Hogwarts Legacy boycott ignored by majority as game tops download and streaming charts

It’s probably the most anticipated game this century (so far), the early release of Hogwarts Legacy dropped on Monday and early reviews suggest it has not disappointed.

What is Hogwarts Legacy?

Hogwarts Legacy is a video game set almost 200 years before the events in the Harry Potter novels.

Gamers play as a student at the school of Hogwarts in the 1800s “with a secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart”.

Legacy is open world action role-playing game. This means gamers take part in real-time combat and play as the central character.

Players can explore Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest, Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

The character creation screen lets players to choose their appearance and gender.

The Sorting Hat will allocate the player to a Hogwarts house - either Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. This also gives the character access to that house’s common room and house exclusive quests.

An online poll revealed that most gamers were hoping to be sorted into Hufflepuff.

Controversy

There have been calls for a boycott of the game due to JK Rowling’s support of anti-transgender rhetoric and her notoriety as an anti-trans figure.

The official website for the game states that Rowling was not involved in the development of the game, but she does profit from the licencing.

It what seems like a subtle pushback against Rowling’s views the wizarding world’s first trans character is included in the game.

A witch, Sirona, works at the Three Broomsticks pub in the village of Hogsmeade.

She explains how a goblin recognised her, while her old schoolmates “took a second to realise I was actually a witch, not a wizard”.

The game also allows players to use a mix of masculine and feminine features during character creation, letting them create their own transgender or non binary characters.

Despite this, many social media users are calling for a boycott.

Geek girl’s website The Mary Sue also called for a boycott, not just for Rowling’s trans views, but due to the game’s antisemitic tropes used in the depiction of goblins.

The game is set during the 1800’s Goblin Rebellion, where goblins warred against wizards for not allowing them to carry wands.

According to The Mary Sue, goblins are depicted as hook-nosed, greedy bankers in the Harry Potter universe, which as a trope is seen as similar to anti-Jewish propaganda.

Popularity

Boycott calls have not hurt the game’s sales.

Legacy is the most downloaded game on the online distributor Steam.

Quora Marketing estimated that more than a million pre-sale copies have already been sold.

Legacy hit more than one million viewers on Twitch the live streaming service for gaming, breaking an audience record.

On Wednesday, the servers for other Warner Brothers games experienced issues believed to be due to the sheer volume of gamers playing Legacy.

Reviews

Popular game reviewer AGC wrote the game was a huge surprise: “I was not at all expecting to find a game with a number of gameplay elements that kept me constantly guessing, and a story I was actually interested in. Very well done.”

The game garnered positive reviews across the board from reviewers given early access:

• AusGamers 9.1 / 10
• Game Rant 4.5 / 5
• Geek Culture 9 / 10
• Guardian 3 / 5
• IGN 9 / 10
• PlayStation Universe 9.5 / 10
• Pure Xbox 9 / 10

Within the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit the feedback from gamers was also overwhelming postive.

“In 35 of years of gaming (45), this is the first game in memory that I refuse to use fast travel. The world is that impressive.”

“Hogwarts Castle is the greatest interior space.”

“I love how 99 per cent of the doors in this game are accessible.”

MetaCritic a review aggregator said Legacy received “generally favourable reviews”.

Gameplay

One of the biggest announcements to excite gamers was the news that the killing curse Avada Kedavra could be used within the game.

The three unforgivable curses: Avada Kedavra, Imperius and Cruciatus all feature in the game. Players need to be level 28 and finish a quest line to learn the killing curse.

There was some disappointment from players when they realised that the killing curse could not be used on other students.

However, it’s predicted the PC mods will be created to enable players to use the killing curse at will.

Gamers also use spell-casting in combat and dodge roll. There are classes to learn spells, potion mixing and herbology.

There’s also a collecting element where players can gather magical gear to become more powerful.

Official release date

• PlayStation 5: February 10
• Xbox series X|S: February 10
• PC: February 10
• PlayStation 4: April 4
• Xbox One: April 4
• Nintendo Switch: July 25