The Hogwarts Legacy Twitter and YouTube accounts just released the first full piece of music we’ve heard for the game, “Overture of the Unwritten,” performed by the Seven Springs Symphony Orchestra & Choir. What’s more, the five-minute-long song accompanies a complete music video, featuring the orchestra playing in front of changing video backdrops of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.
On Twitter, the music video was released with the caption “This is the music of your legacy. #Hogwarts Legacy”. Meanwhile, the YouTube description features the full credits of the piece, from instrumentalists to producers involved.
The music itself is haunting and nostalgic, with instrumentation and style that should immediately remind anyone familiar with the movies of their classic soundtracks. In fact, there is a particular repeated melody that mirrors the movies’ John-Williams-composed Hedwig’s Theme very closely, though it never resolves in that ever-so-familiar way (frustratingly). The piece moves from melodic and haunting to bombastic and large, before slowing down again to become quiet and uneasy, demonstrating the range of musical dynamism the newly-formed orchestra is capable of. The title of the piece, “Overture of the Unwritten,” implies (via the “Overture” part) that it is the main theme of Hogwarts Legacy, and is meant to be representative of the tone of the overall game, which would certainly make sense given the nostalgic overtones it has.
What might be even more interesting to those excited about the game, however, are the flashy backdrops and videos that are shown behind the orchestra, which depict various locations in and around Hogwarts. While these fairly static videos, mostly void of characters, seem to just be renderings of the environment (and perhaps not even in-game renderings), they do hint at various locations that might play a prominent role in the game. They are very much worth taking a close look at, in fact, for anyone excited for the game; they reveal a surprising amount for a music video more than two months out from release.
The locations shown are universally captivating
Some of these backdrops include recognizable locations like the rail-cart into Gringott’s Bank, the spiral stairway into Ravenclaw’s Tower, and the ever-changing Grand Staircase. Other locations are new, at least to the best of our knowledge, like a brightly-lit entrance hall with a statue depicting a unicorn fighting a werewolf, a mysterious island whose walkway seems to build itself, and some dilapidated, tree-strewn ruins that would look at home in Lord of the Rings. The gorgeous scenes have me excited to see how all these locations, familiar and new, will be used in the game itself.
What do you think of new overture; is it refreshingly nostalgic, or not quite fresh enough for you? And did you pick up on neat details in the background of the video that we might’ve missed? We’re eager to hear about it as we (equally eagerly) await the release of Hogwarts Legacy on February 10th of next year.
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Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
