'Hogwarts Legacy' Trailer: Open World Harry Potter Game Is Set In The 1800s

By Ben PearsonSept. 16, 2020 2:05 pm EST

There have been several video games set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but none quite like this.

Hogwarts Legacy is a third person open world game for next generation consoles, and its impressive trailer was revealed today during a PlayStation 5 event. Check it out in all its glory below.

Hogwarts Legacy Trailer

Hogwarts Legacy has been in the works for years, with plot details and even some footage leaking out during focus group sessions back in 2018. As one of the few people who didn't particularly love the Harry Potter films, I'll easily concede that the world-building in the books and movies is spectacular, so the notion of immersing myself in a video game that's set in Hogwarts and the surrounding areas sounds much more appealing to me than watching any Fantastic Beasts movies.

Here's the official synopsis for the game:

Experience a new story set at Hogwarts in the 1800s. Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart. Make allies, battle Dark wizards and decide the fate of the wizarding world.

And according to that early leak, here's some more info about the game (keeping in mind that some of these could have been tweaked in the years since):

Journey to Hogwarts to become one of 8 different Wizard types.

Experience Hogwarts, make new friends, uncover new secrets, and change the fate of the Wizarding world.

Experience a new magic system that creates countless possibilities to master magic.

Freely explore the Wizarding World for the first time.

Choose your house and friends at Hogwarts, and decide to pursue a path of good or evil.

Create your own witch or wizard, and experience a all new story separate from the books or films.

Of course, right now is probably not the best time for an (admittedly anticipated) Harry Potter game to make its grand debut. That's because J.K. Rowling, the author behind the Potter books and screenwriter of the Fantastic Beasts films, has recently double- and tripled-down on transphobic comments in public, and her comments have troubled some of the developers of this game and have led some of her one-time fans to decide not to financially support Rowling or the Potter brand moving forward. It will be interesting to see how this game is received, because I don't imagine Rowling will be backing down on her stances any time soon. Separating the art from the artist has been a familiar topic of conversation – especially over the past few years – and now the gaming community is going to have to grapple with it in a big way.

Hogwarts Legacy will be available for multiple consoles sometime in 2021.