Hogwarts Legacy review – wizarding wish-fulfilment whose magic wears off - The Guardian

Given how merciless modern pop culture is in its exploitation of childhood nostalgia, it’s remarkable there’s been no credible attempt at a big-budget Harry Potter video game before now. Hogwarts Legacy has so much to work with: it is the product of millions of childhood dreams. Donning the Sorting Hat and setting foot inside the Gryffindor common room, manipulating the world effortlessly with a wand and fighting dark wizards are all fantasies that it can easily fulfil.

[oIMyersIo]

I’m not one who, when hyped for a game will excuse negative to average reviews as bias but it’s clear that this review has a bias given the author.

[Lexreborn2]

Wouldn’t every review that gives immediate claim to their Harry Potter fandom be bias as well? Or is it only when it’s a review that you aren’t happy with that there’s an issue? Because you speak as if a 6 is a bad score.

[oIMyersIo]

I didn’t say anywhere that I was unhappy?
I simply stated a fact.
Try harder next time.

[Imalwaysright]

Weren't you the same guy crying about Forspoken reviews in several articles? Talk about being a hypocrite.

[andy85]

Forspoken got absolutely slated for being a 7 to be fair

[Adrian_v01]

@imalwaysright

Bias goes more than one way.

[roadkillers]

6 is a bad score. Has anyone ever congratulated you for getting a 60% on anything?

[Lexreborn2]

@roadkiller 60% isn’t universal, even Microsoft has a 70% success quota on patches and OS deployments in order to roll out to the masses. Context means everything, and for some reason y’all lose context quickly on game reviews.

You cannot apply your school report card logic to the rest of the world.

[zeuanimals]

3 isn't a 6. 1 through 5 is more like A through F grades. Once you look at scores in that way, it all makes sense. So 3 is actually closer to 7. I mean, why give two whole numbers for a 2/10 and a 4/10? They're both bad enough to just be 1s. I feel like I'm in Community right now.

[gerbintosh]

2 paragraphs of the review are dedicated JK Rowling and not the game itself. Based on that alone it is not surprising that the reviewer rated it low. Also, even the paragraphs about the game aren't that deep into what the issues are.

[Lexreborn2]

If you are considering this review a negative biased review. That means you clearly aren’t happy with the opinion piece which is why you would call it biased.

You aren’t using that same metrics in the positive articles that clearly have a bias so why apply it here? It’s because you don’t care that the positives have clear bias because you want to agree with them. But you call this review negative when a 6 in gaming is a good score and then call it bias.

That IS your bias talking.

[Stanjara]

Scoring 6 in gaming is not good.
It gets worse if the investment gets higher.

Would You buy a 6/10 Tv? Phone? A Car? A House?

[VenomUK]

@Lexreborn2 a person can be a fan of a franchise (such as Batman) but this doesn’t mean they will love every game about it (such as Gotham Knights) - that’s not the same as a person who is supposedly a professional journalist condemning J.K. Rowling and after complaining about her saying of Hogwart’s Legacy ‘It is a shame that the game can’t escape this context.’ This means she will be making the game down for it.

[PureBlood]

It's plainly a biased review with an agenda. It was only ever going to be that from The Guardian. This particular journalist is known for doing the 'wokey cokey', which just further ensured that would be the case. Some people can't review games, films or books without preaching their preferred ideologies and that's exactly what we've got here.

It's clear as day and not tied to people being upset that a game they wanted to like got a score lower than they would have preferred. Open your eyes.

[MaximusTKG]

This isn’t supposed to be an opinion piece. It’s a review, which theoretically should be unbiased. They never are.

[CrimsonWing69]

I think when you have a situation where 9/10 people are glowing about a game and 1 person isn’t, there’s a strong chance that 1 person is off base. Sure, it can be interesting seeing what their points are for context, but it’s pretty safe to say their experience won’t be the majority’s.

Also, let’s be real… there’s an agenda based off this review.

[oIMyersIo]

You mention “You aren’t using that same metrics in the positive articles”

I’m sorry, but can you please explain where there has been a rally to buy Hogwarts Legacy due to political agenda?

