG 

Hogwarts Legacy, the long-awaited Harry Potter game from Avalanche (the makers of the Disney Infinity series of games), might be preparing to show the darker side of the wizarding world.

In a (since deleted) tweet from Hogwarts Legacy writer DC Allen, a discussion around the game’s potential age rating opened up possibilities for the Harry Potter title to include the book series’ Dark Arts – the forbidden magic that only powerful evil wizards use.

Asked whether or not killing would be possible in the new game, the writer answered (as preserved by Comicbook.com):

“Are they not allowed to kill in 16+ games? I feel like you could fully kill bad guys in Horizon Zero Dawn, it just wasn't bloody. I don't think I can answer your question directly but in the trailer you can see there is a lot of evil occurring in the wizarding world.”

We already know that the enemies will use the Dark Arts in the game – an earlier PlayStation Blog post from Adrian Ropp, Head of Story at Avalanche, mentioned the game would feature “dueling against a deadly dark witch.” But Allen’s comments relating to what is allowed in “16+” games and direct reference to fully killing bad guys in similar open world games points to the potential for more mature themes and methods of attack to be employed.

• Best PS5 games
• New games 2021
• Best Xbox Series X games

A little Dumbledore, a little Voldemort?

There’s a lot left to find out about Hogwarts Legacy, due out at some point in 2022 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PS5, PS4 and PC. But we can certainly infer a lot about what to expect from Allen’s comments, and previous information shared by Avalanche.

"Hogwarts Legacy is filled with immersive magic, putting players at the centre of their adventure to become the witch or wizard they choose to be," a previous Q and A revealed. "They will grow their character's abilities as they master powerful spells, hone combat skills and select companions to help them face off against deadly enemies. Players will also encounter missions and scenarios that will challenge their morality and determine what they stand for."

That “morality” mention, along with Allen’s comments, certainly leaves the door open for the use of the so-called “Killing Curse”, Avada Kedavra, the instant-death spell that’s notorious in the wizarding world. Any good RPG worth its salt allows the player character the freedom to direct their path as they see fit – will Hogwarts Legacy let us side with the powers of evil, and commit the most heinous acts the Potterverse allows for? Here’s hoping – it’s sure starting to seem that way.

• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers

...And that’s a wrap for E3 2021! It was a strange year for the annual games showcase, having been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, it meant there was no physical, in person show, and instead a series of publisher-ran streams to keep up with.

The lack of a physical presence meant some major players, not least EA and Sony PlayStation, have opted to skip E3 in favor of their own events, while each publisher that did turn up had notably fewer big titles to show off. It’s an understandable side-effect of a period in time where regular, collaborative work practices have been disrupted by illness, travel bans and newly-established work from home standards.

There were still some big hitters on show – Starfield appeared out of the black hole it’s been gestating for instance, as did The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. But some games we’d have thought were dead-certs to make a splash failed to materialize at all.

Collected here are the games we missed the most at E3 2021, no-shows at the conference that we’re desperate to learn more about.

• E3 2021: everything announced, trailers, news and more
• New games 2021: game release dates for console and PC

Fable 4

Considering we only just found out that a new Fable game was on the way in 2020, it’s not too surprising that the beloved adventure RPG wasn’t ready to be shown at E3. The game is also being handled by Forza Horizon 5 developer Playground Games, so it’s unclear how much resources has gone into the next entry in the Fable series at this stage. Hopefully we’ll find out more at next year’s E3 conference. 

Metroid Prime 4

Metroid Prime 4 was first announced six years ago, and it seems like Nintendo still isn’t ready to show the game off just yet. During Nintendo’s Direct, the company confirmed the company was “working hard on Metroid Prime 4”. In the meantime, fans of Samus Aran can look forward to playing Metroid: Dread, which releases on October 8.

Hellblade 2: Senua’s Sacrifice

Remember that disturbing Hellblade 2 reveal trailer? Well, that’s the last we saw of Ninja Theory’s follow up to its 2017 hit. The game was first revealed at The Game Awards 2019, alongside the reveal of the Xbox Series X, but information has been thin on the ground ever since. Ninja Theory has been slowly sharing development updates on the game, such as how it’s using new cloud tech, but we’re impatient to find out more. 

