Hogwarts Legacy isn’t out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S for a few more days, but ahead of its highly-anticipated release, reviews have started to go live for the Harry Potter game. And so far, critical reception is positive for the game, which is a surprise to some who thought the controversy surrounding the title may substantially weigh it down on Metacritic. Meanwhile, since the game’s reveal, there have been questions about whether Avalanche Software could deliver on the hype, given its fairly middling history of releases. That said, it seems the Utah-based has delivered. The game was always going to be a massive commercial success, but it’s also earning positive reviews, at least so far.ย
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At the moment of writing this, the Xbox Series X version boasts an 89 on Metacritic. If this rating holds, it will mean the game will likely rank among the highest-rated games of 2023 come December. This is the highest rating for the game though. The PS5 version is currently sitting at a slightly less impressive score of 86. Meanwhile, the PC version is sitting at an 83, with some reviewers citing PC-specific performance issues, something not terribly uncommon in the PC space. In fact, the recent remake of Dead Space, which has cemented itself as critically-acclaimed, has serious performance issues on PC as well.ย
As for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One versions, they aren’t releasing until April 4, so there are no reviews for these versions, at least not yet. It’s safe to assume these versions won’t be as good, but it remains to be seen just how much of a downgrade they will suffer.
“While it doesn’t do everything perfectly, Hogwarts Legacy stimulates the imagination with a rich world to explore and gameplay that empowers and thrills the player,” reads a snippet from our official review-in-progress for the game. “The Harry Potter films had the tough task of taking words on a page and creating a visual language for them. Hogwarts Legacy had the even tougher task of taking that visual language and making it interactive, ultimately expanding it all into something that is fun to play and immerse yourself in. Although there’s still a long year ahead of us and tons of great-looking games on the horizon, Hogwarts Legacy is already one of the best games of 2023.”
