Highlights
- A potential sequel to Hogwarts Legacy could still be unique and unaffected by the first game while building on the foundations of the IP.
- The amnesiac protagonist trope, which erases the character’s memory, can create a blank canvas for storytelling and immersive gameplay experiences.
- The use of the Obliviate spell in the wizarding world could explain the protagonist’s amnesia and provide opportunities for exciting plot twists and revelations.
There are practically innumerable directions a Hogwarts Legacy sequel could take at this point. It makes sense to build from the foundations of Hogwarts Legacy as an IP rather than begin a new franchise with its own title, anyway, and such a sequel could still be as unique and unaffected by Hogwarts Legacy if that’s the case. Because Hogwarts Legacy has a customizable protagonist it seems unlikely that they’ll be reprised for a sequel unless somehow players’ save data can also transfer over to keep their desired avatars, but having a new protagonist doesn’t mean they need to start from scratch, either.
Hogwarts Legacy found a loophole for its Ancient Magic-wielding protagonist in having them first attend Hogwarts as a fifth-year student under particular circumstances. This way, Avalanche got to have its cake and eat it too with all the lovable Hogwarts nostalgia of first enrolling in the wizarding school while also having a student mature enough to deal with darker content in the game. Avalanche might not get away with this premise a second time, and yet a spell exists in the wizarding world that would saliently explain why a protagonist might not have any memory of their life beforehand.
Why Hogwarts Legacy’s Game Awards Snubs and Switch Performance Mean Little Moving Forward
Hogwarts Legacy’s Game Awards snub and inferior Switch performance aren’t likely to get in the way of its enormous success as a budding franchise.
Hogwarts Legacy’s IP Can Use Obliviate to Terrific Effect
Why the Amnesiac Protagonist Trope is Usually Great
Beginning a series or entry with a protagonist who’s forgotten who they are essentially affords the story a blank canvas. This isn’t popular in established franchises that have recycled the same protagonist since the player would remember who the protagonist was and the premise would lose any possible luster.
That said, the amnesiac protagonist trope has made for some of the most phenomenal gaming experiences ever as players are learning about the protagonist’s backstory at the same time as the protagonist themselves—Final Fantasy 7, KOTOR, and Silent Hill 2, to name a few. Typically involving some incredible twists, too, this trope sets itself up for a lot of fun moments.
Not much might’ve happened in a student’s life to really have some profound effect, at least if it wants to be authentic and not copy Harry Potter’s tragic backstory. It’s not like a student would really secretly be a dark lord or anything and not know, but hiding a crucial moment in their past that they could then learn about themselves later or have revealed to them would be interesting, especially if it’s learned that they only forgot because someone cast Obliviate on them.
The Memory Charm Could Make the Protagonist Amnesia Trope Fully Immersive
Obliviate effectively erases a person’s memory. Therefore, in the amnesiac protagonist trope, this lapse would be perfectly explained and even have some potentially riveting beats where maybe the individual who cast Obliviate on the protagonist did so maliciously. Not knowing that the spell was cast on them, Hogwarts Legacy’s sequel protagonist could be put into any number of situations to open the game and, because players have already become tirelessly accustomed to the trope, it wouldn’t feel out of place.
That said, there would still need to be a good reason why their memory was wiped and the payoff for that would need to be fulfilling or at least comprehensible.
It would be fantastic for that to be the reasoning for a protagonist’s amnesia, though, since it would be immersive within the world and have an established spell contribute to a trope that’s already so familiar in gaming. There’s a chance that fans would already infer Harry Potter’s Obliviate spell being used based on the protagonist’s presently unexplained memory erasure, but perhaps it wouldn’t even need to be a twist that is withheld from them for long in the game’s story to get out in front of that reveal and have it make sense.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy
$42 $70 Save $28
Hogwarts Legacy is a game that allows players to explore an open world, including locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, and the surrounding Overland area. Players can create their unique witch or wizard character, learn spells, brew potions, grow plants, and tend to magical beasts during their journey. Sorting into a Hogwarts house and forging relationships with other characters enable players to master various skills and shape their characters’ development.
The game features an original wizarding world adventure set in an unexplored era, where players uncover a hidden truth from the past. Challenging encounters await, such as battles against trolls, Dark Wizards, goblins, and a dangerous villain who poses a threat to the fate of the world.
- Franchise
- Harry Potter
- Released
- February 10, 2023
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol
- How Long To Beat
- 26 Hours
- Metascore
- 84
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
