Seven things you should know before playing Hogwarts Legacy

One of the first things you do in Hogwarts Legacy, next to making a character and setting off for wizarding school, is choosing which house you want to be a part of. As in the source material, the choice is between Griffon, Slytherin, Hare’s Blow and Ravenclaw, and just as in Harry Potter’s case, the Choice Hat will also add yours want great weight when the selection takes place.

And there’s no wrong choice here — whether you base your choice on a personality test or a coin toss, you’ll almost certainly be comfortable in the house you choose. The choice mainly affects where in the castle you have bedrooms, but all four houses are located fairly centrally. Ravnklo and Griffing both have living rooms in their respective towers, while the stealthy guards and the hoodlums are in the basement.

Some characters will also address you differently based on the house you choose, but otherwise the adventure will be largely the same no matter which house you visit.

Buy some broom glue as soon as possible

It turns out that Hogwarts Legacy offers much more than just Hogwarts, and a large part of the time will actually be spent outside the castle. Whether you’re hunting for gold, magical beasts or poachers, you’re talking about large landmasses, and you’re doing yourself a real disservice if you don’t get yourself a broomstick as soon as possible.

The first flight lesson appears a little way into the game, and after this you can stop by Spintwitch’s Sporting Needs in Galtvang, north of the school, to buy a broomstick for exactly 600 galleons.

You can then conjure up this pretty much anytime and anywhere outside the castle and densely built-up areas. This is easily done by holding down the front left shoulder button and then pressing “round” on PlayStation or “B” on Xbox.

Do your homework

Paradoxically, school lessons and homework are some of the things I was most looking forward to with Hogwarts Legacy. In the game, these offer several exciting insights into the magical universe, but they are also among the only ways you can learn new spells.

Some of these come in the form of mandatory main missions, while others are optional activities that you are not forced to complete.

However, it pays to always keep these optional missions in mind when you’re out on the road. Not only do the formulas you learn come in very handy when you explore the world and solve archaic puzzles, but the extracurricular activities are usually also simple enough that you can always do this in the same vein as other assignments.

Talk to as many as you can

Alongside the all-consuming magic that fills the world with life, Hogwarts and its surroundings also abound with people and fairies. Some of these are just there to fill the environment, while still others actually have meaningful things to tell you.

It is particularly wise to talk to fellow pupils, teachers and other people who stand out. These can often share short tidbits and anecdotes from the world of magic, but often also have concrete side quests that you must complete. The latter is clearly marked with a gray shield on your map.

Many of these in turn unlock new activities and collectibles, such as how a conversation with Lenora Everleigh in the Hall of Wanderers teaches you how to activate the magical mirrors that hang around the school.

Don’t get attached to your clothes

Hogwarts Legacy does a lot right, but one thing the game really doesn’t get right is clothing and equipment. It is by all means cool to be able to change your appearance and change your cloak at irregular intervals, but like so many modern RPGs you are overloaded with far too much useless “loot”.

The game makes up for this by allowing you to change the appearance of the clothes you like best right from the start. This is easily done by pressing “square” on the PlayStation or “X” on the Xbox.

In this way, for example, you can hide the fact that you are wearing a pair of hideous glasses that give you 32 points in “offense”, while you can also make it so that all the cloaks you wear take on the appearance of the hideous purple cut you found at the beginning of the game. If you have had the garment in your bag at some point, you can transfer the look to other garments at any time.

This also allows you to throw away or sell off the clothes with the worst bonuses without a second thought, which is fine considering how much juggling one picks up.

Unlock the Merlin Challenges

The next point is also closely linked to the items of clothing you pick up in time and out of time. As I said, there is far too much “loot” in the game, and one of the biggest annoyances during my roughly 30 hours with Hogwarts Legacy can be boiled down to five words: “Your gear slots are full!”.

You start the game with around 20 openings in your backpack, but already a couple of hours into the game you can start unlocking more space. This is done through the game’s so-called “Merlin trials” – in short, these are Breath of the Wild-like mini-puzzles that appear sporadically in the open world after you talk to and help Nora Treadwell just south of Hogwarts. This is a side quest that is hard to avoid.

Once you’ve completed a certain number of Merlin challenges, you can then go into the ‘challenges’ menu, select ‘exploration’ and then reap the rewards of your labour.

Explore everywhere

Hogwarts Legacy is at its very best when it manages to surprise and amaze, and it does so quite often. It is particularly rewarding to explore the wizarding school, where everything from overheard conversations to artwork in the hallways has a story to tell.

Therefore, explore as much as you can, while switching between main and side quests.

Be sure to learn “alohomora” as soon as you get the chance (via caretaker Gladwin Moon); sniff in every nook and cranny; and use the spell “revelio” (left arrow on the D-pad) where something stands out from the surroundings. If you’re lucky, you might learn more about Hogwarts and its many secrets along the way.

Do you have tips for other players? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.