Just platinumed Hogwarts Legacy. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the quality; usually games based off of movies or books tend not to be great, but the studio actually threw it quite a lot of effort behind this, and while I wouldn't say it's amazing it's very well done. The premise is the player is attending late 1800s Hogwarts, so the only characters from the books are the ghosts and Phineas Nigellus Black. No explanation is given as to why you're suddenly starting school as a fifth year, your background, or why you specifically can do magic no one else can, because it is first and foremost a fantasy, that you yourself are there.

There would be several things I would change about it though, starting from fighting. Although the battle system is streamlined, and fun, it's easy and you overlevel fairly quickly. I wasn't even trying to go out of my way to do sidequests or anything, but I found myself several levels above any enemy I was fighting. Even those equal to me weren't too much of an issue. That also may be due to the lack of variety in enemies--there's only seven types--so you learn the attack pattern for all of them early on. There are less spells than you'd expect as well, so although you can switch up your combos, you don't really need to.

The second is the map. There isn't one. You have a minimap, but what I would like to see is the whole fucking thing please. Literally when you click on "map" in the menu, an image of the castle pops up. That doesn't help me. I know, I know, it's hard to render a map with a layout like Hogwarts when there aren't any solid stories, but you could've rendered the interior of the whole thing and allowed to player to zoom in and out.

The third is the map itself. It is huge because they were mimicking the Scottish highlands. I've said it many times, I appreciate a large map but you really don't need it. I'm willing to let it slide in this case because I think the developers wanted wide room for flying on your broom or animals, which... yeah, that was pretty epic. However, if you are going to make it this large, you need rewards for exploration. I'll keep throwing Breath of the Wild out as an example because Nintendo did do a great job. In that game, wandering gave you shrines, Korok seeds, or even random sidequests. Here, there are Merlin trials peppered around the map, but the treasure vaults didn't feel like a reward because after the first few hours of play time the treasure was always shitty.

The fourth is sometimes shit didn't make any sense. If you didn't go to Hogsmeade with Sebestian, it's weird how he sacrificed himself in the library for you. Or if you did it the other way around, then it's odd how Natty is really into taking out Harrow consdering she wouldn't've been in the Three Broomsticks. Or like why does Ollivander think his missing wand has anything to do with your missing pages. That's poor writing that with a bit of polishing would've been resolved. Also, explain that shit hovering over the Pensieve is a locket because no one could tell and it comes out of left field how characters are talking about this locket.

There are other small complaints, like how it can get glitchy (but often in a hilarious way), why are there giant spiders but Hagrid hasn't attended yet, how come there are random missions when I have to sneak out after hours but I do that all the time in regular gameplay, why did they only hire two voice actors for the player and then later digitally modified them, why does the menu have a pointer, how come there isn't a close Ravenclaw friend...

However I was pretty blown away by other aspects. I'll say time and time again I love environments and Hogwarts was a fucking delight. The developers took a large page from the movies, but there were plenty of unique areas. The first time I played I think I literally spent about three hours just wandering and staring at everything. The attention to detail was amazing. And it extended beyond Hogwarts. I mentioned before how large the map is, and going through Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, standing on the buffs over the coast... It's a very visually attractive game and I felt like I was hiking back in Ireland.

The plot was actually pretty solid. Not amazing, but it was nice seeing how the choices in the past are affecting the present, and how everyone came together in the end. The characters are also interesting and memorable, even ones you just meet for one sidequest. I can still recall Arthur's unusual voice as he shares his treasure map with you, or Garreth experimenting with potions, or Nellie's enthusiasm for the Dedaelian keys, or Mr. Moon being an alcoholic, or Nerida trying to become an ambassador to the mermaids, or Imelda being a bitch. And I was always excited when the next chapter in Sebestian, Natty, or Poppy's storylines would pop up.

What was a great delight were the puzzles. Although not excessively hard, sometimes you really had to think and I feel it's something that a lot of video games aren't doing as much anymore. Sitting in front of a Merlin trial or standing in a treasure vault, contemplating what needed to be done, was something I haven't felt in a while.

The music was also lovely. The four dudes responsible, Chuck E. Myers, J. Scott Rakozy, Peter Murray, and Alexadner Horowitz really tried emulated Williams' style. There were moments of silence that seem prevelent in video games nowadays, but mostly they tried to keep it flowing.

If you're a Harry Potter fan, definitely play this. If you're not and haven't read the books/watched the movies, I still say it's enjoyable experience. There are plenty of features I didn't cover, like capturing animals or decorating your own room. Good job guys, you fulfilled all of my childhood fantasies.