It’s easy to forget that the upcoming Harry Potter Game is, in fact, a video game. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hogwarts Legacy has been a hugely anticipated title ever since it was announced two years ago (or even, since it was leaked two years before that), and it has been so hyped almost entirely off the back of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Harry Potter name. Of course, thanks to JK Rowling, the Harry Potter nam🐼e isn’t as clean as it used to be.
It has been odd to see one side passionately defend a game that they literally had not seen a single second of before last night, defending it entirely on the basis of liking Harry Potter, while simultaneously being surprised that others feel the Potter well is poisoned and begging doubters to judge the game for what it is, even though they already love it sight unseen. I’ve written about the questions I’ve been asked (and the permission Iꦏ’ve been asked to grant) as a tr🐲ans person, and have written a disclaimer for the site in order toജ inform our𓃲 readers about our coverage. Other sites are boycotting it all together. After watching 14💫♌ minutes of gameplay, I have to ask - is this what all the fuss was about?
Folks, the game looks pretty meh. Let’s leave JK Rowling and all of that toxicity aside for now, and just look at the game. You don’t think it’s a teeny bit suspicious that in a 14 minute gameplay preview, the longest non-cutscene clip of gameplay we saw was six seconds long? We bounced around anywhere, our eyes never allowed to settle, and I suspect that’s because the developers wanted to hide that a lot of it is repetitive. It looks like enemies just kind of stand there while you zap them with your wand, and I suspect that will get very old very quickly. Warner Bros. previously oversaw the development of the Batman: Arkham games, admittedly by a different studio, and they reinvented video game combat in a way everyone else riffed off for a decade. ‘Stand and𝓀 point at largely stationary enemies’ doesn’t feel quite so dynamic.
It’s an open world, but we never get to see much of it, and despite chucking us around to practically every location on offer, only the Room of Requirement and the optional dungeons look interesting. We see nothing that even resembles a good boss battle, likely because the combat is so boring, and the lesson portionౠs of the game look to be disjointed affairs that gamify basic functions like pouring potion in ways that will quickly grow tiresome. The plot, meanwhile, revolves around the anti-Semitic caricatures rebelling, and seems to cast the hero yet again as a Chosen One as Harry Potter struggles with the same issues of Star Wars, in that its impossible for a nobody to be a somebody. They have to be born a special somebody. Considering the stereotyped minorities, gender essentialism, and a Sorting Hat that defines your entire life by the person you are as an 11-year-old, it’s no surprise Harry Potter stories continue to reinforce the idea yo🐷u can only be special if you were born special.
Has my brain just been melted when it comes to all things Harry Potter that I cannot judge it fairly? I don’t think we can ever truly answer the questions of our own biases. I certainly think those who have been in love with the game from the IP alone are clearly putting their thumb on the scale when it comes to pre-emptively declaring this a GOTY contender, but then maybe I’m looking for the worst in it. I know I would say this, but I don’t think I am.
I have 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:no issue with the mobile game-styl🎃e timers, for example. It’s clearly a background mechanic that helps you grow healing potions or other items, and feels a bit like when you could send ships on missions in Assassin’s Creed, send task forces to destroy bases in Mass Effect, or send companions to gather resources inꦯ Genshin Impact. It’s a fairly hands-off thing that that game puts a real world timer on to stop ridiculously easy farming.
Then there’s the fact I still have somewhat fond feelings towards Harry Potter as an entity, I just can’t separate JK Rowling from that entity. We could, by the way. If more of you were prepared to speak out against her instead of justifying her actions (or justifying themselves ignoring them), we might be able to force change. Instead of looking for ways to deflect criticism from JK Rowling in order to make yourself feel better about watching Fantastic Beasts or going to Harry Potter World or playing Hogwarts Legacy, 🎀if you admitted she was a cretin there could be room for meaningful action. Papa John was forced out of his own business, but you can still order Papa John’s, he just doesn’t get the money anymore.
I grew up reading Harry Potter, to the point where I would watch the window on the day a new book launched then devour it within hours. I’ve seen every movie. I still, despite all my feelings for JK Rowling, think of myself as a Ravenclaw. I love Luna Lovegood more than most character🥀s in literature. There are three(?!) separate Harry Potter handbags that I think are very fucking cool and have only resisted buying because of Ms. JKR. I think Daniel Radcliffe is one of the most underrated actors of our generation, but I also think Emma Watson is wildly overrated so maybe t𒉰hat balances out. The short version is I still recognise that there are some great things to have come out of Harry Potter. Nothing I’ve seen has convinced me that Hogwarts Legacy is one of them.
Mostly I’m just exhausted. I can’t believe a game that looks this ‘okay’ has managed to dominate conversations for the past two years and has people searching their souls for whether being an ally to trans people matters more or less than this beige sludge. The game might be good. It might be great! But w💫e haven’t seen anything great yet, have we? Is this really where our standards are right now? Maybe I’d be less harsh on the game if it wasn’t Harry Potter, but the rest of you would be significantly more harsh, so I guess it all works out in the end.