Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery lets you become an apprentice at the renowned school of magic. But how free are you there? Read our review now.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery review
This is the year of Harry Potter. Not only will the creators of Pokémon GO have to come up with an augmented reality game based on the hit books and movies, but you can now enter Hogwarts yourself as an apprentice with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
The game takes place before Harry Potter comes to the school, but your own character follows a similar path to the ‘boy who lived’. People already know him. That’s because his brother did something terrible in the past. Fortunately, your character will soon get some friends, but unfortunately also enemies that bother him. Hogwarts Mystery is also full of familiar faces from the movies.
Owl post
The game starts as expected: with a letter inviting you to the school. Then you will visit Diagon Alley for your school supplies and magic wand. Of course you can also sit under the sorting hat, because that hat determines which house you end up in. Fortunately, you can secretly choose this house yourself.
Nice is that the game, although limited, is really role-playing. You can build your courage, empathy and knowledge and level up. This happens automatically when going through the story, but after completing assignments you can often choose a reward. You get the choice to choose gold to buy new clothes, diamonds to fill your energy meter or points for one of the three statistics.
It is not for nothing that you choose courage, empathy or knowledge. You regularly end up in situations where a certain level reached ensures that you get more options. It’s a fun and accessible way to influence how your character grows.
Energy system
To improve yourself and follow the story, you need to start events. For example, a class to make potions with Professor Snape, a class flying on your broomstick, or an adventure. At every event, your goal is to earn stars by taking actions. If you have enough stars, the event is over, you will receive a reward and you can continue. However, doing actions takes energy and you don’t have much of that.
As a result, you quickly run into a wall while you want to continue playing. Your only choice is to wait or to spend money. Each action costs one energy point. Ten energy points can be bought for twenty diamonds (the cheapest option). You can buy twenty-five diamonds for 1.09 euros (also the cheapest option). Don’t have patience? Then it can quickly become an expensive joke.
Recently, the new The Sims game felt limited as well, and with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mysterty, that sense of captivity is only stronger. This energy system prevents the player from really diving into the game.
Still nice
Although Hogwarts Mystery is otherwise a game that requires little interaction, it is still a fun Harry Potter experience. For example, the voice actors of the films are called up again to record some sentences and you really feel part of this fun world.
You also experience an exciting adventure over the secret Cursed Vaults full of treasures, you duel and grow as a wizard or witch. You just have to have a lot of patience for it. Are you a fan of Harry Potter and satisfied with a game that you pick up every now and then to do some actions? Then you should definitely try Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
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