With the Hogwarts Legacy UK release date in early 2023 (full details below), here’s everything you need to know about the story, gameplay and age rating certificate. It’s time to dust off your wand and cape and get set for a return to the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
It’s been a long time since we had a Wizarding World game to get excited about, which is why it was one of the most anticipated games of 2023. The Game Awards title eventually went to The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, but Hogwarts Legacy had a lot of hype behind it for the release.
Plot
AdvertisementThe plot sees you taking on the role of a student that joins Hogwarts as a fifth year, so you’ll be 15 year of age. As you’re starting late, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do with the other pupils having years of teaching already. You’ve also got a mysterious ability to track and control ancient magic. It’s a very rare skill, so your progress gets a lot of attention from the teachers at Hogwarts.
If you’re wondering when the game is set and how it fits in with the story of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, it’s a whole lot earlier than you might expect. The game takes players back to the 1800s as a Goblin uprising is about to come to a head. To leverage the upheaval, dark wizards are fueling the conflict, which adds another layer to the challenge.
Gameplay
Hogwarts Legacy is an open world 3rd person action adventure game set in the school made famous by the Harry Potter books and films. In addition to the school itself, you’ll also get to explore the grounds and the surrounding countryside and villages, including Hogsmeade. It’ll give you access to places that will conjure up the magic and mystery of the Harry Potter stories.
As mentioned above, the game sees you joining Hogwarts as a 5th year student and you’ll be able to customise their features before you start your adventure. You’ll then need to attend classes to learn as much as you can to catch up with the rest of the pupils. There’s also a lot of exploration to do. This will lead to discoveries about your powers, the Goblin uprising and the dark witches and wizards that are working against you.
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You’ll be able to learn a lot of the famous spells to duel it out with your wand whenever you find yourself in danger against wild magical beasts, dark forces or Goblin foes. You’ll also learn an abundance of potions to help you along the way. These will range from health and protection to buffs to help you take down your enemies even quicker.
If that isn’t enough, you’ll also be able to fly on a broom or magical creature to get around quicker. There won’t be any Quidditch matches, but you’ll be able to fly around on your broom as you make your way through the main story, side quests and puzzles. This will provide a lot of secrets in Hogwarts Legacy, so there’s plenty crammed under the hood.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to see more on the latest video games releases, and you can see more on the game with the official Twitter page at https://twitter.com/HogwartsLegacy.
Hogwarts Legacy UK release date
When the deep dive video arrived in spring 2022, the Hogwarts Legacy UK release date was initially scheduled for Holiday 2022, but it went on to be put back until the 10th February 2023. The latter was confirmed on the Twitter page linked above with reference to providing enough time to get the game 100% ready to meet fans’ expectations.
AdvertisementHowever, it has now been confirmed that the release will just be for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It was initially planned to be the same date for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, but this was then put back to the 4th April 2023, before settling on the 5th May 2023.
It’s even later for Switch gamers, but at least we have a release date finally to aim for. Hogwarts Legacy will come out for the Nintendo console on the 25th July 2023. Prior to the recent confirmation, the latest details referred to it being soon, but it turns out to be a fairly chunky 5 and a half month wait.
As things stand, it looks like the Nintendo Switch version of the game will be a straight release. There’s no mention of it being cloud-based, so it’s possible the delay is to give developers Avalanche Studios enough time to get the port right for the less powerful consoles.
We’ll keep you posted here at Tuppence as more details come out. Open world games run on the Nintendo Switch with The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild as a good example. But you don’t usually get triple A games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or Far Cry 6, so it’ll be interesting to see how the release performs.
Other big titles like Control, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey have had cloud releases. A native Hogwarts Legacy could struggle on the Switch, which is shy Pokemon Scarlet and Violet got so much criticism recently.
Age rating certificate
AdvertisementWith the release date done, we that the Hogwarts Legacy age rating in the UK from PEGI is a 12+ certificate. The ESRB equivalent in North America is T for Teen, which recommends 13 years of age and over, so sort of comparible.
It’s a 3rd person action adventure, so it was already easy to compare it to the likes of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. This had a 16 certificate, but with a guns and melee style of play compared to Hogwarts Legacy’s reliance on wand magic to fight, which could be one of the reasons why the age rating is lower, despite the fact that you can perform the Avada Kedavra killing spell.
Perhaps a better comparison would be with Kingdom Hearts 3, which also has an age rating of 12. But then even there melee attacks with Sora’s Keyblade were a big part of the combat mechanics. There is no sign of this for the open world witchcraft and wizardry release, but with the darker spells they’ve both got the same certification.
The most recent Harry Potter is the Lego collection, which is rated 7 and above. It was just about possible that Hogwarts Legacy could have been given an age rating under a 12. However, the lifelike graphics and darker threat elements made this a little less relevant. A safer expectation was always 12, which is how things turned out.
We’ll update you with more details on the game as they’re confirmed. You can also check out our computer games section to keep tabs on the game. Visit the Hogwarts Legacy website at https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/ for more details.
