March 2022 Update: The latest State of Play revealed a lot about the game, and Quiditch was nowhere to be seen. It’s almost certain that broomsticks will be for traveling only.
After seeing the recent reveal trailer, many Hogwarts hopefuls are probably dusting off their broomsticks in anticipation. The upcoming open-world RPG set in the Harry Potter universe was first announced at the Playstation 5 Showcase, and looks to take advantage of next-gen console capabilities. There is a lot to be excited about for Gryffindors and Slytherins alike at the Hogwarts in Legacy. From what we’ve gleaned from the trailer, the player will attend a wide variety of classes, including many recognizable from the books. Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures all make an appearance, and it seems likely there will be even more courses to attend — it is a school, after all.
They look surprised it worked
For Quidditch fans, however, there was one part of the reveal trailer that certainly seemed more important than all the rest: the scene with the broomsticks! The trailer shows a Hogwarts student, wearing Hufflepuff yellow, waiting in a courtyard with a broom on the ground beside her. Another Hufflepuff student approaches, broom in hand. The first student’s broom levitates into her hand, she says something we can’t hear (it’s hard to tell whether she correctly says “Accio broom” or is just saying “Let’s Go” to her companion), and then she mounts her broom.
Let’s ride
Both students are wearing heavy duty buttoned robes that look a lot like Quidditch robes. This suggests that these students aren’t just randomly flying brooms, but are participating in Quidditch at Hogwarts. It is possible this is just a background detail to add flavor, but that seems unlikely. If Avalanche Studio, who are developing the game, spent the time and effort to model Quidditch robes, broomsticks levitating, and presumably flight animations as well, it wouldn’t make sense for them to not be making Quidditch appear in the game in some fashion.
The robes in Hogwarts Legacy on the left, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy in their Quidditch robes from Chamber of Secrets on the right
How much of a role Quidditch plays in Hogwarts Legacy is still unclear, but there are a lot of possible ways for Quidditch to be implemented in the game. Although hopefully not the case, it is possible the Quidditch we saw in the trailer is window dressing, and that the player doesn’t interact with Quidditch in a meaningful way in Hogwarts Legacy. As we noted, however, the effort that’s gone into animations makes that unlikely. It may also be that Quidditch isn’t a playable sport for the player, but that there are still quests that involve the wizardly pass-time. Maybe we have to bring someone in our house their forgotten broom before a match begins, or perhaps we can even go and watch a Quidditch match played (press X to cheer).
With any luck, we’ll get more than that. Open world RPGs have begun adding more and more side activities that function as fully-fleshed out activities in their own right. The Witcher 3 even had Gwent, a card game you could play in that was so well developed it ended up becoming its own game. Lots of other open-world RPGs have races, hunts, or other side-quest style missions; it makes sense that Quidditch could be implemented in Hogwarts Legacy in a similar manner.
If we can actually play Quidditch, how would that look in an open world RPG that, ultimately, isn’t about Quidditch? It seems a tall order for there to be the ability to play every position: chaser, beater, keeper, and seeker. Possibly the player doesn’t get to choose a position, but instead will automatically be chosen for a different role on the team depending on which house they are in. Having preset positions would make programming quests involving Quidditch easier; one way the developers might consider implementing Quidditch is by having the games really just be a series of quests that lead to one of a few possible endings for the Quidditch match, rather than a fully-formed and functioning sports game within the larger RPG. For example, you might start out a match as a beater with a quest “Hit The Other Team’s Seeker Off of Their Broom”. Then, depending on how that quest goes, you are given other quests that progress the match, and eventually either win or lose the match based on your successes and failures.
Quidditch fans can dream, though! It isn’t outside the realm of possibility that there really is complete, playable Quidditch as a part of Hogwarts Legacy. Who knows, maybe it will even be a branch of the main quest. We do get a brief glimpse of the Quidditch field in the wide shots of Hogwarts castle, so we know the developers haven’t forgotten about it. The game releases in 2021, so there is still plenty of time for Warner Bros Games to reveal more information about how Quidditch might feature in the game. Here’s hoping that they give us some news Quidditch lovers want to hear!
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DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
My guess is that we can’t play quidditch but it will be in the game. Our character starts very late in the year, and it seems to be less about school and more about things that are happening beyond school. I could be wrong though.
CJ442
2 years ago
Sadly, I doubt that we’ll have a fully-fleshed out quidditch mechanic where you can play any position you want. If they were planning on having that in the game, you’d think that they’d advertise it more like with their lines of “attend classes, make friends, learn spells, etc.” they could’ve just as easily added something like “…play quidditch” or “…join your house’s quidditch team” to that tagline. Unfortunately, I think the broom sequence in the trailer is probably just going to be some form of faster transportation in the same way that other open worlds have things like horses, cars, and other vehicles/mounts. Instead of walking half a mile from the castle to the Forbidden Forest, you can just take a broom.
My guess is that we can’t play quidditch but it will be in the game. Our character starts very late in the year, and it seems to be less about school and more about things that are happening beyond school. I could be wrong though.
Sadly, I doubt that we’ll have a fully-fleshed out quidditch mechanic where you can play any position you want. If they were planning on having that in the game, you’d think that they’d advertise it more like with their lines of “attend classes, make friends, learn spells, etc.” they could’ve just as easily added something like “…play quidditch” or “…join your house’s quidditch team” to that tagline. Unfortunately, I think the broom sequence in the trailer is probably just going to be some form of faster transportation in the same way that other open worlds have things like horses, cars, and other vehicles/mounts. Instead of walking half a mile from the castle to the Forbidden Forest, you can just take a broom.