For a first outing in the Wizarding World, Avalanche Software did a surprisingly great job withHogwarts Legacy. Though it wasn’t perfect,Hogwarts Legacydid manage to capture that elusive nostalgic and magical feeling ofexploring Hogwarts Castlefor oneself, with plenty of Easter eggs, references, and reward for the player to discover along their journey in the grounds. Along with the castle itself,Hogwarts Legacyalso manages to evoke nostalgic feelings through its overall presentation, using iconic music cues, dazzling visuals, and otherworldly audio design. ButHogwarts Legacydidn’t offer everything that fans wanted.
While it certainly got the groundwork right,Hogwarts Legacyfailed to deliver upon several fan requests, and though their absence definitely doesn’t ruin the experience, it does leave some room for improvement for future DLCs or sequels. These fan requests mainly revolve around missing spells, creatures, and locations. There’s one half-baked quest inHogwarts Legacythat points to a larger absence of all three of these features that will hopefully be fixed in the near future.
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Hogwarts Legacy’s Azkaban Quest Should Be a Tease of Things to Come
BeforeHogwarts Legacy’s release, many fans expressed their desire to be able to explore Azkaban prison in the open-world adventure game. With fans just getting a couple glimpses of the prison during theHarry Pottermovie series, it’s still quite a mysterious location for the franchise, and naturally, one that fans would want to explore in a big AAA Wizarding World game.
Fans sort of got their wish. InHogwarts Legacy, each of the school’s four houses,Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, get their own exclusive mission. These missions are completely unique to each house, encouraging repeat playthroughs. While Gryffindor players join the Headless Hunt, Slytherin players explore a hidden cavern underneath the Black Lake, and Ravenclaw players get a secret task from Ollivander, Hufflepuff players arguably get the most exciting quest, which takes them to Azkaban prison.
After saving a woman near the Black Lake,Hogwarts Legacy’s Hufflepuff playersare tasked with speaking to the portrait of Eldritch Diggory in the Hufflepuff common room. The portrait tells players to seek out an ex-Auror named Helen Thistlewood, and together, they apparate inside of Azkaban prison. The duo are immediately ambushed by Dementors, but Helen quickly wards them off with a Patronus charm. After speaking with a dangerous inmate, the two then return to Hogwarts' grounds, and the quest is over almost as quickly as it started.
WhileHogwarts Legacy’s Azkaban questis an exciting one, it’s also one that gives the player very little agency. All players do while in Azkaban is follow Helen, and talk with an inmate. Players never get to explore the haunting prison for themselves, or use Expecto Patronum on any Dementors. Players are also unable to return to Azkaban after this quest, and its position as a house-exclusive quest means that anyone who didn’t choose Hufflepuff – which is quite a good portion of the player-base – won’t have gotten to experience Azkaban for themselves.
Hopefully, thisHogwarts LegacyAzkaban quest is only a tease of what’s to come in the future. With a clear visual design in place, Dementor character models having been made, and Expecto Patronum being present, this mission could have laid the groundwork for another Azkaban appearance either inHogwarts LegacyDLC, or a sequel. With so much ofHogwarts Legacymaintaining the series' more whimsical, magical tone, it would be great to see more horror vibes inHogwarts Legacy’s future, and having a fully-explorable Azkaban is a great way to achieve that.
Hogwarts Legacyis out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Nintendo Switch port dropping on November 14.
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