Summary
Hogwarts Legacycan afford to up its game in a lot of areas where it chose to be ambitious. Its companion system is in dire need of an overhaul for the sequel in particular and could be far more favorable by considering popular features from other action-RPGs and sims.Hogwarts Legacylaid the foundation for a sequel to take this concept and run with it, but Avalanche will have to also decide whether it wants to keep companion options open to multiple charactersacross every Hogwarts houseor keep companionships within the player’s own house for the sake ofHarry Potternostalgia.
Because so few wizarding world stories come from the perspective of somebody other than Harry Potter it can be difficult to cleave away from the biases and lenses thatHarry Potterinstilled into the overarching lore.Hogwarts Legacyhelped to dissociate from that by spreading companions across each house, but it still perpetuated reductive stereotypes. Players didn’t have one or two inseparable companions from their own house and instead had four acquaintances from different houses, andHogwarts Legacymight discover better mileage and longevity in the former approach.
Hogwarts Legacy 2’s Companions Have a Difficult Balance to Strike
Hogwarts Legacy’s Companions Gave a Nice Breadth of Hogwarts Houses
Instead of students only befriending other students from their house,Hogwarts Legacyallowed players to have a ‘companion’relationship with characters from each house. This is unprecedented in the IP since Harry only ever had Ron and Hermione as reliable companions.
It’s not as if Harry didn’t speak to students from other houses, but he never had a sense of companionship the same way with anyone from Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw until he became intimately involved with Ravenclaw’s Cho Chang. Still, that relationship was largely upheld by infatuation, not friendship, and it’s unclearifHogwarts Legacy’s sequel will make the leap to romantic companionships at Hogwarts.
Harry’s non-Gryffindor acquaintances grow in number upon the inception of Dumbledore’s Army, but again Ron and Hermione are the constant variable throughout the entireHarry Potterfranchise and support the idea that Gryffindor is where he meets most of his friends at school.Hogwarts Legacydiversifying the player’s companions into unique housesdidn’t impact the narrative much, though it was neat that players would meet certain companions early if they were in the same house as them.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Could Restrict Companions to the Player’s Chosen House
Taking away that diversity now would be a detriment if players interacted with fewer students from other houses, but restricting companions to the player’s house would make subsequent playthroughs much more rewarding since it would take a new playthrough and a new house selection for players to ever interact with some characters and experience their quests.
It makes sense that players would interact with students from their house more since they share the same living quarters and bedchambers, congregating often and enjoying leisurely time together in their respective common rooms.Ron and Hermionehad the added advantage of meeting Harry before he was ever enrolled in Gryffindor, thus influencing his desire to be sorted into the same house as them, and the same situation could occur with players arriving at Hogwarts depending on what school year Avalanche wants its next protagonist to debut in.
Plus, Avalanche would need to ensure that the quality of companions and quests in each house was excellent. If players were stuck withRavenclaw’s Amit Thakkar as a companion inHogwarts Legacy, for example, that would have been horribly underwhelming compared to what players could experience in any other house.
Hogwarts Legacy
WHERE TO PLAY
Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive, open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books. For the first time, experience Hogwarts in the 1800s. Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart. Now you can take control of the action and be at the center of your own adventure in the wizarding world. Your legacy is what you make of it.Explore an Open WorldThe wizarding world awaits you. Freely roam Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area.Be the Witch or Wizard You Want to beLearn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts along your journey. Get sorted into your house, forge relationships, and master skills to become the witch or wizard you want to be Experience a New Wizarding World AdventureExperience the wizarding world in an unexplored era to uncover a hidden truth from its past. Battle against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and more as you face a dangerous villain threatening the fate of the wizarding world.
