Hogwarts Legacy appears to be doing extremely well despite the controversy surrounding Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and the fact that the game hasn’t officially released yet. According to figures derived from SteamDB, a resource that charts the activity and popularity of Steam titles, Avalanche Software’s new action RPG set in the Wizarding World universe is off to a very nice start, having drawn as many as 489,139 players since its early access release. That number would make Hogwarts Legacy the second-highest player peak for any paid single-player game in the history of Valve’s platform, as noted in a tweet by Benji-Sales, a regular reporter of game industry sales data and more. Hogwarts Legacy is available to play now as part of the game’s Deluxe Edition, which costs $69.99.
From an Entertainment Weekly report:
The wizarding world of Harry Potter has introduced its first transgender character in the midst of on-going controversies around author J.K. Rowling’s statements about trans people.
Hogwarts Legacy, the hotly anticipated open-world role-playing game set in the world of Harry Potter, features a character called Sirona Ryan, a witch that serves as the owner of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade village.
The player interacts with Sirona while on a mission involving a goblin named Lodgok. While it’s not explicitly stated that the character is trans in the context of the game, Sirona offers a line of dialogue that’s highly suggestive.
“I’ve known [Lodgok] for years. We met when I was waiting tables here as a student — well before I bought the place,” Sirona says. “He was cordial enough, but we weren’t friends then. His mistrust of wizardkind ran deep… Hadn’t seen him in years when he came in a few months ago. But, he recognized me instantly. Which is more than I can say for some of my own classmates. Took them a second to realize I was actually a witch, not a wizard.”
Hogwarts Legacy Early Access has passed the All-Time Steam Peak of Fallout 4
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) February 8, 2023
Hogwarts Legacy is now the #2 highest peak in history for a paid single-player only game (Elden Ring has multiplayer) only behind Cyberpunk 2077
Peak
• Hogwarts Legacy: 474,144+
• Fallout 4: 472,962 pic.twitter.com/HFOEiFFCup
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Played part of the intro on my son's Xbox x. Got the game for my pc. Just launched as a matter of fact.
Got about 2.5 hours of play time in. Was actually interesting to play. I'm one of those explore first types of players.
Nothing to see here, single player is dead, nobody is interested in it, we must make more battle royale arena shooters!
Interesting.
I'm going to be completely honest about this one. This title came out of nowhere for me.
I read the tech sites, and I had no idea it was even coming until a thread on it on the Hardforums 2-3 days ago
I'm just baffled as to how I completely missed that such a huge and popular title was coming.
It happens to all us from time to time.
We've had a few articles on it over the last couple of years.
https://www.thefpsreview.com/?s=hogwarts
The more I play it, the more the game grows on me. Definitely the best RPG since CP2077, and I can safely say even if it's only february that it is a very likely GOTY contender.
Glad to hear good things about this one. I though it looked and sounded like something worthwhile but you know how that goes. I've already got a full plate right now but this'll be going on my list.
I'm guess I'm of that age where I see harry Potter things and my eyes just glaze over.
"I'm not interested in that children's book" and I just keep scrolling forgetting that I ever even saw it :p
In my experience most games made based on existing popular non-game franchises are forgettable. This dates back all the way to the 8 bit era.
Of all the games I played on my NES, the ones I remember the most fondly and had the most fun with are not exactly Duck Tales, the TMNT series or Festers Quest. Not even the Goonies games. It is the unique franchises to the platform that were the best.
The early PC era had some exceptions. LucasArts X-Wing and Tie Fighter in the early to mid 90's were great and memorable. The slew of Star Wars games that came out when the pre-quels were launched (like that speeder racing game I can't remember the name of) were not.
Even GoldenEye on the N64 - to me - was a pretty lame game compared to Quake 2 and other PC titles I had already been playing.
Everything since then has pretty much confirmed this belief for me. Batman games, marvel games, anything based on film or TV is generally pretty forgettable as a game. They may sell well based on name recognition (and after all, sales is what game companies truly care about) but they are usually bland and boring.
This - combnined with my lack of interest in the Harry Potter universe is probably why my brain just completely dismissed of these stories and moved on.
I never read the books, never even seen any of the movies. But a single player RPG is a single player RPG, plus I had good vibes from this game from the beginning. My spidey senses usually don't let me down. Usually when I have doubts about a game they are proven right even with popular titles like the Witcher 3, that is why I refuse to buy ghost of tsutsima or elden rings stilll.
I tend to like me a good RPG/FPS hybrid in the vein of what was originated (probably? it was the first one I knew of) Deus Ex back in 2000.
Bonus points if it is set in a post apocalyptic setting. Especially if that setting is Eastern European.
As soon as anything "fantasy" like magic enters the conversation, I just roll my eyes and check out. So, it may be a good RPG, but I think the fact that it is fantasy, 3rd person and in the Harry Potter universe is just too much for me to get over. I'm going to be passing on this one.
Wake me when S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is out. :p
Might want to check out today's story on Atomic Heart.
Not gonna lie that is my favorite type of game as well, DeusEx being my No1. game of all time. But those games are so rare. I never had any interest in stalker though, tried one of them and it did nothing for me. From recent times the games that fit the bill are Metro Exodus, Terminator Resistance and Cyberpunk 2077.