Perfect Dark

It’s been 11 years since the last Perfect Dark game, and it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer until we find out when we can get our hands on Joanna Dark’s next adventure. Perfect Dark was teased during The Game Awards 2020 and is being developed by The Initiative – hopefully we get an update during next year’s E3. 

Everwild

Rare’s brand new IP hasn’t been seen since its initial reveal at Microsoft’s X019 event, and its release date seems to be a good few years away. With news that the game recently got a new creative director, don’t expect to hear much about Everwild anytime soon. Rare did reveal that Sea of Thieves is getting an impressive new Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, though, so it wasn’t all bad news for fans of the studio.

Hogwarts Legacy

Publisher Warner Bros were up front early on this E3 season that its only game on show would be zombie shooter Back 4 Blood. Which is a shame, as Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming Harry Potter RPG, appears to be coming along quite nicely from the early footage we’ve seen. Still, we’ve no idea what impact Covid-19 has had on the development team at Avalanche Software, and, with a rough 2022 launch window lined-up, there’s plenty of time yet to see where this ends up.

Avowed

Obsidian’s Skyrim-esque first-person RPG wasn’t part of Microsoft’s Xbox and Bethesda showcase, but head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed the game is still in development. The studio did announce it’s working on The Outer Worlds 2 and releasing more updates for Grounded, but we can’t say that we weren’t slightly disappointed that Avowed was absent from E3. 

BioShock 4

BioShock 4 (or whatever it will be called) is officially in development at 2K Games’ new studio Cloud Chamber. Given that it’s been two years since the new BioShock was announced, we were hoping that we would finally get our first look at the next entry in the retrofuturistic series during E3 2021, along with an official name and release window - but had no such luck. 

Skull and Bones

It’s a bit worrying that Skull and Bones didn’t make an appearance at Ubisoft’s E3 showcase. Having had a troubled development over several years, we’d been expecting some news on the game, which is said to have had a bit of a production reboot and a change of direction in the intervening years since its 2017 unveiling. But it was a no show – worrying given that it currently has a March 2022 release window pencilled in. Perhaps it’s come full circle – starting life as an Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag spin off, perhaps it will again be more closely linked to the series?

God of War: Ragnarok

Sony recently revealed that God of War: Ragnarok (or God of War 2) is scheduled to release sometime in 2022. The game will also be available on PS4, which was a surprise to many. As Sony wasn't present at this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, it made sense that no God of War: Ragnarok news was shared. Still, you can’t blame us for being optimistic. 

Gran Turismo 7

With Sony opting to skip E3 for the second year running, the likes of Gran Turismo were never going to be shown. We can expect a State of Play event in the future that will focus solely on Polyphony Digital’s upcoming racing sim, which is coming to PS5 and PS4. 

FIFA 22

With EA set to host its own event outside of E3 called EA Play Live, it wasn’t too surprising that FIFA 22 didn’t make an appearance. However, it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll get a closer look at EA’s annual soccer sim on July 22.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Having missed several release dates, we were holding out hope that the next Lego Star Wars adventure would appear at E3. It didn’t. The next big opportunity will be at the inaugural Lego Con, taking place on Saturday 26 June.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

We don’t know a whole bunch about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League quite yet and E3 2021 didn’t see that change. We were hoping that Warner Bros. would give us an update on Rocksteady’s next outing, which is set to release in 2022, but instead the publisher used its showcase to focus on Back 4 Blood. We could be waiting until this year’s DC FanDome in October to learn more.

Gotham Knights

Like with Suicide Squad, we were expecting Warner Bros. to share some more details on Gotham Knights at E3 2021, but the new Batman game was a no-show. Unlike with Suicide Squad, we do know a fair few details about Gotham Knights, but a release date still escapes us. The last update we got on Gotham Knights revealed that the open-world, action RPG had been delayed from a 2021 release into 2022. It’s likely we’ll get a solid Gotham Knights update at DC FanDome in October.

The Elder Scrolls 6

We may finally have been given a release date for Starfield, but Bethesda’s other highly anticipated title was only mentioned briefly at the end of Microsoft’s Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. It’s unclear when we’ll hear more about the game, but it seems a surefire bet that the game will be an Xbox exclusive. 

