Hogwarts Legacywas one of the most successful games of the last few years. This was in no small part to the game’s faithful,nearly 1:1 adaptation of theHarry Potteruniverse, specifically the iconic castle and spells featured in the books and the films. And with the title crushing several sales records over its lifespan, a sequel is almost an inevitability at this point. The hardest part about making that sequel will be upping the ante.
Hogwarts Legacydoes such a great job of giving players an authentic experience, it would be a challenge to keep things new and fresh in a sequel – challenging, but not impossible, if the team at Avalanche Software is ready to rise to the occasion. It all comes down to one particularly iconic spell that was noticeably absent from the original game.
Expecto Patronum Will Be Tricky to Pull off in a Hogwarts Legacy Sequel
Expecto Patronum Is Not In Hogwarts Legacy, But It Could Make the Cut in the Sequel
Expecto Patronum is one of the most well-known spells in theHarry Pottercanon, mostly due to its striking visual effect seen on-screen in the film series. Despite this, thePatronus charm is not present inHogwarts Legacy. Ostensibly, the reason for this is that, despite being one of the most famous and beloved spells in the franchise, its only use is combating dementors, which are not in the game. While fans might love the spell, it would be useless in the game as it currently exists.
The second reason Expecto Patronum isn’t inHogwarts Legacyis a bit more rooted in the intricacies of game development: it is likely a logistical problem to put into the game. According toHarry Potterlore, thepatronus takes the form of an animal unique to the caster. A patronus is a very personal thing for Potterheads, as it often represents a unique quality or trait of the person casting it. The spell presents a challenge for the developers, who would have to find a way to faithfully recreate the incredibly personalized spell in a way that’s realistic to do within the confines of the game. It’s a challenge, for sure, but not necessarily an insurmountable one.
How Avalanche Can Tackle the Patronus in Hogwarts Legacy 2
The first game was no stranger to letting players customize things about their character. From appearance, to their house,Hogwarts Legacyeven lets players customize their wand. So much about the experience is already customizable, a selectable patronus seems like a logical next step. Once the player learns the spell in-game, a select screen can appear letting them pick an animal from a number of options. Hopefully, this list airs on the longer side, to give players the most options possible.
Obviously, Avalanche can’t code every possible animal into the patronus selection, and it wouldn’t be realistic to expect so. Instead, the list of pre-selected animals should come fromestablished patronuses within theHarry Pottercanon. Pottermore, the official online presence of the franchise, has a list of 143 patronuses regarded as canon. While that’s still a much more manageable number than the millions of animal species in the world, it’s still an intimidating number from the perspective of the developer responsible for creating and coding all the possible patronus variants.
Challenging does not equal impossible, however. When creatingBatman: Arkham Asylum, one dedicated developer at Rocksteady spent two full years animating the intricacies of Batman’s cape. A lot of work hours, but the end result was a seamless, ultra-realistic fabric that gave players themost authentic feeling Batman game at the time. If Avalanche has that level of ambition, it’s very much possible thatHogwarts Legacy 2will have most of, if not all, the canon patronus animals. While nobody could reasonably balk at the decision to include/exclude certain animals, the level of ambition and dedication behind giving players a fully fleshed out list of patronuses to choose from would not be lost and would earn a lot of goodwill from an already devoted fanbase.
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.
