With Tom Felton reprising his role as Draco Malfoy on Broadway, the Weasley twins putting baking wizards to the test on Prime Video, and filming for HBO’s upcoming reboot well underway, it feels like Harry Potter is as much in our lives as it ever has been. That also includes Nintendo Switch 2, where Hogwarts Legacy invites you to exist in the spellbinding world first introduced in the books.
Hogwarts Legacy wastes no time in thrusting you headfirst into the Wizarding World. Within the game’s opening hours, you have hurtled your way around Gringotts Bank’s spiraling mine cart tracks, had the Sorting Hat placed on your head to deliberate which Hogwarts House to place you in, mastered Levioso in your first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, used Accio to compete in an outdoor Summoner’s Court match, had Gerbold Ollivander help you choose your wand, and invoked Ancient Magic to topple a Troll attacking Hogsmeade.
Aside from demonstrating that your witch or wizard is a swift learner, given their somewhat peculiar predicament of entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a fifth-year student, it also shows how widely varied the rest of your adventure will be. That’s not to mention the potions you will concoct, the Venomous Tentacula you will grow, or the magical beasts that you will care for inside the Room of Requirement. The game’s greatest success is in making you feel like you are in Hogwarts, and never failing to maintain that immersion.
I feel like it’s the smaller moments that have allowed Hogwarts Legacy to resonate with its ever-loyal fanbase. These can be overlooked things like simply stopping to listen to your fellow students natter in corridors, pausing to observe the magical portraits that line the Grand Staircase, or sneaking through the One-Eyed Witch Passage to reach the cellar of Honeydukes Sweetshop in Hogsmeade. Even your witch or wizard takes care to whisper spells rather than bellow them out loud after concealing themselves with the Disillusionment Charm. These breathe life into the Wizarding World that Avalanche Software has created, while also demonstrating the team’s attention to detail and determination to get things right.
For me, I spent countless hours casting Revelio to retrieve the lore-packed Field Guide Pages scattered across Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the Highlands. The Harry Potter-obsessed know what the school’s motto (“Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus”) means, but did you know about the treacle-producing Glumbumbles, the story behind the Three Sisters Bells, or that the wizard Barnabas the Barmy once foolishly attempted to train trolls to perform ballet? Not every fact thrown at me was as fizz-poppingly fascinating, but they added an extra layer to the game’s worldbuilding that I became quickly transfixed by.
Setting the game in the 1800s was also a smart decision, letting us explore familiar locations but weaving a tale around an unfamiliar and forgotten time. I don’t know how constrained the team was in constructing the story that they could tell, but it was riddled with enough intrigue, even though I hope that whatever has been penned for the rumoured (but inevitable) Hogwarts Legacy sequel is allowed to be braver and more far-reaching.
The team at Avalanche Software must have used a particularly potent Dark Magic spell plucked from a forbidden tome plundered from the Restricted Section to port the game to the original Nintendo Switch, where, despite considerable sacrifices, it somehow managed to retain its core essence.
With Nintendo Switch 2, there was a strong desire to deliver more. The developer has previously spoken about their decision to use next-generation assets rather than “up-port” the version for the aged portable home console, promising that we could expect “improved graphical fidelity, texture resolution, lighting and character population.”
We were also told that there would be “seamless map load times.” That’s largely true, aside from momentary loading animations for a few seconds before a door opens, but there are still places where you have to trigger a loading screen to progress. For example, when exiting the Bell Tower Courtyard to the School Grounds. These separate Hogwarts from the open world that surrounds it, which makes their necessity understandable, but if you were led to believe that loading screens had been eliminated, then that isn’t factually the case.
The improvement on Nintendo Switch 2 is still such a drastically tremendous leap compared to the gut-wrenching concessions that needed to be made to the original Nintendo Switch port. Whether docked in TV mode or playing in Handheld mode, you can expect a relatively stable 30 frames per second. The consensus is that the docked experience is comparable to PlayStation 4 graphically, but the bottom line is that it’s an easily recommended upgrade for those looking to carry on with their wand-flinging adventure from the original Nintendo Switch to its successor.
As for how the team has explored putting the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware to use, touchscreen support in menus lets you swap out Gear, spend your Talent Points, scout around the World Map and more with greater ease. Wielding the right Joy-Con 2, there is now support for the mouse sensor and motion controls. These can be used when slinging spells with your wand or when taking flight on your broom (or a magical beast), and there are sensitivity settings so that you can tweak until you’re happy with the responsiveness. For me, I preferred the accuracy that the mouse input granted. I wish the HD Rumble 2 implementation was more intense across the board, though.
The glaring absence that I wish wasn’t the case is cross-saves. I’ve sunk time into Hogwarts Legacy across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and now Nintendo Switch 2. It would be great if I didn’t have to retread the same content three times, and could re-sync my save to carry on where I left off on each. I’m well aware that there are difficulties to overcome to implement it, but Ubisoft were able to achieve it with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and it would be a worthwhile inclusion.
Avalanche Software’s efforts to port Hogwarts Legacy to Nintendo Switch 2 has elevated it to be an essential purchase for Potterheads, delivering the definitive way to experience the Wizarding World on the move. Support for mouse sensor, motion control and touchscreen input may not be seen as essential additions to every player, but are sprinkled over a game that so captivatingly lets you lose yourself in your own adventure.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Warner Bros. Games
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