Indiana Jones

Having only seen a teaser trailer for Indy’s return to gaming in January 2021, suggesting development was still very much in progress, it would have been a bit of a stretch to see Indiana Jones at E3 2021. With a new, fifth Indiana Jones film scheduled for release in July 2022, don’t be surprised if we see this one tie in with that, and be revealed fully late in 2021 or early 2022.

Beyond Good and Evil 2

We’re getting big ‘vaporware’ vibes from Beyond Good and Evil 2. First revealed in 2017, it seemed maddeningly ambitious, promising vibrant cities to explore across a colorful sci-fi galaxy – and all the space and ships in between you’d need to reach them. In a post-No Man’s Sky world it feels a little more feasible now, but with there being four years of radio silence and original director Michael Ancel now having departed the project, we’re starting to think this one’s dead, sadly.

The Sims 5

Okay, this one was maybe a bit of a long shot considering EA has just announced a new The Sims 4 expansion pack - and that developer Maxis was only in the pre-production phase in early 2020. But we were naively hoping that EA would give us an update on the next-generation of The Sims, which is confirmed to be in the works. It’s likely that it’ll be a few years before we get solid details on The Sims 5, but that doesn’t stop us being excited or from hoping it makes an appearance at the EA Play showcase on July 22. Though, we’re not holding our breath.

Final Fantasy 16

There was a lot of Final Fantasy during Square Enix’s E3 2021 showcase, from classic 2D remasters to ‘normcore’ spin-off Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin. We’d have loved to have seen more of mainline entry Final Fantasy 16, set to offer a return to the high-fantasy stylings of earlier Final Fantasy games. However, as it’s set to be a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5, this might be another game being held back for Sony’s own eventual post-E3 State of Play showcase.

Bayonetta 3

Platinum Games stylish beat ‘em up Bayonetta failed to show during E3, which means it’s been over three years since we last got an update. Nintendo hasn’t provided any new screenshots, trailers or even a general status check on the game, so who knows when we might see it again. 

Hollow Knight: Silksong

The follow up to the indie darling Hollow Knight, Team Cherry’s highly anticipated sequel didn’t feature during Nintendo’s E3 presentation, which was a slight surprise. The game is still without a release date, but if it’s anything like the original, we’re more than happy to wait until it’s good and ready. 

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 could be best described as vaporware at this point. Vaporware is a term used for games that have been announced, but are not available to buy, either because it’s still just a concept, or because it hasn’t been designed. Weirdly, Dead Island 2 was revealed back at E3 2014, but it’s been AWOL ever since. At this rate, your guess is as good as ours if Dead Island 2 will ever see the light of day. 

Deathloop

A curious one this – destined to be a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5, that’s despite the fact it’s from a studio now owned by Microsoft (Bethesda’s Arkane). As a result, with Sony skipping E3, there was no opportunity to to show the time-looping hitman caper (save the unlikely event of Bethesda showcasing a PS5 game during the Xbox event). Regardless, this one’s due to hit stores September 14, so it won’t be too long until we get our own mitts on it anyway.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Another oddity is Ghostwire: Tokyo, developed by Tango Gameworks. The studio is also part of Bethesda, but Ghostwire: Tokyo is coming to PS5 as a timed exclusive. The game is set to release sometime in October 2021, and sees Tokyo overrun with deadly supernatural forces.

As Dusk Falls

Interactive drama As Dusk Falls was revealed in July 2020, but it wasn’t present at this year’s E3. As Dusk Falls sees you explore the entangled lives of two families, and features a striking artstyle. The game is coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one. 

CrossfireX

The legendary PC franchise CrossfireX is coming to Xbox, but we didn’t see it at this year’s E3. The single-player campaign is being developed by Remedy Entertainment, the team behind Alan Wake and Control, and sees you take control of both the Global Risk and Black List mercenary factions in a series of action-packed stories told from both sides of the conflict. 

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

Studio MDHR’s upcoming DLC, Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, still doesn’t have a firm release date, and unfortunately it didn’t make an appearance during E3. And that’s a shame, because we can’t wait to play more of the classic-cartoon-inspired run and gun game. Oh well.

