Part of what has helped the Harry Potter franchise resonate with its fanbase is its social interpretations in a fantastical environment, and many are hoping that will carry over to the upcoming game. While few details have been shared regarding Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy beyond its official announcement and leaked gameplay footage, fans have been speculating since about significant design elements that might be in the game.
Hogwarts Legacy appears to present a more action-oriented RPG with a third-person perspective, though the social aspect of being a student at Hogwarts is still its most intriguing conceptfor many fans. Hogwarts Legacy sets itself up for social simulation within an educational institution, similar to a lot of other turn-based RPG games. As such, fans are selecting particular games that they would like to see Hogwarts Legacy emulate.
RELATED: Hogwarts Legacy Poll Shows Fans Want the Option to Play as a Dark Wizard
Dragmassanthem suggests that Hogwarts Legacy could take insightful inspiration from Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Garreg Mach Monastery when designing activities and social features within Hogwarts. Fire Emblem: Three Houses' three boarding houses include the Golden Deer, the Blue Lions, and the Black Eagles. Hogwarts' personality-driven houses could be implemented in a similar fashion, where Hogwarts Legacy players select from student houses Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. While the player character in Hogwarts Legacy may not be a professor, the rest of Fire Emblem: Three Houses' social simulation activities could act as a blueprint for entertaining activities.
Further, fans suggest that relationship bonds with non-playable characters should be developed as players take trips to iconic wizarding locations, such as Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, or join their house's Quidditch team. Because the Harry Potter series offers a wide range of locations and characters that span generations, fans are interested to see what may make an appearance in Hogwarts Legacy.
Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are also definitive social simulation games, with fans such as Zhymantas hoping to see the franchise's influence in Hogwarts Legacy. With Persona as a blueprint, student chores in Hogwarts Legacy such as homework and general studying sessions could improve particular stats, while sneaking into the library's restricted section could improve stats further for obtaining prohibited texts. Ultimately, fans would like to learn to cast spells and craft potions from individual classes, which would remain consistent with the game's narrative and the traditional canon for how Hogwarts students learn magic.
Of course, comparable to Persona 5, students may simply learn trivial tidbits. AlicetheTechNerd instead states that they would be thrilled "if there was a history class on wizarding world stuff" as a way to learn more about Hogwarts and its lore. Ordinary Wizarding Levels, or OWLs, and other rigorous educational challenges already exist in the Harry Potter mythology, so it would not be a stretch to imagine such obstacles as part of a concentrated social simulation.
Hogwarts Legacy is currently scheduled to release for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2022.
MORE: Hogwarts Legacy Should 'Steal' One Big Thing From The Force Unleashed
