The lore of wands is quite deep and intricate in theHarry Potteruniverse, and this is one area whereHogwarts Legacy 2needs to do justice. The first title did allow players to choose their wands, but its overall impact on the story and gameplay left a lot to be desired. Here, players head to Ollivanders in Hogsmeade early on in theirHogwarts Legacyplaythrough. After natural chaos in the shop, they find “their wand.” They can choose the core, the type of wood, the length, the flexibility, and even its base aesthetic appearance, and lock their choice for the entire game.
The entire interaction with Ollivander, the chaos in the shop, and the choices offered look great at the time. But once players realize that the wand they’ve crafted doesn’t make any difference whatsoever, the sentiment can sour a bit. BecauseHogwarts Legacy 2is all but officially confirmed, Avalanche Software and Portkey Games can afford to address this oversight in a sequel.
Hogwarts Legacy Could Have Done More With Wands
Players can engage in all manner of adventures and attend variousclasses inHogwarts Legacy. Its action-RPG combat and the numerous types of spells present are fantastic, even those for general-purpose scenarios. Yet, players' wands don’t have any considerable impact on gameplay.
Players naturally move up the skill tree and enhance their spell power. This makes them more powerful over time, but not in a way that is selective or RPG-like. Moreover, thehardest boss fights inHogwarts Legacy, or even minor ones against monsters, depend on reflexes; this is a given, but no path makes combat particularly easier unless players employ a ton of potions and plants in their arsenal. This is surprising given the wand core descriptions ran thus:
Despite these descriptions, the wand core and its flexibility that players choose don’t seem to improve their strengths in charms, transfigurations, general combat spells, or even the Dark Arts. This is one crucial flaw in wand lore that needs to be fixed going forward; for example, these descriptions can actually have their effects made prominent in gameplay.
How Hogwarts Legacy 2 Can Represent Harry Potter’s Wand Lore
As long-time fans of the universe may be aware, wand lore is a matter of great complication and interest. “The wand chooses the wizard” is easily one of themost iconic dialogues in theHarry Potteruniverse. Different wand types are better suited to different endeavors. Phoenix Feather wands, for instance, are quite powerful for all types of magic, while Dragon Heartstring leans more towards combat or strength-based spells.
When players pick their wand in a presumed sequel, it should improve their affinity for certain branches of magic andHogwarts Legacytalent builds. Aside from those mentioned earlier, maybe picking a wand with Thestral Hair can make their spells for killing and necromancy particularly effective. This can simply mean that they start further up a particular skill tree and lower at others. Also, if certain choices are locked out or if players have to really budget their skill points, this would make going down certain paths more natural.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Can Benefit with Wand-Heavy Side-Quests and Multiplayer
PuristHarry Potterenthusiasts may also be aware that a wand’s loyalty can be won or lost—the Elder Wand’s bloody historyis the best case in point.Hogwarts Legacy 2can flesh out wand lore and story beats by including a path where players lose their wand and are thus weakened by fighting with a stolen one. There could be activities or side quests that enable them to learn the finer aspects of dueling, like fighting faster by creating spell chains, learning to include more environmental magic, and tricks to fight dirty.
There’s also one scenario that could be a massive attraction for combat inHogwarts Legacy 2. If there’s a piece of difficult endgame content or a New Game+ feature that allows dual-wielding wands, the count of players grinding the playthrough may increase exponentially. SinceHogwarts Legacyskipped a multiplayer mode, dual-wielding wands or even using a wand in conjunction with a staff can be one of the best features for PvP combat in a sequel or elsewhere.