Scorn

Scorn, the weird, fleshy-looking game that’s inspired by the works of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński is still slated to release on Xbox Series X in 2021, but it was absent from Microsoft’s E3 presentation. We expect an update will be delivered in due course, but wouldn’t be too surprised if the game’s release date slipped into next year. 

WWE 2K22

The WWE Universe was left wanting at E3, as 2K Games didn’t show anymore of its upcoming wrestling game, WWE 2K22. We’ve still only seen a brief snippet of the game, which was shown during Wrestlemania 37, but hopefully more information will be shared soon.

Pokémon Legends Arceus

We were surprised that Pokémon Legends Arceus didn’t appear during Nintendo’s showcase, especially given that it’s releasing in January next year. While we already know a fair bit about Arceus, we were hoping that Nintendo would at least give us a new trailer for the upcoming Pokémon game or provide a deep-dive into some of its new features. We expect we’ll be waiting for another Nintendo Direct for these details.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Much like Pokémon Legends Arceus, we were expecting Nintendo to give us an update on the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes, which are set to release later this year. Alas, they were absent from Nintendo’s E3 Direct, meaning we’ll be waiting a little longer for solid details on just how Ninty looks to improve these classics.

Forspoken

With Square Enix hosting its own showcase during E3 2021, we expected Forspoken would make an appearance. Unfortunately, the action RPG was a no-show, so it’ll be a bit longer before we get details on this narrative-driven adventure. We’re expecting it could make an appearance at a future Sony games showcase.

New Call of Duty 2021

Was this the first E3 not to feature a spotlight on the latest Call of Duty game? We briefly learned about Season 4 for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone, but no details were shared about Call of Duty 2021, which is rumored to be called Call of Duty: Vanguard. The series is usually released in October, so we’re expecting to hear more about the next entry in Activision’s blockbuster franchise soon.

Forza Motorsport 

It makes sense that Forza Motorsport wasn’t shown after Forza Horizon 5 was revealed, but we now know the game will be targeting a 2022 release date. Developer Turn 10 Studios recently let players participate in testing the game, and there will be more opportunities for racing enthusiasts to try it out before it releases. 

Diablo Immortal and Diablo 4

With Blizzcon 2021 cancelled, there was an outside chance we’d see the upcoming Diablo duology make an appearance at E3. And while Diablo 2: Resurrected (the 4K remake of the seminal second game in the series) did pop up briefly at Xbox’s event, the other too were sorely absent. Diablo games have notoriously protracted development cycles (as do most things at developer Blizzard) so it may be some time till we get more info on Diablo 4. But with Diablo Immortal beta testing on phones, we’d actually expect a full release for that mobile spin off relatively soon.

Dragon Age 4 

Dragon Age fans who have been clamoring for news on Dragon Age 4 will likely have been disappointed by the game’s absence during E3 2021. But, it likely won’t be long until we get more details - and maybe even an official name - for the next Dragon Age, with EA hosting an EA Play showcase on July 22.

Little Devil Inside 

Considering supernatural action-adventure Little Devil Inside is slated to release in July this year, it’s a bit odd that it didn’t make an appearance at this year’s E3 - leading us to speculate that it could be delayed. Little Devil Inside is a timed-console exclusive for PS4 and PS5, so we expect it’ll make an appearance at a future Sony games showcase.

GTA 5 on PS5 and XSX

Rockstar’s GTA 5: Enhanced Edition is still without a release date, and the game didn’t make an appearance at E3. In fact, none of Rockstar’s titles did, so it wasn’t too much of a shock that GTA 5 was absent. Still, as the game is a port of a title that was released back in 2013, we’re not sure why it’s taking so long to come to PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

Grand Theft Auto 6 (not announced, but hoped for)

Another year goes by without a GTA 6 announcement - but in a way, that means we’re one year closer to getting some news on the next game in Rockstar’s legendary franchise. Little is known about the game at present, but there’s a slew of rumors that speculate on where the game might be set, and even if players will be rewarded cryptocash for completing missions.

Mario Kart 9 (not announced, but hoped for)

Even though Nintendo brought back many classic titles during its E3 presentation, the company is stubbornly refusing to announce Mario Kart 9. We usually get one Mario Kart game per console generation, but because Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was a port of the Wii U game, we feel rather cheated. Switch deserves its own standalone Mario Kart game, so hopefully Nintendo makes it happen soon.