That’s right.
There hasn’t, same can’t be said about the other side though…

[jwillj2k4]

What's your point?? 6/10 is a failure anyway you slice it. Would you be happy purchasing anything other than a game where its rating is 6/10? Go ahead Ill wait.

In gaming people are even more critical. A 6/10 is bargain bin status. 8 (not 7) /10 is usually recognized as good game, sometimes it has to be even higher. This review is subjective, its only 1 persons opinion but dont sit here and defend a 6/10 rating. It's universally considered a failure.

[Nineball2112]

Of course the author has a bias and that obviously affected their score. To say otherwise is to deny human nature.

[GotGame818]

Yeah, funny you can't comment, on her Twitter feed, unless you follow her! She doesn't want her feelz hurt! 🙄
Played through the opening and went to my first 2 classes @Hogwarts. Seems like it is going to be epic!

[GoodGuy09]

Story seems kinda...mid-ish from streamers I've been watching. Not a HP fan but I'm quite interested in the exploration, visuals looks to be the best it has and gameplay seems fine.
Many games I have more interest in are also releasing soon so I'll have to wait and keep my eyes out for a sale. No way I can dive into this 30+ hr game atm. Good that it's getting mostly positive reviews so I'll be looking forward to it down the line.

[ANIALATOR136]

What do you expect from a rag like the Guardian

[dRanzer]

So J.K Rowling said something about trans people and the writer(she/he beside on she/he twitter) punishing the game by giving it a low score?
That's what it looks like, isn't it?

[Jin_Sakai]

That’s it. How about they review the game for what it is and keep their JK Rowling rants out.

[dRanzer]

*base

[Nineball2112]

Not what it looks like, it's what it is.

[CrimsonWing69]

I mean, there’s always got to be one.

[Geoff900]

This is a poor review, starts off by talking about nostalgia, then goes off to talk about Transgendered and then talks about inclusivity, nothing so much about the actual game.

[anast]

Even though this reviewer is Kotaku alum, he/she is consistent about harping on samey open worlds. Though, I loved HZD games, which the reviewer gave high scores, they also have that samey open world feel.

[Fonsecap]

Boa bla bla JK Rowling, Bla Bla transgender, blabla political views blabla blablabla. Reading the review you would never imagine that it would be just 6, but numbers are numbers and opinions must be respected, however, reviewers should review games without fear of giving a good review and face the angry cancellation mob, that's why is only 6 I guess

[DDR2K]

There’s always got to be one. And that's all I could comment on this matter.

[Crows90]

The guardian isn't a gaming outlet.

They are a politics first outlet. The only reason that they're doing gaming reviews is because gaming is popular and part of modern culture right now.

They want to have their say without even understanding why gaming is so popular. This is why they have to bring up things outside of the game in order to justify their scores. But as they are going to find out nobody cares about their opinions but about the quality of the game

[BandarHub]

This is modern-day journalism here.

[GotGame818]

I just finished my first 2 classes at Hogwarts, and really having fun with the game! The opening was cool indeed!

[cheetah]

Everyone knew that was coming, that’s why we know it was done out of spite. The guardian is a joke, let’s be honest. They think nighttime is racist.

[metalhead]

I firmly believe that trans people deserve rights and respect just as anyone else and if you ask me, I think JK Rowling is an idiot.

But I’m not going to deny myself childhood nostalgia simply because the same idiot happened to have created said world.

Just like I won’t boycott Wagner or Disney because of the composer’s or Walt’s anti semetic views.

Separate the art from the artist and enjoy the game. Humans, no matter what they create, will always be humans and flawed. It baffles me that people who will swear up and down to not believe in God (neither do I, mind you) expect people who create amazing things to be as perfect as the Bible made Jesus out to be.

Do you like HP? Play Hogwarts Legacy. You’ll love it

JK Rowling is just another human with a mouth and that mouth can spew nonsense at any time.

[P_Bomb]

My kid’s loving it so far, and it does look good from what I’ve watched.

[rippermcrip]

Brought up Rowling twice, that's all you need to know about their bias.