Hogwarts Legacy

Steam Reviews

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• Recommended Posted August 19, 2025 on Steam Right, as a lifelong gamer and newbie game developer, this is my first review ever. I felt compelled to write this, not because it's a good or bad game, but because my feelings are so mixed. I first bought this game on Xbox and I played it all the way through. I've completed all of the story lines, side quests and challenges. If you're playing this game on a console or the PC version without mods, let me just say this: the highs are highs and the lows are lows. Experiencing Hogwarts for the first time on this game truly has you in awe. The problem is that towards the second half of the game, you barely spend any time there. To that end, the map is way bigger than I think anyone anticipated. For people who really love to explore, this is something that you'd enjoy. Personally though, I would've enjoyed having a smaller map with a few big cities as opposed to just Hogsmead. Some of the towns, though they are unique in nature, start to feel a bit copy and pasted with how equally small they all are. Other than that - the quest lines, graphics and mechanics are overall nothing short of awesome. HOWEVER, the game play itself starts to fall off right around the time you begin to learn unforgivable curses. I found that even on hard mode, enemies were still too easy to defeat. I personally dislike the fact that "dark wizards" don't use unforgivable curses against you. I also dislike that if you do use an unforgivable curse or respond negatively to quests, there's no negative impact or outcome. It's almost kind of like, aside from a cool lock screen animation, what's the point in even using these curses? This is where mods come in. The problem is that you can only use mods on PC; but thankfully, the game does have a built-in mod manager for PC players. It should also be noted that it's relatively easy to request custom mods from creators because they've made the Hogwarts Legacy Creator Kit in Unreal Engine completely free for anyone to download and use; and as a developer myself, that alone speaks volume about how much the developers want this community to have the experience they desire. But to answer the overarching question of "do you recommend this game," my answer is yes and no. If you are a potterhead like I am and are considering buying it on the console, then you'll enjoy it through and through. If you are not though, you're likely to lose interest half-way through; but if you are able to run this on a PC, I ***highly*** recommend doing so with mods that fix the aforementioned issues. Below is my recommendation for mods and why you'd want them based on your gameplay style: [olist] [*] Enhanced NPC Schedule is simply a MUST for everyone. It populates Hogwarts with more students that run on a much better in-game schedule that is aligned with classes. So for example, if a class ends, you can see a visible group of students that look like they just got out of class. This is in opposition to just seeing random NPCs in random places. My guess is the reason why this wasn't a thing on the original game is due to limitations on console performance capabilities; because more NPCs, the higher requirement for processing power. But I mean if you have a desktop in general, this won't be an issue. I just think they kept the requirements as minimal as possible so that it made it more accessible to a bigger player base. [*] Azkaban, Enemies Enhanced, and Enemies Balance are going to be fantastic for those who enjoy a challenging PVP style like I do. Spells enhanced is an honorable mention here, too. [list] [*] The Azkaban mod works similar to GTA in the sense of if you do something bad (e.g., use an unforgivable curse in front of a good witch or wizard), you get reported and the authorities chase after you. In this case, aurors spawn all around you and you have to fight your way out. If you get caught, the mod will provide you with options: go to Azkaban where you can attempt to fight your way out, or you can skip that and still respawn from the last check point. [*] The Enemies Enhanced allows enemies to also use unforgivable curses; and yes that includes the killing curse, so there's a very real possibility that you can be one-shot by a dark witch or wizard. [*] The Enemies Balanced mod makes so the enemy NPCs scale better in terms of gameplay difficulty. If this is your first time playing this game, I would hold off on enabling that until you've found your groove. [*] Spells Enhanced is a mod that provides you with custom spells. Personally, if it were my first time playing this game, I wouldn't enable this mod until at least the second half of the game. The reason why is because some of those spells are immediately available to you, which makes a lot of the quests easier to complete because you have more spells than you're supposed to. It could also make learning the basic mechanics of the game a tad more confusing than it needs to be. [/list] [*] Auto-season, Hogwarts Express Train Plus, House Points, Sleep Mod are strongly recommended for players who desire an immersive experience, with the Curfew mod being an honorable mention. [list] [*] The game doesn't cycle through seasons (e.g., winter, fall, spring, summer) on it's own. It only changes after completing a major quest-line. The auto-season mod makes it so it naturally changes with the in-game clock. The Hogwarts Express train is also pretty rare to see in the original game, but the Hogwarts Express Train Plus mod makes it run on a more frequent schedule. I personally don't know why either of these weren't already a thing, but I don't