Besides the resounding successes that both were for their IPs, it’s plain to see how influential and profoundHogwarts LegacyandStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderhave been for the wizarding world andStar Wars, respectively. As an open-world action-RPG and an action-adventure game with Metroidvania and Soulslike elements,Hogwarts LegacyandStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderdelivered on design formulas that were sorely anticipated and have rewritten the book on what aHarry PotterorStar Warsgame could look like.
ForHogwarts Legacy, an action-RPG simulating a Hogwarts student’s schooling is nearly everything fans ofHarry Potterhave wanted from a wizarding world game. For theJediseries, Respawn was able to capitalize on focused Soulslike features to imbue its titular protagonist with. The two parallel each other in many ways, such asHogwarts Legacy’s Keeper trials echoingFallen Order’s Zeffo tombs, but whileJedihas already received a sequel,Survivor, and had its upcoming third installment dubbed its last,Hogwarts Legacy’s future would appear far brighter and capable of bearing more fruit.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Open-World Action-RPG Genre is a No-Brainer
OverlookingHarry Potter’s licensed tie-in titlesfromthe Goblet of Fireonward,Hogwarts Legacyis arguably the best wizarding world game sinceSorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone,Chamber of Secrets, andPrisoner of Azkaban. But while the original trilogy of adventure games is incredibly charming and endearing in its own right, the wizarding world has been fiercely itching for a proper open-world action-RPG with diverse customization options.
Hogwarts Legacyisn’t necessarily the perfect distillation of that genre or its characteristics, and yet it allows for a foundation that an inevitable sequel and other future wizarding world games can build upon.Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Scottish Highlandsgive players a deep well of content to explore at their leisure, andHogwarts Legacy’s story encapsulates a brand-new mystery nesting below the castle’s hallowed halls.
Indeed,Hogwarts Legacycould’ve probably been leashed wholly to the eponymous school and still been as successful as it was, which bodes well for whatever Avalanche may have in store for the game (that is, ifLegacyis to become a household franchise likeStar Wars Jedihas).Hogwarts Legacyhad reportedly sold over 30 million unitsas of a few months ago and, with a successor or sequel already admitted to, it’ll be fascinating to see how wizarding world games might evolve with Avalanche’s action-RPG as a dependable framework.
It at least seems transparent now that Portkey Games and Warner Bros. managed to strike the wizarding world’s nerve withHogwarts Legacy, and it’d be tremendously disappointing if the open-world action-RPG genre was abandoned so quickly.
Star Wars Jedi Hopefully Won’t Be Taken for Granted When It Concludes
Star Wars Jedi’s series, on the other hand, may have always been doomed from the beginning. UnlikeHogwarts Legacy, which brilliantly takes place a century before the events ofHarry Potterand can distance itself from those stories accordingly,Star Wars Jediis planted squarely betweenRevenge of the SithandA New Hopewith hardly any leeway provided to it.
Moreover, Respawn has been hurriedly aging its protagonist, Cal Kestis, with five-year time jumps that are expected to continue withSurvivor’s sequel. It’s tough to say whenSurvivor’s sequel may take place and what it might entail, but with the confirmation that it will conclude Cal’s story it is devastating nonetheless.Star Warsgames have all been fairly hit or miss for the last couple of decades andFallen Orderwas uncharted, rejuvenating territory; Soulslike elements marry well to a Jedi’s lightsaber combat, for example, while Metroidvania elements marry well to nonlinear holomap exploration via Cal’s Force abilities.
IfStar Warsgames drop Soulslike gameplay withJediending they risk sacrificing what successfully carried them into the modern era. Especially with a relatively generic open-world game like Ubisoft’sStar Wars Outlawsnot landing as well as it should have, there’s a high likelihood thatStar Warsgames will struggle to find their footing once theJediseries isn’t there to uphold them in spirit.
