A clip of Hogwarts Legacy animation is making the rounds on Reddit, and not exactly for reasons that make the upcoming fantasy game look good. The (very brief) clip shows an NPC student walking along a path outside Hogwarts Castle, and it is, admittedly, very rough. The biggest issue commenters noticed is a backwards slide the character’s dormant foot does when the other one is moving forward, almost like they’re trying to moonwalk.
It’s not the only issue, though. There’s a general sense of heaviness to their movements and an overly deliberate feel to their steps. Most people don’t ponderously lift their legs and set them down with force unless they’re pretending to be some kind of monster or something, and it doesn’t look like this is some elaborate Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
Warner Bros and Avalanche recently announced the Hogwarts Legacy release date is delayed until February instead of releasing around the holiday season/ In the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty small problem that’s likely to get fixed before launch, but it was enough to make most commenters agree that the delay was absolutely worth it.
“I thought it looked a little odd,” one commenter said. “Same here, but now I’m glad that they delayed the game. I’d rather wait 2 months than to see this kinda stuff in game“ another said in response.
Others were willing to see the lighthearted side of things instead of taking it too seriously as a portent for an awkwardly animated game.
“It’s the late 1800s, we don’t know what’s the normal way of walking back then,” one said.
Whatever fixes happen between now and launch, we still probably won’t see Harry Potter in Hogwarts Legacy. The RPG takes place over a century before Harry walked the hallowed halls of Hogwarts, but that still leaves plenty of room for other creative callouts to the famous series, from common rooms to historical figures and more. We’re also expecting many challenges to complete that require clever use of Hogwarts Legacy spells.
There are still plenty of upcoming PC games to get excited about in 2022 though and some of the best RPGs to keep you company until then. The Hogwarts Legacy release date is expected in 2023.
The creator of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has made a number of transphobic remarks on social media in recent years. Warner Bros. has the licence to make games based on Harry Potter. While the details of that deal aren’t publicly known, and WB Games says “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game”, it is likely that, as the creator and owner of the Harry Potter IP, she will earn royalties from its sales. If you’d like to learn more about transgender equality or lend your support, here are two important charities we encourage you to check out: the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, and Mermaids in the UK.