Hogwarts' Legacy As An Escape

For my birthday, I got a little online money. I didn’t really use it until Steam put Hogwarts’ Legacy on sale for 75% off! I’m not a super Harry Potter fan, but I did enjoy the books for sure. They started coming out when I was in my 20s, and so I never had the youthful passion for it some do– but I enjoyed them very much.

The game– is AMAZING. The graphics (mine set to medium level) are wonderful in detailed 3D with great lighting effects and animation. I wish they had more options for faces and hair in the characters you create to play the game, but that’s really my only wee bitch. Another is that the skirts are WAY too short for teenage girls of the era. However, the map options and ability to wander and explore an open world that goes way beyond Hogwart’s and Hogsmeade more than makes up for that! And exploring that map while flying on a broom? HEAVEN!

It takes place starting in 1890 (which some call the “Victorian” era– but that is incorrect, it’s in the “Edwardian” era) and so it basically fills in some of the history that takes place several generations before Harry Potter is even born. Still, it’s been created and developed by mega-fans, because so many details follow the books! You play a new student coming in as a “5th Year” (which translates to about 15 years old) who has an odd ability to both sense and use a form of forgotten “Ancient Magic”. Naturally, the baddies want access to this magic too, and drama is thus born.

Best of all, there is a “Story” mode if combat isn’t your thing (and I’m old and my reflexes suck, so it’s never my thing.)

[I know there's an issue with J.K.Rowling for many, but that's a topic for another day.]

It’s all-encompassing play takes so much attention that it gets my mind completely off my own personal issues as well as the shit-show going on globally. And… I need the distraction. I play Sims 4, Tropico, Pillars of Eternity, and Surviving Mars as well, changing back and forth on all of them, but I have a feeling that Legacy is going to be at the top of my playing list for a couple of months at least. I don’t play all the time, since my migraine issues make that impossible, but when my eyes and stomach can take it– it’s a greatly needed relief and respite from real-world problems.