Thank you Nintendo for sending us this game to review!

Hogwarts Legacy is a fascinating game. It’s an open-world action RPG set in the world of Harry Potter that released on PC and consoles back in 2023. It made headlines due to a campaign to boycott the game because of beliefs held by the author of the original books, J. K. Rowling. Still, that didn’t stop it from becoming incredibly successful, and a Switch port came later that year. As with any high-end third-party game on the Switch, however, it was a majorly compromised experience.

Two years later, and Hogwarts Legacy is one of many games to be reworked for the much more capable Switch 2. This enhanced version promises greatly improved visuals and performance, along with new options to use mouse and gyro controls. While you can buy the Switch 2 version directly for $59.99, you also have the option to upgrade if you own the original version, like many Switch 2 upgrades. In this case, you can boot up the original, and you can claim a discount, which will allow you to purchase the Switch 2 version as standalone software for $10. We were sent the Digital Deluxe Edition, which costs $69.99 and includes two DLC packs.

Now, I should preface this by saying I have not played Hogwarts Legacy when it originally released. I should also note that I have never read any of the Harry Potter books or watched any of the movies. My mother always had major reservations about depictions of magic in media, so Harry Potter was not welcome in our household (though one of my brothers ended up getting into the series behind her back). Because of this, I never had interest in the series and thus know very little about the Wizarding World. My prior knowledge is limited to things I’ve learned from my brother and a friend who used to be into Harry Potter, along with what I’ve seen of LEGO sets on store shelves. In short, I will be approaching this game from the perspective of a newcomer.

Hogwarts Legacy begins with you receiving a letter of acceptance into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where you’ll be starting as a fifth-year student. You’ll then use an in-depth character designer to create the wizard or witch that will star in your adventure. You’re then escorted from London to Scotland (where Hogwarts is located) by Professor Fig, but a perilous trip involving a dragon attack sends you on a detour where you learn that you can see and use an ancient form of magic. You also come face-to-face with the goblin Ranrok, who’s leading a rebellion against wizardkind.

After escaping Ranrok and finally making your way to Hogwarts Castle, you’ll be sorted into one of four houses, and you’ll be able to begin your school year learning about magic. However, you’ll also need to investigate the mysteries surrounding Ancient Magic, along with figuring out how to stop Ranrok’s rebellion.

Despite knowing practically nothing about Harry Potter, I never really felt lost or confused. I did occasionally look up a few things I would hear about in-game, but I didn’t really need to. Any necessary knowledge regarding the Wizarding World is explained. Many games inspired by multimedia franchises expect players to already be familiar with the source material, but Hogwarts Legacy seems to take steps to accommodate newbies like myself.

Now, most of your early hours will be spent at Hogwarts. You’ll find yourself attending classes, where you’ll learn various spells and other magical skills, such as potion-brewing and broom-flying. Hogwarts Castle is a massive, whacky school, with flying books, sentient portraits, self-playing instruments, and staircases that slide into place as you ascend them. I loved exploring its many rooms and secrets. There are also numerous classmates in need of help, along with plenty of puzzles all throughout. I will say, though, around ten hours in, you’ll start to spend much less time here. You usually only attend each class once or twice, and most of these instances are in this early portion of the game.

I was surprised to see how little combat there is for these early hours, but you’ll soon find yourself fighting wolves, spiders, and the zombie-like Inferri. Your most common adversaries, however, will be goblins serving Ranrok and dark wizards working for Victor Rookwood, a wizard in league with Ranrok. To fight, you tap ZR to fire basic casts in a simple four-hit combo. You can then use the spells you learn in class by holding ZR and pressing A, B, X, or Y. Spells have powerful effects on enemies. For example, Depulso pushes enemies away, Arresto Momentum slows their movement, and Diffindo creates a blade that slices at them. You’ll find yourself stringing certain spells together to do heavy damage, such as by sending them in the air with Levioso before slamming them into the ground with Descendo. Spells need to cool down after each use, so you’ll have to become accustomed to using a wide range of them. You can assign four spells to a set, and you’ll unlock the ability to swap between up to four sets for a total of sixteen spells at once.

