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The Harry Potter book franchise is undeniably resilient, barreling over questions of quality and its own nightmarish creator with a never-ending onslaught of merchandise, film and TV spinoffs, and theme park attractions. But its absolute best product is the 2023 video game Hogwarts Legacy.
It was made by Avalanche Software in Utah under guidance from Warner Bros’ Portkey Games label. Avalanche has a long history of making quality licensed IP tie-in video games. They did a whole bunch of work for the Disney company over many years until the Big Stupid Mouse let them go because the delightful toys-to-life game Disney Infinity “wasn’t profitable enough.” Even toy games for kids must have infinite growth potential, I guess.
I’m glad that they were picked up by a different movie studio after Disney foolishly let them go, because Hogwarts Legacy does every single thing it can to both re-establish Harry Potter as a prominent juggernaut fantasy setting while also infusing it with some of the most thoughtful and progressive writing and design I’ve ever seen in a fantasy game. It fleshes out the underwhelming and bland world building of the source material with a vibrant set of lore and original characters while also…
