Over the past twenty years, JK Rowling has persuaded several generations that, despite prejudice, lack of electricity and uncontrollably easy killing methods, the Wizarding World and Hogwarts are vastly preferable to our own world. It seems incredible, then, that after all this time we are only getting a Harry Potter RPG.
Created by Jam City for iOS and Android, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is the first Harry Potter game that will allow fans to create their own character and attend Hogwarts without Harry. We had the opportunity to actively participate in the game and ask some questions to its developers before its launch, so lean, because we are about to put some knowledge about Hermione.
Game two years after Voldemort's attack on Harry and his parents, Hogwarts Mystery leaves you in a period of relative peace in the magical world. There are still suspicions and fear around dark magic, but with Voldemort gone, we imagine that there will probably be many less mysterious deaths to deal with.
You will attend school at the same time as characters like Charlie Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks (you will even see them during your qualification ceremony thanks to their distinctive hair colors).
The turn of time
Of course, Harry Potter is not patient zero when it comes to the anguish of childhood and adventurous plots. Your own character has a history and problems to face in his time at Hogwarts. You assume the role of a student whose older brother was obsessed with finding cursed vaults under Hogwarts, expelled from school and fled his home to never be seen again. Scandalous, right?
It is not entirely clear what happened that led to the expulsion of your brother, let's face it, it's rare that a damn obsession with the vault ends well, but the general belief is that he was a supporter of Voldemort and fled to Join him after his defeat at Godric & # 39; s Hollow.
The main narrative of the game, then, revolves around you, unraveling the mystery behind the disappearance of your brother and trying to rid you of his bad reputation to be seen as your own person. It's not exactly the way up for self-sacrifice & # 39; that Harry stepped on, but we will take it.
Like any RPG game worthy of your magic wand, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery starts things up by allowing you to create your character. You can select your gender, skin tone, eye and hair color, hair style and choose from a variety of predefined shapes of eyes, nose, eyebrows and face. You can also name everything you want. Naturally, we use our own name because we deserve to see each other in the magical world, thank you very much.
Put yourself in the magical world
After this, you are immediately taken off in Diagon Alley to pick up your things for school. Do not cut to the point of collecting your Gringotts gold or getting that standard size cauldron 2, but you'll buy your Flourish and Blotts books, your Ollivanders wand and you'll even meet your first friend. [19659002] Instead of talking incessantly at Hogwarts Mystery, you will be given dialogue options, some of which will have a direct impact on the perception of your character and how the game's narrative develops. You will be given an early example of this when you help your new friend decide what she should buy herself to let it be known that she is a serious witch with the Head Girl prospects. Do not blame yourself for your fashion sense when you make your purchase, it's beyond saving.
Not all instances of this seem completely natural – for example, we attended the Enchantment class with Professor Flitwick who essentially asked us if we would be following the rules or causing problems in his class. It is not often that you go to a classroom in your first year at school and declare yourself as a resident lifter of the teacher. We look forward to seeing more examples of game dialogues when we play completely.
Although most of the speech in the game is text-only, it has been confirmed that some of the actors in the Harry Potter film universe have provided their voices for film scenes, so anticipate the sweet tones of actors like Michael Gambon, Dame. Maggie Smith, Zoe Wannamaker and Warwick Davis at some point. We could not hear them, but we're pretty sure that Maggie Smith is the Midas of the acting world, so we're not worried.
The magician chooses the house
Then he goes straight to Hogwarts, where you can see being ordained in his house. We were surprised that, unlike Pottermore, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery does not present any type of questionnaire to determine your home at Hogwarts. Instead, simply ask directly where you would like to be placed.
We both liked it and we did not. There is an exciting and non-compromising element of self-discovery that comes from being ordered in your home by a questionnaire; It's almost as if you were given an identity. To say that you have been classified in Ravenclaw is almost a way of telling people how you see yourself and what your priorities are without having to really admit that you decide them yourself. "Oh, Internet told me I'm a Ravenclaw / Gryffindor / Hufflepuff / Slytherin, do not hate me because I'm smarter / braver / more pleasant / more ambitious than you".
On the other hand, in the universe of Harry Potter it is made clear that there is an element of choice for the decisions of the classification hat; Harry avoids Slytherin because he does not want to be a Slytherin, not because he lacks the Slytherin qualities after all.
When we asked the developers of the game the reason for this decision, they told us that it was simply a matter of wanting to give players as many options and agencies in this world as possible. This is the Hogwarts experience you want to have, right down to the common room where you want to spend the nights.
Once he has been ordained, he begins his first year. As expected, Hogwarts Mystery will have you attending classes and learning spells and potions. You will attend spells with Flitwick, transfiguration with McGonagall, potions with Snape, fly with Madame Hooch and more. The game covers your seven years in school, so even though your classes will be limited at the beginning, you will discover that you will unlock more as you progress.
It is in your first lessons that you will pay real attention to the three currency modes in the game: energy, gold coins and precious stones. You use energy in your classes learning new things, buy more energy using precious stones, and you can buy cosmetic items using gold coins. All these coins can be won through the game, but you can also use your real money to buy more gold coins and gems.
Spending your galleons
This is where the inevitable microtransactions enter. Although Hogwarts Mystery is free to play and you do not need to spend your real money on that, those who are not willing to wait for their energy to grow. A backup will be tempted to buy precious stones to buy more energy, while those who wish that their character equipped as Draco Malfoy is willing to buy gold in the game.
Using your energy and learning in classes is as simple as touching the screen several times as indicated, which is more than a little disappointing and not particularly attractive. At the very least, the final stage of learning a spell involves tracking the correct movement of the wand with your finger on the touch screen, which is a bit more complicated.
You do not learn to learn in your Hogwarts classes: the spells and potions you collect will be useful as you progress through the main narrative of the game. Then, when you find yourself in difficult places, it will be up to you to remember the correct spell to cast and do it correctly.
Attend classes and spend all your energy on them. As in real life!
Outside of the main story and your lessons, you can also participate in duels and form relationships with other students. We asked the developers if there would be online elements that would allow players to interact with their real-life friends at Hogwarts and while they told us they would be presented, it was not clear how they would be implemented. We suspect that there is some kind of grieving marker, but we can not be sure at all.
In general, we enjoyed our short time with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, but we could not help wishing that we would finally get a console and a PC RPG instead of a mobile one.
We asked if there are plans for a wider release (after all, Nintendo Switch would not be such a crazy idea), but we were told that that would not happen. The developers said that the mobile was the preferable option for them because, reasonably enough, it offers the greatest accessibility. It is true that, as fanbases, Harry Potter is a very varied one.
Mobile magic
Not everyone who loves Harry Potter will have the latest game console or a good PC. Not everyone will have a smartphone, either, but the probability is greater. Just look at the Fortnite mobile to know that a dedicated fanbase and good mobile games can be tremendously popular.
That said, this is an attractive mobile game. The characters are expressive and the world is colorful with a nice attention to detail. You can not directly control your character in the game world, instead, touch the locations to enter and interact with them. However, the environments are displaceable, so it is possible to see a little more.
We play the game on a tablet instead of on a smartphone and we believe that this is the way we would like to play it all the time. As convenient as a smartphone is, we want to enjoy this adventure on a screen as large as possible.
Despite the fact that it is not the in-depth Harry Potter RPG that we always dream of, Hogwarts Mystery is certainly not a bad game. It's great to be able to attend Hogwarts and not see it through Harry's eyes, but to create your own story and forge your own relationships in the house where you always wanted to be. Even better, it's completely free.