have to understand I suppose. [*] The house point mod is pretty much what you'd expect it to be, it allows for the player to collect house points to win the house cup at the end of each season (so it pairs very well with the auto-season mod). If you complete the weekly quests assigned to you, you gain points. If you respond kindly to relationship (side) quests that take place with other students, you gain points. If you respond negatively to to a student, you lose points (ah finally, a consequence for your actions). [*] The sleep mod doesn't necessarily require you to sleep at night, but it does make it difficult for you to play the game if you don't. For example, if you don't sleep, you can't sprint. The reason why I like both the house point and sleep mod is because it gives you a reason to continuously go back to Hogwarts on a regular schedule in the second half of the game, in opposition to you're just a random student roaming around in the woods for however long doing whatever; but if that's your preference of game-play, then I'd just suggest only sticking with the auto-season mod. [*] The curfew mod is an honorable mention because you don't really need it per-say if you have the sleep mod since it basically forces you to sleep at night anyways, BUT the curfew mod itself does make it so if a prefect or professor catches you out of bed at night on school grounds, you'll be sent back to your dormitory with a consequence of paying an in-game fee. The mod does have it's own hotkey menu that can be used to disable it in-game; so if anything it's worth downloading, even if you end up disabling it later. [/list] [*] For those who enjoy sandbox building gameplays, get these: [list] [*] Bigger Vivarium - increases creature capacity [*] Rescue Animals - rescue non-magical creatures [*] Unlock All Conjurations - unlocks all build items [*] Remove Conjure Budget - removes moonstones as a budget requirement [*] Conjuration Everywhere - allows room of requirement item conjuration [*] Remove Conjure Placement Restrictions - allows for items to be stacked on one another, similar to a bb.moveobjects on The Sims. [/list] [/olist] Honorable mentions: Floo Companions, Emote with Any NPC, Character Editor, Cheat Plus, Alohormora Autosolve and Instant Silent Bigger Revelio.
• Recommended Posted September 14, 2025 on Steam The biggest problem with Hogwarts Legacy is that after the initial excitement, the game quickly becomes repetitive and empty. [b]Wasted Potential of Hogwarts: [/b] The castle is gorgeous, but underused. You only spend a few hours inside, classes and professors have only few cutscenes, and there are only three puzzles throughout the entire school. For a game set in Hogwarts,this is wasted potential. [b]Repetitive Filler Everywhere:[/b] The open world is stuffed with Merlin Trials (95 of them), bandit camps, and countless caves that all look the same. The loot is almost always useless, and minigames that could’ve been fun just repeat endlessly. What starts as discovery turns into chores. [b]Combat Without Variety:[/b] You’re stuck fighting the same four enemy types (goblins, trolls, spiders, and humans) on repeat. Spells should open up creative strategies, but in reality, the system pushes you toward spamming the same few effective combos. Shields force you into matching colors instead of experimenting. Enemies never actually catch you off guard, and boss fights are just damage sponges with recycled mechanics. The game makes you feel powerful, sure, but not in a satisfying or tactical way more like a button-masher. [b]Story and Choices Don’t Matter:[/b] The main story can be summed up in five minutes: you’re the chosen one, and that’s it. Side quests are more interesting than the main quest, but none of your choices matter. Learn unforgivable curses or not nobody cares. House reputation? Doesn’t exist. Freedom is an illusion, because the world never reacts to you. I had fun but i would recommend buying it only in sale [h2] 6/10 [/h2] Even if I just hate it, I genuinely had fun during the first 20 hours. I was running home from work to play it. But after the 20-hour mark, you start to see all the bad parts, and they keep layering on.
• Recommended Posted September 30, 2025 on Steam "Do not pity the game, Harry. Pity the players, and above all, those who play without mods" Jokes aside, the base game has some pretty tedious mechanics that may ruin your experience, but these can be fixed with the right mods. Which can be easily enabled through the in-game menus. Overall, a solid game. Props to the developers for showing so much support to its modding community. Recommended mods: * Instant Revelio * Instant/Skip Alohomora * Auto loot
• Recommended Posted August 24, 2025 on Steam Hogwarts Legacy is a dream come true for Harry Potter fans. Exploring the castle, flying a broom, and learning spells feels magical. The attention to detail in Hogwarts and the open world is breathtaking.
• Not recommended Posted July 1, 2025 on Steam I had played Hogwarts Legacy in June 2024 and liked it. When I came back in 2025 to see if it would play better on my new system, I found one of the most intrusive and tyrannical license agreements I had ever seen. They stated (i) that they could delete the product if they wanted and there was nothing I could do about it. (ii) They stated that they planned to sell my information and if I wanted them not to, I had to provide my email address (as if!). (iii) Every mod I installed was broken and I could only use their 'approved mods'. I decided that I would rather not play the game ever again than sign their agreement. I HATE WARNER BROTHERS AND I WILL NEVER BUY ONE OF THEIR GAMES AGAIN.