From the 2010s, the deusex reboot games, which I know aren't supposed to be reboots, but that is the only way they make sense to me, so in my head canon those are in a different universe than the og.
Also in the immersive sim category Alpha Protocol and Alien Isolation are great. And Dishonored 1-2 but those are a mix of steampunk and fantasy, so might be borderline for you. And a definite maybe is Fallout 4.
I tried the first stalker game (still have that metal box around here somewhere) but I never got into it, I vaguely tremember beeing in combat for long stretches of time, more trying to find something to shoot back with then actually fighting, worse then resident evil, at least those zombies are not actively hunting you down.
got fed up with it faily quickly.
Yeah, the Deus Ex series is one of my top of all time too. I think the prequel sortof makes sense. In the beginning of the origninal they do talk a lot about the old augments which were mechanical (referring to the people who have them as hanzers if I recall), but that the new augments were like nanotechnology or something. I can't remember. It fits for me, with Human Revolution and Mankind Divided being prequels.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R really is at the top of the list for me thogh. (Shadow of Chernobyl was good, but RPG/inventory elements weren't completely finished. Clear Sky was mechanically better, but the story and factions were boring as all hell. Call of Pripyat was by far the best of the series. There was a mod online called "The Lost Alpha" which merged all of the maps from all three titles, plus a ton of maps and content from an alpha version of th egame that were never originally finished into one massive open world experience. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but it winds up being completely unstructured. You just kind of roam and pick up side quests and stuff.
I tried playing Invisible War, but it was so bad I lost interest.
Cyberpunk 2077 got a lot of well deserved flak due to its rough launch, but in the state it was during my play through in late 2021 it was quite good. And the story was among the best in the last decade, IMHO.
I'll have to try Terminator Resistance. That one was not on my radar.
Yeah, I did play Dishonored 1 & 2 (but never the #2 expansion, Death of the Outsider, it's in my backlog) during a dry spell. The magic/satanic ritual/whatever stuff was a little much for me.
I've also played through Fallout 3, NV and 4. I kind of liked them, but the goofy 50s theme was a little much for me. I prefer my titles gritty.
I pretty much enjoy all the titles you mentioned, except Terminator, Alpha Protocol and Alien Isolation which I am not familiar with.
I used to really like the Far Cry franchise (from 2 and on) but the game mechanics of single handedly capturing a base over and over again in different geographic locations got a little old.
I also enjoyed the Bioshock series (though admittedly suspense of disbelief was a little much for me)
There are a few others I enjoyed too. Singularity had a really good story, (but rather short) The Outer Worlds was fun (but a little too goofy, again gritty and realistic would have been better). Prey (2017) was an aesthetic masterpiece and illustrated the loneliness of space. Really good (as long as you are not expecting the same game as the 2006 game Prey, which is completely different.
I did play through most of the Borderland series. They got me through a gaming dry-spell, but they weren't really my favorites. Similarly with the Wolfenstein reboot (The New Order, The Old Blood, The New Colossus, Youngblood.) While they weren't perfect fits for me, I kind of enjoyed The New Order and the New Colossus, but the rest were kind of meh. Crysis Remastered was kind of the same. I never really played the original, and wasn't expecting much, but it was a good distraction.
Right now I am playing through Dying Light 2, and it is a good title. I tend to like a little more shooting, but I am still enjoying it. It is a worthy successor to the first one, which was a good game as well.
In the "Favorites of the last 20 years" list for me it is probably:
1.) S.T.A.L.K.E.R series
2.) Deus Ex series
3.) Cyberpunk 2077
4.) Metro Series
5.) Dying Light series
Those are the only ones that are true top candidates for me. Then there are the bunch of "decent games, but not epic toplist worthy":
- Far Cry 2, 3, 4, Primal, 5 and maybe 6, but it wasn't as good as the rest. Series peaked at 3 or 4 though.
- Fallout 3, NV and 4
- Bioshock Series
- Singularity
- Prey (2017)
- The Outer Worlds
- Dishonored Series
Then there is the "playable but really not my scene" list of games I enjoyed enough to finish, but really just played to fill time between other releases:
- Wolfenstein Reboot (The New Order and the New Colossus only)
- Portal Series
- Crysis Remastered
- Borderlands series
- Doom (2016). I finished it. I made myself. But I was getting really bored.
I intentionally excluded older titles (Like the Half Life series) from this, as they are really from another era.
I used to also play a shit ton of Counter-Strike, but I rarely do anymore. Occasionally I'll pop in to see if I've still got it. Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it is definitely no.
Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2 are also huge multiplayer favorites, but it is tough to find a full server anymore, which is sad :/
Oh, and when I am in dry spells without other titles to play, I'll always start a game or two of whatever the latest version of Sid Meier's Civilization is.
But yeah, that's my gaming in a nutshell for the last 20 years or so.
I never really sat down and watched any Harry Potter movies myself, but I keep hearing good things about the game. Makes me want to give it a go, and I'm getting tired of MW2 online right now.
There have been ads for it on ESPN since before Christmas. That’s the only TV I watch, but I can only assume it’s plastered everywhere