As someone new to the Wizarding World, you don’t know much magic, but you’re about to get a crash course. Your new witch or wizard is a brand new student to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and more rare than that invitation, you are joining in your fifth year. There’s an extensive list of pre-built faces, hair styles, two voices to choose from, and more to make the character you will be spending the next 50+ hours with. The first thing you’ll be doing is customizing your character. As such, beyond the paragraph above that covers the first 15 minutes of the game (and the video above), I’ll be very careful to not reveal any important details of the game whenever possible.

The best parts of the Harry Potter books and movies are the sense of discovery. Welcome to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but just know that you aren’t ready for what lies ahead. Oh, and you’ll need to learn spells, study potions, learn how to fly a broom, and much, much more to just survive long enough to do exactly that. This discovery makes you the target of a worldwide hunt by dark forces, but it’s up to you to find out why. Narrowly escaping with their lives, Professor Fig and your character take a side-junt where they learn that you are in possession of some rare and powerful ancient magic. A massive dragon chomps the carriage in half. Professor Fig is to pick you up and transport you to the magical school when disaster strikes. Your character is a new student, remarkably starting at Hogwarts in their fifth year. Hogwarts Legacy takes place in the late 1800s, over 100 years before the events of any of the Harry Potter books. How in the world do you bottle that magic when the last three Fantastic Beasts movies have failed to do exactly that? You take it back to the source.

We grew up with Harry Potter, learning about this Wizarding World right alongside him, on the edge of our seats as he battled monsters, hardly learned any spells, and made new friends. It’s discovery of the completely fantastic – a world of possibilities just under the surface of our mundane Muggle world. The thing that is magical about the Wizarding World isn’t the magic – it’s the sense of wonder.

Hogwarts legacy spell layout