To a certain extent,Hogwarts Legacyenables players to follow a good or dark path, letting them choose whether they wish to learn and use the three Unforgivable Curses. Besides choosing the “bad” ending, performing dark spells like Crucio, Imperius, and Avada Kedavra is the main way players can be evil inHogwarts Legacy, as there’s no morality system with any real consequences. On the one hand, it makes sense that the developers chose to focus on the three Unforgivable Curses forHogwarts Legacy’s Dark Arts spells as the most deplorable form of dark magic in the wizarding world. However, there is a whole host of dark magic in theHarry Potteruniverse not present inHogwarts Legacy,which could expand its somewhat restricted range of Dark Arts types.
That said, severalDark Arts talents inHogwarts Legacyare categorized as other types of curses used in combat, many of which enhance the impact on existing cursed targets. For instance, when using Blood Curse, damaging cursed foes inflicts damage on all cursed enemies in the area. However, there are many other Dark Arts spells, items, potions, and even creatures that don’t appear in the game as player-controlled activities or at all.
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Dark Arts Spells And Items Not In Hogwarts Legacy
Curses are considered the most potent type of Dark Arts magic in theHarry Potteruniverse, so this is perhaps whyHogwarts Legacyfocus on them. For instance, the core Spell Flipendo thatknocks enemies upwards and backward has a dark curse counterpart called the Knockback Jinx. However, other dark magic variants not included inHogwarts Legacyinclude minor to moderate dark magic like jinxes and hexes. These sometimes feature in otherHarry Pottervideo games, like the Bat-Bogey Hex inHogwarts Mystery, causing bat-shaped bogeys to shoot out of an opponent’s nose. Hexes and jinxes could make side quest activities like the dueling club or other encounters more exciting, particularly for players who may prefer mischievous or rebellious gameplay to full-on evil.
Hogwarts Legacyalso excludes some core Dark Arts features in its mechanics, such as dark artifacts. Although players can weave traits toupgradeHogwarts Legacygearusing the Room of Requirement loom to increase spell damage effects, magically-imbued dark items like bewitched books and objects are excluded, like the cursed opal necklace inHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It’s a shame that similar objects are left out, as it could be rewarding for players to discover or craft magical items that enhance Dark Arts' powers differently compared to only increasing damage, especially when objects like Horcruxes are so crucial in theHarry Potteruniverse.
Dark Potions And Creature Breeding Not In Hogwarts Legacy
Additionally, players wanting to explore a Death Eater ordark wizard build inHogwarts Legacycan’t brew dark potions to potentially launch or lure enemies, such as Drink of Despair with its nasty effects. There are also no dedicated Dark Arts vendors selling dark wizarding wares where players can buy dark magic ingredients like Knockturn Alley or other potential dodgy places for rebellious wizards.
Furthermore, although players can mark adark-arts-inspired Room of Requirement, they can’t make anything dark there, like breed dark creatures such as Basilisks, which a Daily Prophet newspaper clipping indicates took place duringHogwarts Legacy’ssetting. Instead, players can only fight select ominous foes, like Acromantula and Inferi. AlthoughHogwarts Legacyis a vast open-world game that covers a lot, there seems room to expand itsdark arts offering in a potential sequel, particularly with the somewhat unexpected popularity of Slytherin House.
Hogwarts Legacyis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version releasing November 14.
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