Alright, I've sunk a good 13-ish hours in now, which I put in for the most part in one sitting with minor breaks. Hands down it will be a GOTY contender. From a studio whose biggest game prior to this was Cars 3: The Video Game they've instantly punched up into the big block buster games like God Of War and Red Dead.
The game instantly captures the imagination that the Wizarding World can offer. Especially when it is completely free of Rowling on the creative input. For both people who like the franchise and those who are unfamiliar or not into it there is just at the heart of this an amazing game that stands on its own Merits. From amazing exploration, puzzles, collectables in the world space to an easy to pick up but challenging combat system on Hard Difficulty that is both enjoyable to play and fun visually there is a lot to do and it respects your time with those activities.
While disappointing things like quidditch or other various magical minigames mentioned in other Wizarding World media are lacking but they've taken that dev time and put it in the core. The opening of the game was instantly gripping, if it doesn't hook you by the time you get sorted into your house after a 30 - 45 minute opening then it's probably safe to just refund. But for me as I reached the castle I couldn't help but have a childish grin on my face and could not stop playing.
Hogwarts itself is a masterful set piece with stuff in every nook, cranny, nonsensical halls and corners. From puzzles, to collectables, to just strange sights and then there is the world around Hogwarts. You are free to explore the surrounding countryside, first on foot and eventually on a broom or flying magical creature. I have had to just stop numerous times to just soak in the incredibly immersive and beautiful environment.
I, at about 12 hours just unlocked my talent tree to put into perspective on how massive the game is and I left it off before getting a broom. I haven't even gotten the Room Of Requirement yet which will feature an entire homestead gameplay to decorate, farm, tend to magical beasts, and all the other stardew-esuqe type elements it adds on.
On top of stellar gameplay this is a
gorgeous game. On my 3090/i9E I get about 30 FPS on max ultra settings with raytracing on ultra and AI Upscaling enabled. I could probably turn down the raytracing to get better performance but it has been playable so far. The only technical issues I've encountered is the very rare graphical glitch like an object stuck in my characters hand during a cutscene for a brief moment, or the very rare freeze frame also during a cutscene. Otherwise no bugs have stood out to me.
Story wise I feel like I'm nearing the conclusion of about act 1, and so far I've found the narrative to be compelling with the mystery it has offered. I can see this being the first in a trilogy. Starting late in your magical education for reasons left ambiguous but you can presume you took longer then most to gain your magical abilities and you abilities only a select few have ever had. You have begun as a 5th Year student and I don't see this game going past a single school year. I can see a story being told over your 5th, 6th, and 7th year at Hogwarts. each being their own perspective game.
Some criticisms or things I'd like to see improved in the future is the student body. There are little things that they do but it's all mostly for show. A student walking around with a rain cloud above his head, peeves the poltergeist harassing people. But overall not much dynamic stuff happens and I've already begun to see repeats of these little situations. I would love to see an implementation of the Nemesis system from the Shadow Of franchise. WB has this amazing system for storytelling that they copyrighted so nobody else can use it and they NEVER USE IT.
Imagine if there was a Friends & Rivals system like the Orcs from Shadow Of Mordor/War. Things happen to students that you can help them out or you can punk on them, or they randomly punk on you and they then get a name, traits, ect and can become friends, rivals, in-betweens. You'll just be walking around the castle with some random student you've had beef with jumps you into a duel but then a friend you made comes out and join in to help you ect ect. An increase on the "school sim" element is all this game really is missing.
Classes are for the most part just cutscenes and then a little minigame lesson to gain a new skill. Which is perfectly fine as the focus is ultimately on the stuff in between classes. But just something I personally would like to see more of is developing the actual school sim elements. It would help avoid what can be called the "Spiderman Problem" New York in Spiderman PS4 was amazing, but making that interesting for sequels is probably a touch challenge. Hogwarts I reckon will be the same, it's amazing for the first time but when will that wear off? adding dynamic encounters is a good way to mitigate that.
Overall I am currently ranking it a solid nine out of ten. An amazing first outing for this studio whose never done something like this before, but still room to improve. . franchise aside it is just an outstanding and masterfully made game that deserves to succeed. The developers clearly put a ton of passion into this product .I fully understand those who do not want to play this game for JoRow's attachment however I think this game is a perfect testimony that this franchise can grow beyond its creator, and be inclusive for everyone to enjoy.