You can use R to throw scattered objects at enemies, and a meter charges over time that lets you press L and R to use Ancient Magic to defeat a single enemy in one hit. You can also use potions you’ve brewed and magical plants you’ve grown to give yourself temporary perks and attack enemies, respectively. Whenever enemies attack, a circle will appear above your head. If it’s red, you have to roll out of the way with A, but if it’s yellow, you can press X to block it with a barrier and stun the enemy. Enemies will often create their own barriers, requiring you to use a spell of a matching color to destroy it.

In addition to Hogwarts Castle, you’ll spend much of your time exploring the Scottish Highlands. Your spells will be used in solving plenty of puzzles and finding items. There are plenty of villages to visit, and there is no shortage of people in need of help. In fact, the side quests were often my favorite parts of the game. The rewards for completing quests and challenges range from cosmetics, to stat-boosting equipment, to upgrades like increased inventory slots for said equipment. Traversal is never a chore, either, as you’ll get mounts like a broom and a Hippogriff (a bird-horse hybrid) that allow you to soar through the skies in no time at all.

As is usual for role-playing games, you’ll level up as you fight enemies, explore, and complete quests. You’ll gain talent points for your effort, which can be expended to unlock various skills. These include upgrades to spells, improvements to items, and more. Unfortunately, you can’t get enough talent points to unlock all the skills in a single playthrough, but you can redistribute points as you see fit.

Unfortunately, my playthrough was not without glitches. There were a few times where pressing buttons to use spells wouldn’t register until I reloaded my save. I’ve also had cases where my character’s collision would get caught, and I wouldn’t be able to move. Worst of all, I experienced numerous crashes, especially near the beginning. Thankfully, autosaves are common enough that the loss of progress was always minimal.

I touched on the controls already, but there is more to address about them, especially as that’s where some of the changes in the Switch 2 version lie. For starters, the menus are quite a slog to use in this game. They all utilize a cursor that you freely move with the left stick. You have to slowly hover the cursor over an option to press it. This is fine for some menus, but with quest lists and inventories, it’s much less intuitive than if the cursor snapped to each option. You can at least use the touchscreen in handheld mode, which is much better.

The Switch 2 version also introduced two new control methods: mouse controls and gyro controls. Using the new Joy-Cons’ mouse features, you can use mouse controls to aim your camera, control your flight, and navigate menus. I mostly stuck with a traditional Pro Controller, but this control scheme felt great to use as well, if less precise than an actual mouse. You can also enable gyro controls to assist in aiming your camera and to control flight. I definitely appreciated it for helping to aim, but I unfortunately found it way too imprecise for the flight controls.

Hogwarts Legacy goes for an impressive realistic art style, with nicely detailed environments and characters. One standout detail is how the seasons change as you progress the story. I did not play the game on the original Switch, but according to online footage I’ve seen, it appears that it was unfortunately translated into a muddy, low-resolution mess that would feel at home on the PS3 or Xbox 360. The game suffered from a very unsteady 20-30 FPS framerate, and worst of all, many parts of the originally seamless world were separated by long loading screens. Admittedly, it does seem to be an impressive port for the Switch of such a high-end game, but it was far from an ideal experience.

The Switch 2 version, on the other hand, looks very good. The resolution does look a little grainy at times, and the lighting is nowhere near as good as higher-end systems, but this version looks a thousand times better than the Switch version. Unfortunately, the framerate is still pretty choppy at times, but it seems to be improved. Areas that were separated by loading screens are once again seamlessly integrated into one environment (though all versions still have some loading screens). My biggest issue with the visuals is with a handful of cutscenes (usually unimportant ones), where overly dark lighting can obscure characters' faces. There are still some other compromises, like certain walkways around Hogwarts that are open on Xbox Series S being enclosed on Switch 2, but this release is a very fine way to play the game.

The sound design is also quite decent. The orchestral soundtrack doesn’t have too many standout songs, but a few are very memorable. While the voicework for NPCs isn’t usually great, it is pretty good for the main characters.

The version we were sent is the Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes an exclusive Dark Arts Garrison Hat and a separate Dark Arts pack that can otherwise be bought later for $19.99. The latter comes with a full costume that lets you dress like a dark wizard, a creature known as a Thestral that can be ridden in place of a Hippogriff, and an exclusive battle arena (although there are a couple others in the base game).