More Zelda remasters (not announced, but hoped for)

We might be getting The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on July 16, but Nintendo didn’t reveal Switch ports of Wind Waker or Twilight Princess like many had hoped. Instead, it revealed its releasing a Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda console, which includes The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

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What are the most anticipated games of E3 2021? TechRadar teamed up with YouGov to ask 1,000 US adults exactly that, and the results might surprise you.

The most anticipated game of E3 2021 is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 on Nintendo Switch, which garnered 17% of the vote. Out of the 498 respondents who play games on consoles or PC, Breath of the Wild 2 was a clear favorite, with 32% choosing Link’s next adventure as their number one pick.

It’s unclear when Breath of the Wild 2 will be released, or whether it will launch alongside Nintendo’s widely-rumored Nintendo Switch Pro, but we’re hoping to find out more about the sequel to Breath of the Wild on June 15 when Nintendo hosts it’s E3 Direct presentation.

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In a close second with 12% of the vote is God of Ragnarok, a PS5 and PS4 exclusive that’s set to arrive sometime in 2022. God of War (2018) on PS4 remains one of the most beloved games of the generation, so it’s easy to see why the return of Kratos would excite fans.

Two first-person shooters take up the third spot, with 11% of all US adults choosing Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite as their picks for the most anticipated games of E3. When it comes to those who own a console or PC, though, Battlefield 2042 edged out Halo Infinite with 20% of the vote as opposed to 18%. Battlefield 2042 will feature 128 players for the first time on PS5, Xbox Series X and PC, while Halo Infinite promises free-to-play multiplayer with 120fps support. 

Surprisingly, FromSoftware’s next title, Elden Ring, didn’t fare too well with voters. Even though it was arguably the biggest reveal from the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live show, the open-world Soulsborne game finished dead last, with only 4% of all US adults choosing Elden Ring. You can view the full survey results below.

E3 2021 begins on June 12 and we should get more information about most of the games included in this survey, including Far Cry 6, Starfield and Dying Light 2. You can keep up with all the announcements on TechRadar, so stay tuned for more E3 coverage. 

What games are you looking forward to most at E3? Let us know on Twitter.

The data is from YouGov Direct and based on the interviews of 1,000 US adults including 498 US adults who say they play console games, PC games, or both. The survey was fielded online on June 10, 2021 between 2:49pm and 6:14pm EST. Results are weighted according to age, gender, region, political affiliation, and race. The margin of error on the full sample is 4.2%.

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Those hoping to get a closer look at Hogwarts Legacy, Gotham Knights or Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League at E3 2021 are going to be sorely disappointed, as Warner Bros. has confirmed that none of these titles will feature at the publisher's E3 conference.

A Warner Bros. spokesperson clarified to TechRadar that only Back 4 Blood will be shown during the Warner Bros. E3 2021 conference, which is due to take place on June 13 (at a currently unspecified time). The Summer Game Fest Twitter account has also confirmed that the presentation will only feature Back 4 Blood.

We already know we won't get getting our hands on Hogwarts Legacy, Suicide Squad or Gotham Knights in 2021, with all three titles set to release in 2022 following the delay of Hogwarts Legacy and Gotham Knights.

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But that's not to say we won't see them

While we know we won't be seeing these three titles during Warner Bros.' E3 2021 conference, that's not to say we won't see them at all during the game announcement season. 

It's possible that we may see these upcoming games appear during another E3 or Summer Game Fest event, such as the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live! showcase on June 10. While 2022 release dates are still a while away, we still haven't seen a whole lot about Suicide Squad or Hogwarts Legacy so a more in-depth trailer during Geoff Keighley's showcase would certainly go down a treat for Harry Potter and DC fans.

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Troy Leavitt, a former senior producer on the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy, has released a video explaining why he resigned from developer Avalanche Software. 

Leavitt's resignation from the developer was announced earlier this month on Twitter, amid backlash surrounding videos he had previously posted on his YouTube channel.

In a video titled, 'To My Friends at Avalanche', Leavitt said his decision to leave the project was to do with ongoing "family matters" which had taken a "sharp turn at the beginning of February". "I now see the situation as chronic and likely to be high maintenance into the foreseeable future," Leavitt added.

