A group of fans is hoping Hogwarts Legacy gameplay leans a bit more heavily into the role-playing aspect of RPGs than most are probably expecting. Reddit user Super_Chausette asked whether anyone thinks Hogwarts Legacy will actually make us do homework in the game, since year five is, in the book series, when students suddenly have a much heavier workload. The response from those who commented included, rather surprisingly, a segment of enthusiastic “we hope so” answers. One said they would never write a troll essay in a video game, though some said that’s exactly what they would love to do. Another also saw the more humorous implications of classwork in games.
“Imagine that, sitting at work thinking about the potions assignment I have to do once I get home,” one user said (to which another responded essentially saying “yes please”).
A more common theme was the hope that there is some kind of meaningful homework system that ties in with either relationships to other students or how your character grows.
There’s (probably) not much real chance Avalanche would make us study assiduously for magical standardized testing in a video game. As a few others pointed out, RPGs and simulation games aren’t exactly the same thing, but the question does highlight how little we actually know about the upcoming wizard game.
The dev team said in previous showcases that Hogwarts Legacy has you attend classes and complete assignments, sure, but so did earlier Harry Potter games. Most of the early gameplay loop in the original Chamber of Secrets video game revolved around finding items for spells or potions, when you weren’t getting lost in the castle’s massive, deadly mazes that absolutely didn’t exist in the books or movies.
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Locking progress behind good grades is something you’d expect from The Sims, but tying coursework to character development and new skills is certainly an intriguing concept. Barring any delays, Hogwarts Legacy launches in December 2022, so we won’t have to wait much longer to find out how it all works.
What we can say with almost perfect certainty is that Harry Potter himself won’t be in Hogwarts Legacy unless the game features some extreme time turner antics, and Quidditch seems to be off the table for now. Despite brooms and even the pitch showing up in promotional material, there’s been no mention of the game itself so far.
As per the official FAQ, the developers note that “J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World. This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling.”
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