For many,Hogwarts Legacywas a huge, pleasant surprise. It’s a title in a franchise that hasn’t had the best luck in gaming and had been bogged down by film tie-ins. However,Avalanche managed to extract some of the magicand forge an open-world RPG that, while it doesn’t rival the top of the genre’s pile, was a great product, and a positive first impression. A sequel seems like a formality seeing as the first game garnered overwhelming commercial acclaim to go along with the generally positive review scores.
That sequel could go in a number of directions. The ability for players to craft their own wizard who begins their tenure at Hogwarts in their fifth year means that there’s a possibility of seeing them graduate and go off to do more in the world, battling enemies as they go. It’s there thatHogwarts Legacy’s follow-up could run into some difficulties, as the first game exhausted most, if not all, of the options of bad guys. The next title may struggle with its enemy variety and keeping things fresh, asHogwarts Legacyused plenty of adversaries to fill out its setting.
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Enemies are Abundant in Hogwarts Legacy
While most of the time away from the school will be spent fighting rogue wizards and spiders, the enemy variety is strong on a narrative and tonal level. The way that certain enemies respond to conflict is fun and keeps the encounters feeling fresh even though the combat system can feel a little repetitive. Stopping Ranrok’s forces feels like a significant pushback against an overpowering evil whilefighting off a few spiders in the Forbidden Forestgives off the impression of it being a public service to help make the world more habitable for nearby hamlets and Hogwarts itself.
That variety is one of the game’s biggest strengths, even though all types of enemies can be found all over the map, which is a blunder that a sequel should look to correct to give each area more identity. The follow-up also has to find a way to use the same baddies as before while keeping them fresh, and somehow implement new ones that keep in touch withHarry Potterlore, but are yet to be used.
Hogwarts Legacy Has Exhausted Its Enemy Options
Retreading old ground by once again fighting the same adversaries could makeHogwarts Legacy’s sequelfeel more like a side-step rather than an evolution. There is, of course, the slim chance that the combat won’t rely on wands, magic, potions, and plants, but it worked well enough the first time there’s not a lot of point in changing it entirely. Adding more attacks and abilities to the enemy’s arsenal could be a viable way to keep it fresh on a gameplay level.
Still, narratively and visually it’s all too familiar to be fighting goblins, Ashwinders, spiders, and dugbogs again. This also wouldn’t be a concern if the sequel takes place elsewhere, but since the Highlands seemingly need to be a paramount part of the formula it would only make sense for these enemies to return, too.
Dementors make a lot of sense for theHogwarts Legacysuccessor but this, at least for the most part, is the only significant enemy type that could realistically make an appearance from the films. The Vivarium made it so that most of the magical beasts in the franchise are friendly and can be collected and nurtured, giving the game another source of progression. Rather, this creates a huge enemy problem for a potential sequel that the developer has to address if it wants to improve on the impressive first outing.
Hogwarts Legacyis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch release scheduled for Jul 30, 2025.
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