• Recommended Posted September 29, 2025 on Steam Hogwarts Legacy ⭐ 6.5/10 — “Avada Kedavras" Game promised me “living wizarding world”. What I got: ✨window shopping with NPC shadow clones✨. Castle and surroundings looks dope 🏰, stairs spin, portraits talk... and then you notice there is like 20 NPC total in a game, all of them copy-paste, walking in couples, saying 3 lines on repeat from time to time, and spin like fidget spiner when stuck. Sometimes they straight-up pull Naruto substitution jutsu and turn into tree logs. Quests? Hogwarts uber eats edition 🚴: “find my spit-rocks” “bring my flying boogers” "Fly on a broom" "Find me 15 leaves" Dont forget to do 1373 merlin and boulder fun quests. Meanwhile I spam Avada Kedavra ☠️ and crucio on every goat 🐐 i see and the game still gives me the unicorn and flowers happy ending 🦄🥀👏. Well... thanks, I guess? Combat is flashy with special effects and some variations, but it’s basically pressing 1-2-3-4 –> f2 1-2-3-4 -> f3... and so on until you get arthritis. Enemies politely wait to die on a same place. Soulslike for toddlers. Choices? Nonexistent and not impactful on your game. Still game trying to be off rails game... with empty fields. Saint or psycho you play, everyone still calls me “promising, great young wizard” 🤡. Verdict: Beautiful storefront 🛍️, full of mannequins, great for screenshots and the feeling of magic… but if you actually play, it’s more “magical IKEA” than Hogwarts with life in it. Ps. Revelio... Revelio... Revelio... Revelio... Revelio... UPDATE I feel like i need to make an update. Game is not bad. It’s kinda fun, it’s shiny, it’s magical enough. That’s why it’s thumbs up. But let’s be honest, it’s shallow AF. The issues aren’t graphics or combat. The problem is the soul that’s missing. 👾 Big villain? Some random super goblin warlord who never existed in HP lore and no one care about it. Forced drama just so you can spam Crucio without guilt. 🧙 Main character? Have Plot armor so thick that Voldemort would cry. No choice matters, no consequence exists. You’re either Saint or Psycho, and as i said before everyone still calls you “promising young wizard” 🤡. 🧟 NPCs? Copy-paste mannequins on a lazy loop. Literraly, here is one of examples of spinner https://i.imgur.com/lTneT9w.mp4 They don’t talk to each other, don’t react to you, don’t react to world, dont interact with anything, they just background noise, not characters. Portraits are more alive in the castle walls. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Companions? Wooden, boring and annoying as IKEA shelves. I was more interested in why Black = worst headmaster ever Weasley = McGonagall DLC with some family values Garlick = lovable and just adorable. Hecat = missed chance to learn about unspeakable or dragon corpse Etc. etc. 🪄 Goblin vs wizard culture? Barely touched. We could find out why wizards dont allow goblins to play with their hard long wands if you know what am i talking about 😏 but instead it’s a side note nobody cares about. 📚 School life? Nonexistent. You don’t attend a single class except where you get a spell. Everyone’s chill with you running into Forbidden Forest at midnight, murdering trolls, murderers and giant spiders like it’s a weekend hobby. We could get a centaurs storyline but we got snidgets, oh wait snidgets died any way, because they are no where near in wizard world later on. ☠️ Dark arts? You cast Avada Kedavra in the middle of town. NPCs: “oh no! Dont do it promising young wizard” … then 5 seconds later: “wanna buy some butterbeer?” 🧩 And Merlin… freaking Merlins beard🧙🏻‍♂️ Legendary wizard, name dropped in every book. What do we get? 1373 puzzles that stay untouched for a millennium, apparently because no one ever thought of pushing a stone onto a pedestal and waiting for you to spam Revelio again. Bonus prize: Death’s invisibility cloak magically handed to you, even though canon says it belongs only to Peverells. Sure, why not. (May be I'm missing something here) So yeah, Hogwarts Legacy looks magical, screenshots look dope especially "special" toilet cabins🏰✨ (check my screenshots). But if you scratch the surface, it’s less “living wizarding world” and more “Disneyland with mannequins”. And Verdict (again): Fun game, but not timeless. A weekend trip to catch beasts and breed them (yeah, Scamander’s book from HP 1), lumos that grumpy portrait who wants to sleep… but don’t expect real wizard life. More “Revelio Simulator 2023” than Harry Potter RPG. 👁️⚡👁️