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Leavitt stated that while "the articles were a catalyst in this..." (referencing the coverage of his YouTube channel) that "they were not the cause" and that he decided, in light of these family matters, to "re-retire at the beginning of March".

In addition, sharing his resignation letter on the call, Leavitt wrote that he was leaving "with only the warmest of feelings towards both the Avalanche team and the WB organization".

Response to controversy

On February 20, Did You Know Gaming?'s Liam Robertson tweeted a link to Leavitt's personal YouTube channel, accusing him of having made "anti-fem and pro GG [GamerGate] vids".

"I want to make something clear here – I'm not trying to 'cancel' anyone," Robertson said in a follow-up post. "I just wanted to let people know this because I feel like it's something people might like to know before deciding whether to support this project. This is all public info and there for anyone to find."

Leavitt announced his resignation from Avalanche on March 5. "I have made the decision to part ways with Avalanche Software," Leavitt tweeted. "I have nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games."

• How to watch the Harry Potter movies in order
• Hogwarts Legacy is already too toxic for some gamers

The upcoming Harry Potter RPG, Hogwarts Legacy, has been getting lots of publicity lately. Unfortunately, it’s been bad publicity, such as this month’s resignation of lead designer Troy Leavitt after his YouTube channel became more widely known. In the channel, he expressed views that appeared to be pro-GamerGate, anti-feminist and supportive of men accused of sexual harassment.

It’s not the first PR problem for the game, and some gamers are now vowing to boycott Hogwarts Legacy altogether. The popular gaming forum, Resetera, has announced “a total ban on threads for promotional media for the game… no threads for trailers or official announcements, no hype threads, no fluff pieces about its features.” 

What does that mean for the game’s commercial prospects – and for the gamers who feel the long-awaited Harry Potter RPG has become too toxic to touch?

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Harry Potter and the Game of your Dreams

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Hogwarts Legacy was going to undo the often spotty reputation of Harry Potter games, which have often veered between flimsy film tie-ins and mobile cash grabs. Reviewing the iOS game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, the UK’s Guardian newspaper called it “a shameless shakedown… made borderline unplayable by its hyper-aggressive monetization”. That criticism has also been levied at other HP games, such as the Pokémon Go-esque Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which was described by Metro GameCentral as “depressing” because of its “constant desire to shake you down for cash”.

Given that background, the news that Avalanche was making a Harry Potter game was greeted in much the same way a drowning man greets a lifeboat. Avalanche Software is the former Disney studio that made the Disney Infinity series – pretty good credentials for a studio tasked with developing an open-world Harry Potter game and its sequels. 

The appeal of Hogwarts Legacy is simple: as an open-world RPG in which you play a Hogwarts student discovering magical abilities in the 1800s, it enables you to inhabit the Wizarding World in a much more immersive way than any previous game. While the reveals so far have been heavy on the cutscenes, what we’ve seen of the game looks great. 

The footage we’ve seen so far suggests that Hogwarts Legacy is going to be a beautiful-looking game with well-realized characters and surprisingly scary monsters. The game world is large, including not just the titular school for wizards but also the nearby Hogsmeade village and the Forbidden Forest, and because it’s an open-world adventure no two players will have identical experiences. You’ll be able to customize your character – more of that in a moment – and as you progress through the world you’ll choose allies and enemies and make choices that will irrevocably change your path. And of course, there’s magic to learn and unleash. 

Immersive, open-world games have huge appeal to any gamer, but they’re particularly resonant for LGBT+ gamers, for whom they can be safe spaces to escape to. But for some in this community, the Wizarding World doesn’t feel so safe anymore.

Harry Potter and the Unpopular Opinions

When developers do problematic things, the studio can fire them or pressure them to resign. But they can’t do that with the franchise author. 

JK Rowling has been increasingly vocal about her views on trans issues, which many see as insensitive at best and outright transphobic at worst, and those views have been criticized by many of the Harry Potter films’ actors as well as by Potter fans. Two fansites distanced themselves completely from the author, and Warner Bros has responded to the ongoing controversy by stating that Rowling is not “directly involved” in the game, although, of course, she benefits financially from it. 

With some fans vowing to boycott future Potter products, Hogwarts Legacy has become mired in controversy and some LGBT+ gamers – myself included – wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.

