Hogwarts Legacybridges a precarious balance between being packed with nostalgia and boldly telling an authentic wizarding world story. Ancient Magic and its Keepers are unmistakably the crux of the narrative, and how the charm and whimsy of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry envelop it is accomplished in a way where no toes are ever stepped on. Consequently,Hogwarts Legacyhas its cake and eats it too by opening coldly on the blossoming of its brand-new tale before having players attendHarry Potter’s familiar Sorting Ceremony.
It’s unknown whether an inevitable follow-up toHogwarts Legacywill be a mere successor taking place elsewhere in the timeline or a direct sequel with the same characters being reprised. Nonetheless, who its protagonist will be and how it will open are going to be tremendously exciting to see. On one hand, aHogwarts Legacy 2could double down on the Sorting Ceremony with a new protagonist and devise some other excuse for this character to have enrolled in Hogwarts years later as well. On the other hand,Hogwarts Legacy 2could skip a Sorting Ceremony by giving players their house selection before the game begins.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Protagonist Walks a Tight-Rope
Being a student at Hogwarts is a byproduct of the protagonist simply needing to be there because that’swhere the Ancient Magic mystery and its Keepers are held inHogwarts Legacy’s main story. Professor Eleazar Fig has the protagonist enrolled with a lot of ancillary aid from other professors so that they can learn magic and study to defend themselves against anything they may encounter on their quest.
This is why the player’s schooling is so unique, and being able to get away with a late-entry student protagonist again may be difficult if not impossible without obliterating immersion.Students are typically 11 when they are enrolled at Hogwarts, but because that would make for a hugely different game it makes sense why Avalanche wanted to conceive a way to have an older, more mature student while also giving players a Sorting Ceremony to appease the customization of a house selection.
Playing as an 11-year-old wouldn’t necessarily have madeHogwarts Legacylackluster (the Sorcerer’s Stoneproves that much), but such a young age restricts what the protagonist would be able to do, such as learn all three Unforgivable Curses, wade into the Forbidden Forest to battle a horde of spiders, or successfully sustain a Room of Requirement with three Vivariums.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Can’t Recycle the Past, But It Shouldn’t Have to
If a Sorting Ceremony was glossed over in favor of a house selection being included in the character customization menu, players would be able to once more select a Hogwarts house of their choosing without needing to be a first-year, 11-year-old student, and could enter whichever year of schooling Avalanche wished. Plus, a Sorting Ceremony wouldn’t be sorely missed if the sequel’s tutorial had themexplore Diagon Alley with whatever sum of Knuts, Sickles, or Galleonsthey had in their Gringotts vault.
Diagon Alley at all would probably be enough to sate players, at least if it isas thorough and content-rich as Hogsmeade is inHogwarts Legacy, but a Sorting Ceremony will almost assuredly need to be neglected if anyHogwarts Legacysequel is going to have its protagonist be a decently mature age already and hope to have its narrative be novel.Hogwarts Legacyis sure to have a successor at some point in the future and how it’ll take shape is going to be fascinating to behold concerning what its protagonist’s role in the story will be and how it will tackle trying to come up with an opening to its story that’s as strong as the original’s.
