Hogwarts Legacyhas an original narrative and wields it in ways that make the IP seem fresh, but it still has to adhere to the confines of the IP in which it exists to an extent. That means if it is bound to Hogwarts as a setting, it still needs to have the same iconography that fans will remember and nitpick fromHarry Pottermovies and novels.Hogwarts Legacycertainly builds upon this rich tapestry of nostalgiawith its own unique take, though it also does a wonderful job of embedding that shared lore into environmental storytelling and field guide pages.
Magical creatures and spells are also abundantly represented inHogwarts Legacy, with spells being adapted well to combat and puzzle utility. Fans will be incredibly familiar withHogwarts Legacy’s spellsand their uses can already be predicted once they are learned, but the Unforgivable Curses have always been a strange grey area in the game from a narrative perspective. Players are able to cast Unforgivable Curses freely since there is no morality system, and because they are made trivial it would be excellent if aHogwarts Legacysequel presented truly severe consequences or resources to the player.
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How Hogwarts Legacy Trivializes Unforgivable Curses
Hogwarts Legacy’s pre-launch trailers revealed Unforgivable Curses under the auspices that players could become a dark witch or wizard, such as having two unique takes on its key art—one with a blue sky and the game’s regular creatures, and another with a green sky, Dementors and Thestrals flying about, and Inferi climbing the cliff that the protagonist stands on.
This is not the case, however, and the player’s decision to use Unforgivable Curses has no effect on anything other than convenience in combat. Crucio inflicts damage-over-time, Imperio makes the targeted enemy attack other enemies, andAvada Kedavra is an insta-killthat shaves off a boss’ incremental health bars. The assumption was that casting these curses would have some horrid effect, as if players would be casting Crucio on every fellow student they happened upon, but no such repercussions are apparent.
This makes the Unforgivable Curses far less interesting than they could have been, all for fans to be able to cast them in gameplay without consequences. The silver lining in this is thataHogwarts Legacysequelcould bring forth something much worse for players to contend with and question.
Hogwarts Legacy Needs to Top Unforgivable Curses with True Malice
How a spell or item is used, and what the user’s intent is, could create a scenario that is much more sinister and insidious than the casual use of an Unforgivable Curse. Severus Snape had invented Sectumsempra, and it would not be out of the realm of possibility for other malicious spells to be devised for the purposes of aHogwarts Legacysequel.
Even the Unforgivable Curses in a particular context could be displayed as more terrible and reprehensible, but it would be incredibly difficult for Avalanche to turn its back on players and suddenly forbid them from casting these curses nonchalantly. The sequel would likely need to be given a more mature rating if this path was taken, though that would help to make the Unforgivable Curses seem feeble in comparison.
It would be exciting to see how a sequel could possibly introduce scarier or more awful choices and spells. Unforgivable Curses would be easy to top with a dedicated morality system alone, for example, and particularly if Ancient Magic knowledge leads down a path to harnessing pain likeHogwarts Legacy’s Isidora Morganachlearned to.
Hogwarts Legacyis available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on May 5, and the Nintendo Switch version arrives Jul 31, 2025.