Can Hogwarts Legacy win us back?

Harry Potter and the Multiple Revenue Streams

The latest headlines around Hogwarts Legacy follow reports that the development team is working to make the game more inclusive. Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the unnamed insiders said that players will be able to “customize their characters' voice, body type, and gender placement for the school dormitories”.

Trans and non-binary people haven’t exactly greeted the announcement with joy, and that’s partly because we’ve been here before. Cyberpunk 2077 had a similar approach with a much more adult focus, but it didn’t do it particularly well: characters gendered you according to your voice, and the in-game trans representation was often as bad as the social media marketing. The character creator also had what seemed to be a very giggling-schoolboy approach to body modification, enabling you to give yourself bigger nipples or style your pubic hair, but not change your body shape. 

The Hogwarts character creator promises to be better (and not R-rated), but your placement in school still depends on picking between the binary option of witch or wizard – even though wizard is a gender-neutral word that encompasses witches as well as warlocks. That’s because Hogwarts Legacy has not been made with trans or non-binary people in mind. The trans options in the character creator appear to have been retrofitted in much the same way Dumbledore was revealed to be gay without his sexuality ever being mentioned in the books or films. In that context, the character creator feels rather like ‘Rainbow-Washing’: sticking a rainbow flag on something as a marketing stunt, or as PR damage control.

And there’s another lesson we’ve learned from Cyberpunk 2077. What the developers promise journalists isn’t necessarily what ends up in the game you play. There’s no guarantee that the promised options will make the final cut.

Even if trans character creation does make it into the game, it’s hardly a great leap forward: when games such as Borderlands 3 enable us to play as sentient, wisecracking dustbins or non-binary robots, asking games to reflect the diversity of actual human beings shouldn’t be too much to ask. Perhaps instead of praising Avalanche for possibly including a more diverse character creator, we should be asking why it isn’t the norm. 

Harry Potter and the Tarnished Legacy

Is Hogwarts Legacy a game we still want to play? That very much depends on which “we” you’re talking about. 

While some Harry Potter fans are wary – Felicia Grady of fansite MuggleNet told Bloomberg that “based on what I’ve seen from fans, I do believe that Rowling’s comments have had some effect on the level of excitement [those fans] have… we’ve seen comments from fans who no longer wish to support Rowling or the brand financially” – not everybody thinks about or even cares about these things. When a fan is happily browsing the HP merch in a fast-fashion retailer, they don’t usually ask whether it may have been stitched together by child labor in a sweatshop in Asia. 

This isn’t just a Harry Potter thing. How many of us research the devs of the latest triple-A title to check that they haven’t been accused of awful things? How many of us can even name the big studios implicated in #metoo controversies in recent years, or the ones whose deadline crunches mean their staff are treated terribly? With or without controversy, Hogwarts Legacy will still sell.

I think some trans gamers will play it too. Maybe they can separate the art from its creator, or maybe some of them will wait for the game to become available on Xbox Game Pass so they’re not directly paying for it; maybe some will buy it outright because they want to reward the developers who haven’t been railing against SJWs on YouTube. And that’s absolutely fine. I’m not demanding that the game be canceled or that anybody boycott it, and neither are any of the trans or non-binary people I know. 

But I hope people who aren’t trans or non-binary can understand why some of us won’t play it, no matter how many tweaks Avalanche makes to try and make it more inclusive. In the middle of a small-c conservative backlash against trans people, and unprecedented legal attacks on our rights and healthcare in the US and UK, I can’t separate The Boy Who Lived from the woman whose initials appear as a hashtag in the bios of some of the most hateful people on social media, the woman whose blog is quoted approvingly by some of the same kind of right-wing politicians who used to demand that her books be burned. 

So for this gamer, trans woman and parent of two young gamers who used to love the Potter books, it’s a hard “nope” to Hogwarts Legacy: it’s as welcome in my home as I would be in JK Rowling’s. There are other open-world games I’d rather play, games I can play with a clear conscience, games that offer escapism from a world that feels pretty awful for many trans people right now. It’ll take more than a rejigged character creator to change that.

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Hogwarts Legacy will feature a transgender-inclusive character creator, according to a new report.

