Hmmm. Ok, now you can torture your companion – the latest updates

HL characters revealed so far look promising, and it seems Hogwarts Legacy will spin a story without leaning on Harry Potter books or movies too much. But the exact part NPCs play in your quest is not yet revealed, and now we learn you will be able to torture them with the unforgivable curse.

Hogwarts Legacy release date is on February 10, 2023, and it looks like there won’t be any more changes to that schedule. Warner Bros. Entertainment is feeding us new info about the game one spoon at a time, and this is the latest reveal.

Torturing Your Companion

Branching paths through the story, morality choice effects, and using unforgivable curses are all confirmed to be coming to Hogwarts Legacy. Some of the latest gameplay videos even show the player having to choose how to teach their companion the Cruciatus curse.

One choice is to teach them the spell’s components and the technique to perform it, while the other choice is to use it on the companion directly. Have them learn firsthand, sort to say, by experiencing the effects themselves.

The footage does not show anything further than that, as we will probably have to wait for the Hogwarts Legacy release to know the full scope of what this entails. But the morality choices are quite an interesting addition to a Wizarding World game.

Morality Choice Effects

Since Avalanche Softworks’ announcement that the players will make choices in the game that will determine their path through the game has received universal approval. The fans and players waiting for the game are eager to see how this will unveil.

The players will grow their characters and abilities by mastering spells, learning HL crafting, growing and harvesting plants, and other things. But, as the official Hogwarts Legacy website states:

“Players will encounter missions and scenarios that will pose difficult choices and determine what they stand for.”

This might mean that in Hogwarts Legacy, certain spells will tilt the player’s alignment toward the corresponding side. For instance, using Avada Kedavra could be taking the character to the side of evil and dark.

If true, this would function much like the Light and Dark Force sides in the Knights of the Old Republic 2 game. Every use of a dark side force power, every evil deed, and every sinister interaction award a certain number of dark side points, and vice versa.

However, the system might work differently, where certain spells and abilities will only be available for players of a certain alignment.

The developers have revealed that the morality system will not be like anything seen so far but that the choices the players make will influence the witch or wizard they choose to become, so we are still in the dark about the full scope of this.

Chandler Wood shared a post regarding this, saying:

“You can define who you are and how you choose to respond and react in many conversations. Are you nice or a jerk? You can choose to learn and wield the Dark Arts or not. But there is not a formal tracked morality system like those found in some other RPGs.”

New HL Spells

In addition to spells already confirmed to be appearing in the game, which are all the signature spells from HP movies and books, HL spells will include finishing moves. These will be potentially ancient magic spells shown in the gameplay trailers.

These finisher HL spells show combined uses of the known spells to produce increased effects and new functionalities. We see lightning summoned from the sky in one frame. This could be the HL crafting feature, which might allow the player to combine spells and create unique variations.

Starting as a 5th Year Student

The player starts off as a fifth-year student at Hogwarts, with a unique ability to sense and control ancient magic. This mysterious force is all around, invisible to most, but responds to the main character of HL’s story.

It will be the player’s task to uncover the mysteries of this ancient and forgotten magic. But it appears that there are others who can sense it and seek to harness it. Ranrok, the goblin leader, is possibly one HL character that will be the player’s direct competition.

The 5th year Hogwarts classes are adapted so that the player will catch up to speed quickly, meaning there will be some tutorials. Also, there will be special curriculums with side assignments in the school for attaining more knowledge and learning more spells.

Autodesk presentation

YouTube Link

This was an hour-long presentation in the Autodesk Vision Series during which the developers gave us a unique inside look at Hogwarts Legacy. The presentation was about Unreal Engine and how developers use it for games today.

An hour of the presentation was for Hogwarts Legacy, giving us juicy details. It was a technical presentation, so it wasn’t for the general public like a trailer video is. But, we could glimpse at many new features.

The team has shown the motion capture tech they use, physics development for the game, full-body animations, and more. Judging from what the developers said, the players will be able to explore a fully realized Hogwarts Castle, with dungeons, secret passageways, and puzzles, and other locations.

New character customization options

The players wil lbe able to customize HL characters they create, which will include gender, appearance, and everything from hair style and color to skin color and body shape. Also, players can choose their Hogwarts house and the form of their Patronus spell.

The Autodesk presentation mentioned also showcased how vast HL character customization goes. According to the footage, we will have six tabs for various aspects of HL character customization. The rough figures on customizations are as follows:

  • 30 different HL character presets (15 male & 15 female)
  • Facial shape tab
  • 3 different types of glasses for your HL character
  • 20 skin colors
  • 33 hair colors
  • 40 to 50 hairstyles
  • Complexion tab (10 options for freckles, moles, scars, and markings each)
  • 25 eye colors
  • 33 eyebrow colors
  • 15 eyebrow shapes

The HL character customization options do not stop there, as we’ve also seen the 6th tab with a Hogwarts crest but this is as far as the presentation went. Chandler Wood, the community manager for Auto Desk, has promised that the team plans to go more into detail later, revealing this final tab.

Robes

State of Play Hogwarts Legacy trailer and the Autodesk presentation show many references to the robes. Besides the visual aspect, the robes will most likely have a high impact on the game as they will affect the character.

Specifically, the presentation hints at robes for Hl beasts, herbology, and Duan Johnson, the technical art lead on the game, has said that the robes will contain the skill and attribute values for the character. The robes will possibly boost specific skills, attributes, or abilities.

Herbology and Crafting

Video footage of Hogwarts Legacy shows the room of requirement used for many things in the game, particularly HL crafting. The players will grow specific plants to harvest for ingredients they need to brew potions.

However, HL crafting will not be limited to just potion brewing. According to many confirmed rumors, players will be crafting spells, items, and other things.

