Hogwarts Legacy needs to borrow one idea from this forgotten PS2 game

Hogwarts Legacy seems like it’ll be the Harry Potter game of our Muggle dreams.

In it, you’ll attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, get sorted into your house, and take classes with your own custom character. It won’t feature Harry Potter since it’s set in the late 1800s, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting.

Considering the game is still far off, currently targeting a 2022 release window, there’s a lot we don’t know about it. One of our burning questions is whether or not Hogwarts Legacy will implement Quidditch, the popular sport played by witches and wizards in the Harry Potter series.

Other Harry Potter games have featured Quidditch in the past, so it’s not a totally outlandish prediction. In fact, publisher Electronic Arts released Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup in 2003, which focused exclusively on the sport. So how much can Hogwarts Legacy borrow from that game?

Granted, it wasn’t very good, but Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup was surprisingly in-depth for a game based on a sport that doesn’t exist. Developer Avalanche Software could very well look to this PS2 throwback for inspiration implementing the sport into Hogwarts Legacy.

Even though Quidditch World Cup doesn’t hold up as well today, it did a few things right. First, it easily convinced us that Quidditch deals with intricate moves, strategies, and a massive fanbase.

It could have easily felt like a watered-down mini-game you’d find on a DVD menu, but it didn’t. So instead, Quidditch World Cup proves that an entire game based on the sport could work.

The act of flying around, stealing the Quaffle, and performing a well-timed play is exhilarating. (And the prospect of seeing that play out with the use of the Unreal Engine on a next-gen system is even more exciting.)

One thing Quidditch World Cup does lack is balance.

Throughout most of the game, you control the Chasers, who handle the Quaffle ball and try to get it into one of three hoops to score points. While this is fun, it makes the Beaters, Seekers, and Keepers feel less useful throughout any given match.

There are moments when you get to take control over the rest of the players on the team, but they largely felt neglected in Quidditch World Cup. It would have been more engaging if each role played an equal part in leading a team to victory.

The commentary is also painfully bad, but that’s par for the course for a PS2 sports game. Given the large budget of Hogwarts Legacy, it’s feasible to expect more polish all around.

Hogwarts Legacy could have more replay value with Quidditch

How could Quidditch work in Hogwarts Legacy? One idea is that it could be presented in the same way the rest of the classes are: as a side activity that you have the option of partaking in.

In Hogwarts Legacy, imagine a robust Quidditch offering that feels similar to Quidditch World Cup, while improving upon its many issues. For instance, it would be great to swap to any role on the fly, allowing you to only play as them if you so choose.

Or imagine facing off against another player online. Warner Bros. has stated Hogwarts Legacy will be a single-player game, but that doesn’t mean multiplayer can’t be implemented as part of an update later on.

Throughout the Harry Potter series, certain characters have skills and traits that are often derived from classes/activities at Hogwarts. For instance, Harry is known for being a fantastic Seeker in Quidditch, while Professor Snape is a potions master, and so on.

Perhaps in Hogwarts Legacy, you can head down the path of being the best Quidditch Keeper the world has ever seen. Or maybe you’d become a Seeker just like Harry Potter will be many decades later.

The possibilities are nearly endless. For example, maybe your character takes a mighty tumble during a match and breaks their arm (similar to what happened to Harry in The Chamber of Secrets). You could then use your potion skills to whip up a cure that mends your broken bone.

Considering the emphasis is on building your character and exploring the castle, it’s unlikely Quidditch will play a large role in this game, sadly. But Hogwarts Legacy could be a means for giving Quidditch another try using modern technology without creating an entire game solely based on the sport.

We know there are assets for broomsticks and even Quidditch robes in Hogwarts Legacy, so a mini-game based around the sport might be in the works.

The best-case scenario is that Hogwarts Legacy does what The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did for Gwent, popularizing the mini-game to the point of it taking off on its own. We hope that’s the case because it could lead to a robust Quidditch game later down the line.