Sources "familiar with the game's development" told Bloomberg that the upcoming Harry Potter RPG will allow players to customize their character's body type, voice and gender placement for school dormitories.

According to these sources, players will be allowed to choose either a masculine or feminine voice, regardless of their character's body type, and will get to choose whether they want to be a 'witch' or a 'wizard', with the latter choice placing them in the applicable dormitory and affecting how other characters address them.

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A more inclusive wizarding world

Bloomberg reports that this inclusion was a push by some members of the Hogwarts Legacy development team, following controversial comments made by J.K. Rowling, the creator of the series, around transgender subjects.

"As a result, some members of the Hogwarts Legacy development team have fought to make the game as inclusive as possible, pushing for the character customization and even for a transgender character to be added," the report says. "There was resistance from management at first, the people familiar with the project said, but currently the character customization is included in the game."

Harry Potter Legacy is an open-world adventure game set in the Harry Potter universe – specifically, at the beloved wizarding school of Hogwarts in the 1800s. 

Initially, due to release in 2021, Hogwarts Legacy has been delayed to 2022, with developer Avalanche Software saying the game needed more time to be ready for release.

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One of 2021's biggest game releases, Hogwarts Legacy, has been delayed by a year. We had expected the open-world Harry Potter RPG to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and PC before 2021 was out, but it now seems that the title will need a bit more time before the doors of Hogwarts can open.

Avalanche Software and Portkey Games, the developers of Hogwarts Legacy, said they would require more time to create the "best possible experience" for the game, which is set at the famed wizarding school (sorry, Durmstrang) in the 1800s, over a century before Harry Potter or his coterie of foes and allies even enter the picture.

“We would like to thank fans from around the world on the tremendous reaction to the announcement of Hogwarts Legacy from our Portkey Games label,” the game's creators said, in a prepared statement on Twitter. “Creating the best possible experience for all of the Wizarding World and gaming fans is paramount to us so we are giving the game the time it needs. Hogwarts Legacy will be released in 2022.”

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You're delayed, Harry

Hogwarts Legacy is being developed by Avalanche Software, the team behind Disney Infinity (not by Avalanche Studios, which is behind the Just Cause franchise, and would likely make a very different game). The game is being published under the Portkey Games label, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and named after the franchise's magical teleporting 'portkeys'.

The game was first revealed in 2020, during the same PlayStation 5 event that saw Sony confirm the price and release date of its PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition consoles. The delay certainly pushes off one of the more anticipated titles of this year, though PS5 players in particular will have Horizon Forbidden West and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart still to keep them busy.

Rumors of a Harry Potter RPG (originally expected to be called 'Harry Potter: Magic Awakened') first emerged back in 2018, when Redditor VapeThis Bro leaked footage of the game, claiming he was shown it as part of market research. Although the footage was quickly removed by Warner Bros, it was up long enough for fans to identify Hogwarts, various creatures and a character creator (via Eurogamer).

You can watch the game's trailer below:

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Yer a wizard, PS5 fans – or at least you soon will be. At the PlayStation 5 event, Sony showcased Hogwarts Legacy, a new adventure title set in Harry Potter’s wizarding world.

Long-rumored and developed by Avalanche Software (the team behind the Disney Infinity games, NOT the Avalanche Studios behind the Mad Max and Just Cause games), it’s set in the 1800s, and seemingly gives you a living breathing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to play in.

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From trolls to magical creatures, the Great Hall to dragons and your robe-swishing classmates, it seems to touch on all the key Harry Potter pillars. And, by placing it significantly into the past, it can exist without rubbing up against the established Potter storylines, letting it do whatever it wants in that potential-filled world. 

However, that does also mean that, without some time-turning magic, you’re unlikely to encounter fan favorite characters like Hagrid or Dumbledore.

In terms of gameplay, there seems to be hints of RPG and action adventure in there – large open world spaces like Hogwarts can be explored, as well as cavernous underground areas with large monstrous enemies. You can seemingly create your own wizard avatar, too, letting you fulfil your personal Hogwarts dream.

No release date was announced along with the trailer, nor other platforms (this being a trailer from a PlayStation event, that’s to be expected). Though we’d be surprised if a massive franchise like this doesn’t make its way to Xbox Series X, too.

For now, you can watch the trailer below:

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