Hogwarts Legacy has been an incredibly hyped game by both Harry Potter fans and open world RPG aficionados alike since its announcement multiple years ago, and well, it's finally almost time for launch. Hogwarts Legacy drops this week for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S (the Xbox One version will follow in early April), and early reviews are starting to hit the web - including ours here at Pure Xbox!
Without further ado, here's what the critics are saying about this open world Harry Potter RPG:
Pure Xbox (9/10)
"It felt like Hogwarts Legacy was always going to struggle to live up to the hype, but somehow Avalanche Software has managed to deliver an absolutely fantastic open world adventure that will go down (in our opinion) as comfortably the best game based on the Harry Potter franchise so far. If you've been following its progress for a while and were keeping your fingers crossed for good reviews, we're pleased to report that it's definitely been worth the wait."
IGN (9/10)
"In nearly every way, Hogwarts Legacy is the Harry Potter RPG I’ve always wanted to play. Its open-world adventure captures all the excitement and wonder of the Wizarding World with its memorable new characters, challenging and nuanced combat, and a wonderfully executed Hogwarts student fantasy that kept me glued to my controller for dozens of hours. It’s certainly weighed down by technical issues, a lackluster main story, and some poor enemy variety, but even those couldn’t come close to breaking its enchanting spell over me."
Attack of the Fanboy (9/10)
"Avalanche Software has done it — the comfort, the nostalgia, the freshness, the thrill — everything in Hogwarts Legacy emulsifies together to create a celebration of what the Wizarding World is and what the fans have always dreamed of. This is by far the best Wizarding World video game to ever come out and stands with a select few games that prove more is more."
Press Start (9/10)
"Hogwarts Legacy is the Wizarding World game that fans have dreamt of for years. It offers a dense and rich open-world to explore complemented perfectly by a surprisingly robust and engaging combat system unlike anything else. While the story does live in the shadow of its predecessors, and managing gear can be repetitive, Hogwarts Legacy is a truly magical experience and utterly bewitching from beginning to end."
God Is A Geek (9/10)
"Hogwarts Legacy does what so few games do these days, leaving me to think about it every second I wasn’t playing. Even now as I write this, I want to be back at Hogwarts solving puzzles and exploring, wondering if there’s still somewhere I might have missed. Exploration is so satisfying, as is the combat, and the way it captured my imagination with its inventiveness, freedom, and characters has been nothing short of remarkable. Avalanche has nailed everything about this game, and I think it’ll be some time before I can get it out of my mind."
Push Square (8/10)
"Hogwarts Legacy has turned the hopes and dreams of Harry Potter fans into reality. Finally there is a proper simulator of the school of witchcraft and wizardry, allowing you to create your own student, attend classes, and explore the vast landscape outside. It's not without its issues — side quests prove far too basic, the menus are poor, and annoying timers hurt the player experience — but they don’t get in the way of something that so blatantly comes from a place of extensive love for the source text. Almost 26 years after Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hit bookshelves, video game fans finally have a magical title to be proud of. It's everything we’ve dreamt of."
VGC (4/5)
"Hogwarts Legacy brilliantly captures the magic of the world of Harry Potter with its beautiful open world, engaging characters and exciting combat. While the open-world elements of the game make it feel more dated than we'd have liked, it's otherwise the best the Wizarding World has been in a video game."
GamesRadar (7/10)
"Hogwarts Legacy is a solid first attempt. If Avalanche can be accused of anything, it's that the studio has tried to do too much all at once. Something was always going to give – between the massive open world, the messy RPG economy, exciting action combat, and adventure story that wants to cast you as a hero with homework due on Monday."
Broadly speaking, then, reviewers are largely in agreement that Hogwarts Legacy is the best Harry Potter game ever made, so fans are in for a real treat with this open world RPG on Xbox! So far the game sits at 87 on Metacritic and 88 on OpenCritic at the time of writing - very, very good scores overall.