Now it’s time to talk about the moral issues. Of course, this is Harry Potter, so everything is centered around magic. You can’t go two seconds without using spells; seeing magical objects and creatures; or hearing talk of charms, curses, and enchantments. You can brew and use magical potions. Whenever you cast a spell, you say a short incantation. There is a distinction made between good magic and evil, dark magic. The latter is discouraged by most characters, but you have the option to learn and use these “Unforgiveable Curses,” which are said to be more violent, torturous, and deadly.

All throughout Hogwarts, you’ll see and sometimes interact with ghosts roaming around or portraits of deceased characters. There are also zombie-like creatures, witches who can turn into wolves, and demonic beings known as Dementors. The most concerning supernatural aspect for me was the existence of the Divinations Class, in which characters practice fortune-telling and use what appear to be tarot cards. Thankfully, its presence here is mostly in the form of a single cutscene you need to see to unlock a spell. Afterward, there are just a few mentions of the class here and there.

I know some players will likely be frightened by the aforementioned zombie enemies or the many instances you’ll find yourself trapped in caves with giant spiders (though there is an option to soften the spookiness there). The most frightening thing was one optional quest I stumbled upon that had me trapped in a magical basement with a poltergeist and an army of mannequins trying to kill me. While fun, the quest certainly had me jump a few times and had my heart pounding.

As far as violence goes, while goblins use things like axes and crossbows, you and other wizards mainly just use magical spells, which may take the form of fire or magical blasts. Enemies always disappear after death, but you’ll see skeletal remains and corpses in just about any cave. I recall finding near a troll den large piles of animal corpses, with massive pools of blood between them. There is also a cutscene where a goblin stabs himself while under mind control, but he is positioned slightly off-screen to minimize the violence.

There is a decent amount of mild language in the form of d*mn and b*****d. You don’t hear it constantly, but characters say it every now and then. There are also a few bars in the game, and characters mention drinking butterbeer. You sometimes have the option to (or have to) cause trouble with classmates, and it’s not uncommon to have to sneak and lie your way into restricted areas of the school to progress the story. Grossly, there is a poltergeist that likes to cause trouble around Hogwarts, often by messing around with toilets in boys’ bathrooms. It is worth mentioning that sentient creatures known as house-elves are kept and essentially used as slaves, and there are plenty of mentions of prejudice between wizards and goblins.

Regarding sexual content, I was pleased to see that no characters dress inappropriately. However, there is one female character that mentions having a wife. Also, even though the character creator lets you choose to play as a wizard or a witch, whenever characters refer to you in the third-person, they always call you a ‘they.’ Finally, there is one bartender you interact with a few times that is clearly supposed to be transgender. He has a clearly male voice, but everyone refers to him as a ‘she.’ He even has a line saying, “Took them a second to realise I was actually a witch, not a wizard." This is especially ironic, given the boycott campaign against this game.

I ended up loving my time playing Hogwarts Legacy. Exploring Hogwarts and the Wizarding World was so much fun as an outsider, and I didn’t really feel lost or confused due to my lack of knowledge of the series. While it isn’t super complex, the spell-casting combat is a lot of fun. The constant use of magic is definitely a concern, though, and I don’t blame anyone who wants nothing to do with Harry Potter as a result. However, only a few aspects made me particularly uncomfortable, and I greatly enjoyed the experience otherwise. The new mouse controls are also very welcome. Graphically, this still isn’t the definitive version, and I definitely plan on buying the PC version at some point to take advantage of even better hardware. However, it is far, far better than the Switch version, and for those whose most powerful system is the Switch 2, this is a perfectly enjoyable way to play Hogwarts Legacy.

One last note I would like to make is regarding how to purchase Hogwarts Legacy. I think $59.99 is a pretty fair price for what you get, but you can get it for much cheaper. All versions often go on sale, with the Switch 2 version most recently going for $41.99 and the Switch version going for $11.99. I would recommend getting the Switch version and then upgrading for an additional $10.00 for a total of $21.99.

-Tyler Ferguson