Hogwarts Legacy’s open world spans a great distance with verticality and labyrinthine interiors that could’ve been difficult to navigate if not for how fantastic the action-RPG’s movement is. For example, it’s wonderful thatHogwarts Legacygives players aDead Space-esque objective guidance system to track and has it remain immersive with the Wizard’s Field Guide in hand. Likewise, being able to fast travel to any active Floo Flame players have come across allows players to quickly ascend or descend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s many towers and corridors.
Hogsmeade itself is a large commercial district that can be easy to get lost in unless players abuse the Floo Network or orient themselves with the Three Broomsticks as their north star. The Scottish Highlands, however, are another matter entirely, especially when dungeons or shallow treasure vaults come into play. Much ofHogwarts Legacy’s open-world explorationis optional, such as whether they’d like to indulge in monotonous collection catalog hunts or Field Guide challenges in its nethers, but engaging with even the game’s most menial content is alluring due to how freeing and responsive traversal is.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Movement Mechanics Make Its Open-World Traversal a Treat
Hogwarts Legacydoesn’t feature hardcore platformingand its ‘traversal’ is more or less leaping up along ledges or flying through the air on a broom or beast mount. That said, movement is incredibly fluid with quick sprinting and a landscape that is designed to communicate perfectly what elements of any environment players can climb. Moreover, there is a terrific quality of life to how players interact with environments with or without a broom:
Hogwarts Legacy Doesn’t Exploit Traversal as Much as It Could
Hogwarts Legacy’s cube-laden puzzle roomsare a rare example of how speedy leaps and climbing can be effective as players dart across the room, hop onto cube platforms that they’ve either pulled or pushed (with Accio or Depulso, respectively), and jump to and from these platforms as they make creative, suspended paths to loot chests.
It’s unfortunate, then, that so few of these puzzle chambers exist and thatHogwarts Legacydoesn’t take advantage of how fluid its character movement is more explicitly in gameplay. Sluggish movement would’ve madeHogwarts Legacya slog to get through even if players can eventually fast travel or fly to their destinations in the open world, and this movement translates gracefully to combat, too—players’ evasive somersaults are responsive and can be upgraded to turn into a magical dash.
Avalanche now has an extraordinary blueprint for movement that it hopefully doesn’t deviate too drastically from in a sequel. Rather, it will hopefully lean on it closely to punctuate one ofHogwarts Legacy’s unsung strengths.
