While there are a lot of things I love about the game attending classes in Hogwarts Legacy was a disappointment. It was not that we get to explore a few different classes it was for how short and less interactive than I’d have wished for. They were more about sending you off on a task than teaching.

Hogwarts Legacy left me so hyped after the game introduction leading you up to getting sorted. The next day as it were you went off to attend your first classes. It fell quite sharply to hit the mark.

Since you are starting as a 5th year many people including myself thought you might have a bit more say in what classes you end up attending. I was however expecting a basic introduction which is more or less what they are. They never went deeper than that which left me wanting for more.

Many players it seems even made their own classes scheduled and posted them online before the game release. Those lists usually included what class they wanted to take, the day of the week, and the time slot. Just one massive issue for all that this game uses seasons and not days of the week. While there is a day and night cycle it is not known to use what hour it is let alone the day of the week.

I’m at a point now in the game where I’ve completed all the achievements for homework assignments. Many sessions in the game have passed to the point there is very little time left in the school year. All that is left is for me to move along the main quest line further till I get to talk to one of the professors about receiving my grades.

What ended up being the most exciting thing about classes where trying to get to them and then what you did after them. Basically, everything other than attending them. The Hogwarts castle is such a massive place after all. I would often get lost for hours exploring further and further away from the guide liens on the min-map trying to take me to my next quest.

At the very least I could never be late for a class. I would sometimes end up being so early that I’d have to for it to be daytime to attend a class. Thankfully that just involves opening up the map and pressing to move time forward a cycle.

Once you get close to one of the main classes you then unlock a Floo Flame that allows you to fast travel back. While I’ll admit I do use them. They feel like it removes some of the atmospheres of attending Hogwarts in the first place since it takes you just a second to get to the next class.

While attending class it usually just involves a quick cutscene. The bulk of them you just sat there at a desk doing nothing. Your character is so gifted you are not needed. The game would indicate some time has passed and now it was over. Along with the teacher wanting to talk with you after class.

Only the first time you attend each class they were the most interactive and longest that class will ever be for the most part. After that, it’s all about homework. Thankfully they do not require you to write 2 scrolls of why unlocking the next spell would be of importance to you. Nope, you don’t get the normal schoolwork.

Out of all the classes, I’d say the duel I ended up doing in Defense Against the Dark Arts gave me the false impression that was going to be how most of those classes were going to be. It was a bit thrilling but not overly done. Sadly however that was the last in-class dual I’d be doing. I would however end up being given the assignment to join a dueling club outside of class.

The game seemed to set you up even further to expect more than it would give you in classes. As another class had you playing a mini-game where you got to use the spell to pull balls forward trying to land on a higher-scoring part of the board without falling off it than the classmate you were against.

While I’m not a personal fan of the Summoner's Courts mini-game. It at least gave me the false impression this was how further classes were going to be for that kind of class. One filled with mini-games but that is not how it went.

Perhaps one of the more interactively interesting classes was the potions class. Where I got to do things like crush my ingredients. Since I did not have any supplies I even got to go into the professor's private storage to get some. That is also where the game showed me my choices can have consequences for what I ended up doing in there.

There were a couple of other classes you get to attend as well. You however get the idea. The first interaction with that class made you think they had a lot more effort put into them. After those first interactions though they felt rather called in.

I wish I could say I could think of a more interesting way to learn spells that would work both for the PC and the consoles. At least we always got a practice dummy to cast the spell on afterward to see what it even did for the first time.

That is why these classes were such a letdown. There is so much lore about these subjects in the Harry Potter universe. They could have gone a lot deeper with each lesson. They could have even had more lessons, to be honest.

Each class could have also had its own thing representing each of the teacher's teaching styles of the class. They even had set the groundwork it felt with dueling to mini-games and even potions going wrong. The developers however did not push further along those paths.

Once all that was done it was time to go work on the assignment. The assignments usually invoked you doing things that you would think would get a student expelled. Like joining an underground dueling club run by students to going into the Forbidden Forest alone.

Even Professor Wesley put you up to many things such as those for assignments. Was wanting to investigate you for the rumors she was hearing about you going off on grand adventures of causing mayhem. How rich of her I day says.

The only thing I enjoyed about the classes was the assignments after the class was over. They often sent you off deeper and deeper into the world. That is when you truly started to understand what little you learned in class.

I was at least expecting a lot more rivalry in class. While there was sometimes a slight hint of it. Most classmates seem to want to be your friend regardless of which house they are from. It lacked the kind of protagonist many including myself were hoping for.

While I did “lose” some points for my house in class. It was often lacking in telling me how many points. Even when I went to go visit where the points are kept track they seem to just be static. With no real indications of how many points everyone has. This again seems to miss the mark of adding further complexity than attending each class.

I would have even been fine with more mini-games as long as they were giving me more things to do in class while using the spell I just learned. That to me seems like it is a better starting point for bringing a lot of lessons up to more interesting levels.

Final Thoughts

Thankfully there is an entire world in this game to explore and have your adventures in. If it was all about just attending class on a strict schedule like many had hoped this game would have been doomed quickly.

I was at least expecting a lot more rivalry in class. While there was sometimes a slight hint of it. Most classmates seem to want to be your friend regardless of which house they are from. It lacked the kind of protagonist many including myself were hoping for.

While I did “lose” some points for my house in class. It was often lacking in telling me how many points. Even when I went to go visit where the points are kept track they seem to just be static. With no real indications of how many points everyone has. This again seems to miss the mark of adding further complexity than attending each class.

What I would have preferred is to attend all the classes once. Then pick a few that I wanted to become advanced in. Where I then would have advanced those kinds of spells, potions, or plants in the way the talent system works. That however then would make the current talent system pointless.

Other Content

• Hogwarts Legacy Has a Brilliant Introduction
• Exploring The Castle In Hogwarts Legacy
• First Impressions Of Hogwarts Legacy

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Hogwarts Legacy.