The game’s really as troubled as the conversation around it. What about the game itself? Hogwarts, as seen in Hogwarts Legacy.

(By getting a copy of the game for free, I’m able to sidestep this moral dilemma and use the flimsy shield of believing it important to write about one of the biggest games of the year, and its controversy.) Supporting a game like Cyberpunk 2077, where it was revealed that the makers had exploited its workers, is like supporting the work of comedian Louis CK engaging with a piece of pop culture, and giving it your money, or even your attention, continues its legacy. Hogwarts Legacy is a triple-A game that lets the player roam around and explore Hogwarts, and what human under the age of 35 doesn’t want to do that?īut it’s become a personal (and political) choice to decide to purchase and play Hogwarts Legacy.

Harry Potter is a source of major childhood nostalgia, long before anyone coined the word “ terf”. I understand the appeal of Hogwarts Legacy, if you happen to be unaware of all this. Just as vocal as the group calling for people to boycott purchasing and streaming the game. To make matters more complicated/tiresome, the game has become a lightning rod for people to decry “woke politics”, with a vocal wing of fans purchasing the game specifically in support of its author’s beliefs. The Harry Potter universe comes from the mind of an author who has, since 2020, beeen outspokenly, repeatedly transphobic, using her public profile to actively battle trans rights, right up to the release of this game.Īlthough she seems to have little involvement with Hogwarts Legacy, which is only tenuously linked to her books, JK Rowling remains the ugly shadow that hangs over it. Hogwarts Legacy is, obviously, a part of the Harry Potter universe.

I can’t start a review about this game without acknowledging the discourse that has formed around it. Sam Brooks figures out if it’s all worth it.

It drags the Harry Potter universe into the new gaming generation, and brings a lot of baggage with it.

Hogwarts legacy bad news