Summary
Following a considerable hiatus,Hogwarts Legacyhas reared its head again. The reveal of aHogwarts Legacysummer update is a nice treat for players—and arguably a long time coming—bringing to players a lot of goodies that not all of them may have had at launch as well as content that’ll be new toHogwarts Legacywhen the update launches on June 6.
The content players have already been able to access, such as the Felix Felicis potion recipe, the Onyx Hippogriff mount skin, andHogwarts Legacy’s Haunted Hogsmeade Shop quest, is fantastic to see. The Photo Mode feature is surely meant to be the star of the update, while the ability to respec talent points will be favorable for anyone hoping to reverse-engineer their witch or wizard. A new gear set is also offered in this update; however, despite how neat it is from an aesthetic standpoint, it produces an unpleasant memory strand and places it in a pensieve for players to revisit.
The summer update comes with an Azkaban prisoner’s outfit and coat set and allows players to now role-play as either a rightfully or wrongfully convicted felon inHogwarts Legacy’s wizarding world. The outfit consists of a grey-and-white jumpsuit with a worn jacket, which wouldn’t necessarily be what a character might want to wear if they’re trying to flee Azkaban unsuspiciously but will be a great alternative to the whimsical attire cataloged inHogwarts Legacynevertheless.
Instead, the disappointment that this skin will likely elicit in players is the reminder it’ll be of howHogwarts Legacyfeatured an underbaked Azkaban quest exclusive to players enrolled in the Hufflepuff house. Here, only a narrow corridor and a handful of Dementors are seen before players converse with a scripted NPC and are promptly taken back to Hogwarts.
To be fair, it is neat that Avalanche found a way to whisk Hufflepuff players to Azkaban at all—much less anywhere remotely distant from Hogwarts or its enveloping Scottish Highlands—and it was a quest brilliantly gifted to Hufflepuff, whom Avalanche probably wagered would be the least desirable house choice otherwise.
Hogwarts Legacy Has Never Owed Its Playerbase More Content, Let Alone a Fuller Azkaban Experience
It obviously would’ve been thrilling for players to earn a Patronus and be capable of defending themselves against Dementors while racing through Azkaban in a high-octane set-piece prison breakout, for instance, and yet that would’ve given Hufflepuff a massively unfair disparity compared to other Hogwarts houses. Enough time has passed sinceHogwarts Legacy’s launch that this has become accepted by the community with high hopes thatAzkaban, Dementors, and possibly customizable Patronuses could be featured in aHogwarts Legacy 2.
Sadly, the summer update’s Azkaban skin hurls the quest’s inadequacies back at players and may resurface the resentment anyone had toward it. As far as this June update is concerned, the Azkaban skin is simply another unsubstantial piece of content harping on Azkaban without actually giving players something a bit meatier to chew on.Hogwarts Legacynever had an obligation to offer more than it has in the base game and therefore a skin is better than nothing, but any other skin might not have brought with it the same baggage that an Azkaban-related skin will.
Again, an Azkaban skin melds well withHogwarts Legacy’s abundantly dark themes—some players might not even have an opinion one way or another about how satisfying they think Hufflepuff’s quest is. Either way, it’s great to see Avalancheis still dedicated to supplyingHogwarts Legacy’s enormousplayerbase with content, and there’s no telling how much more Azkaban players might get to experience in a highly possible sequel.