Highwing the Hippogriff

HL beasts may have a strong effect on the gameplay, and a familiar Hippogriff was seen in several gameplay videos. This leads us to assume this will be the player’s mount or one of the HL beasts you tame.

Taming a hippogriff has to be done in a specific way, as we see Harry do in the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Maybe all HL beasts in the game will require their unique way of taming, which we know Newt Scamander is an expert of. 

Avalanche Software has confirmed that mounts will be available in the game, so we have high hopes that we will sly the skies with Highwing.

Possibly lots of Dragons

Senior animator Matt Dibb at Avalanche studio has used a dragon from Hogwarts Legacy as an example during the Auto Desk presentation. He said that it is one of our dragons which leads us to believe there will be multiple dragons among HL beasts.

Of course, the confirmed dragon types are the two native to northern Scotland. There is the Hebridean Black dragon, known as the aggressive sort, and then there is the Welsh Green, whom we know is a bit calmer species.

More Magical Creatures

There were also glimpses of in-game actions like holding and petting puffskin, which can be seen 28 minutes into the presentation. If HL beasts includes such a wide variety of species from the Wizarding World, the potential implications are endless.

For instance, puffskin hair is used in creating potions, and we know HL crafting is also confirmed to include potion making, so this begs the question will we be gathering the ingredients through other in-game features?

Quidditch not included

During this Autodesk reveal, the audience did notice some animation files named like moves from Quidditch. But, a Hogwarts YouTuber, RetroRaconteur, has communicated with some people from the development team. He says that Quidditch is likely not coming to the game.

However, flying classes are confirmed at Hogwarts, so the player will be mastering broomstick flight, and brooms will be a means of transportation in the game.

Are the Weasleys possibly appearing in the game?

This speculation concerns Chandler Wood, the community manager at WB Games Avalanche, and his recent post where he stated that some familiar names might appear in the game. Particularly, he hinted at Weasleys.

Now, looking at Harry Potter lore, the Weasley Family Tree goes back to Septimus Weasley, the oldest identifiable Weasley. He is Ron’s grandfather and is known to be involved in an ideological conflict with Cantankerus Nott.

Nott was a pure-blood supremacist and has published a book that lists out the names of all the pure-blood families alive at that time. But, since the game is set at around 1890, Septimus would be too young or possible not born yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.

The Auto Desk presentation that showcased motion capture has shown an actress that plays a character named Weasley. Her movements matched the motion of the deputy headmistress HL character, which was seen in the State of Play trailer, putting the Sorting Hat onto the main character’s head.

Other professors

Other HL character names seen in the presentation include Professor Abraham Ronen, a Slytherin professor of Charms. Next, Professor Sharp is the name of the potions master we will be learning from. The HL character seen teaching potions (in the State of Play trailer) is presumably Sharp.

There is also a hint of Professor Black, who is likely Phineas Black. He was the headmaster of Hogwarts and it fits the timeline. This fits HP lore. He is Sirius Black’s the great-great-grandfather and one of the most unpopular headmasters in Hogwarts history.

Another small detail hinted at the Hogwarts Dueling club and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Hecate. In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Hecate is a Goddess of magic and witchcraft.

Collector’s Edition

The fans have not taken the price of $300 for the Collector’s Edition lightly. Many people have expressed discontent with the price tag and the Play Station exclusive content for Hogwarts Legacy.

Besides the copy of the game, the collector’s edition features a plastic book that hides an electromagnet used to make the magnetic wand levitate above it. The book uses an electricity cord, which is already dubbed muggle science in community channels.

However, the the fans are mostly angry because even if you spend $300 for a PC or Xbox copy of the game, you still don’t get the PlayStation-exclusive content. Currently, we know that the exclusive content includes one quest and the Felix Felicis potion recipe.

Play Station exclusives

There’s been quite an uproar in the community regarding some of the features for the upcoming game. Particularly, people planning to play the game are not happy with PlayStation exclusives. So far, we know they include one quest and a recipe for the Felix Felicis potion.

The exclusive quest comes with any purchase for PlayStation, regardless if you pre-order or not. Chandler Wood, one of the game’s community managers, confirmed this and also said that the Felix Felicis potion recipe does need a pre-order and is not available with other purchases.

The entire Hogwarts Legacy PR team has quickly responded to the confusion and discontent spreading among the community and said that they are aware of it and apologize for the frustration. They also provided clarity on frequently asked questions regarding this matter:

  • The Collector’s Edition will go live at Hogwarts Legacy retailers on a rolling basis on hogwartslegacy.com
  • This has solved the issue of trying to find Amazon or other links to pre-order or reserve a copy of the Collector’s Edition. They also confirmed that:
  • All PlayStation Editions come with the Exclusive Quest – no Pre-Order required
  • Pre-Order for the PS4 and PS5 editions (standard, deluxe, Digital Deluxe, and Collector’s) will come with the Felix Felicis Potion recipe

No Microtransactions

Community managers and the Avalanche PR team have also denied the rumors about microtransactions in the game by stating:

  • Regarding some confusion around the Dark Arts Pack and potential microtransactions, there are NO microtransactions in Hogwarts Legacy
  • Players with the Standard Edition can purchase the Dark Arts Pack in-game separately at launch if they want to upgrade. There are no other items for purchase in-game.
  • No Wizarding World or WB. Games accounts are required to play the game

Warner Bros putting out PR fires like magic

So far, there have been several potentially large PR fires about Hogwarts Legacy, but WB. has managed to stay ahead and put them out by being transparent, answering community questions, and providing a deeper insight into the game. Hogwarts Legacy is coming on February 10, 2023, and we are excited to see what the reception will be.