Hogwarts Legacy’s future is looking bright regardless of its association withHarry Potterand the IP’s source material author, which also hasn’t been a hindrance to a decade-spanning HBO series being greenlit. Surely there will be aHarry Potter-centric game at some point in however many years the show goes on for, whether that’s aHogwarts Legacysuccessor or something more purposefully tethered to the show, and in doing so there will be inevitable revisionism regardingHarry Potter’s storied history with movie tie-in video game adaptations.
Long Gone May Be the Day of Loose Movie/TV Tie-Ins
Movie/TV tie-ins, loose or otherwise, are seemingly on their way out the door as no big movies are ever released with accompanying game adaptations anymore. That said, there are some exceptions to this aside from the licensedLEGOtitles whose sole job it is to adapt blockbusters with Traveller’s Tales’ signature whimsy.
Dune: Awakeningis an example of a game that is certainly trying to absorb all of the movies’ hype it can, but it is not doing so as a direct or even loose adaptation of the movies themselves. Instead, whileDune: Awakeningadapts the latest movies’ theatrical imagery, it is merely adaptingDune’s world and characters for its own alternate-history take on the IP (and with a fairly inventive premise for how to do that).
Similarly,Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Orderisn’t literally connected to the MCU, but it’s hard to deny how much inspiration it took from Marvel’s most prolific and popular iterations.
Plus, agame adaptation of Matt Reeves’The Batmanwas recently rumored to be in the works—regardless of the fact that James Gunn shut that rumor down promptly—and such rumors, true or not, suggest that tie-in adaptations aren’t completely out of the realm of possibility anymore. Nonetheless, there may never be another unapologetic tie-in meant to promote or collaborate with a movie’s marketing quite likeBatman Begins,The Lord of the Returns: The Return of the King, orX-Men Origins: Wolverineagain.
Harry Potter’s HBO Series Can Give Its Video Game Adaptations a New Lease on Life
Once a tyrant oftie-in video game adaptations,Harry Potter’s best daysare behind it with twoPhilosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stonegames,Chamber of Secrets, andPrisoner of Azkaban. These four games all have a tremendous amount of charm and whimsy with stylistic art direction (PS1’s polygonal Hagrid being as iconic and endearing as he is hilarious and meme-worthy) and fantastic designs for spells in combat and puzzles.
Goblet of Firewas where the magic dwindled and became unrecognizable, andOrder of the Phoenix,Half-Blood Prince, andDeathly Hallows Part 1andPart 2thereafter are even more unmemorable. Part ofHogwarts Legacy’s success is probably due to there not being a halfway decent AAAHarry Pottergame in a long time, and it taking place in an era untouched by a lot of the lore it could behave like an original tale in a beloved franchise.
Now, withHarry Potterbeing repurposed as an HBO show and reinventing itself for a brand-new audience,Hogwarts Legacyhas a chance to behave something like an adaptation of that series. Of course, it shouldn’t need to beHogwarts Legacythat is accountable for adapting the show as any random newHarry Pottergame from any studio could achieve that, and by being an unapologetic adaptation it may even receive a bigger playerbase than Arrowhead’s action-RPG title. Players got toexperience Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the late 1800s inHogwarts Legacy, but knowing they could explore the school as Harry Potter and perceive it through a renewed wizarding world lens would be too extraordinary of a chance to pass by.
Harry Potter’s oldest games deserve to be preserved for their timeless and adorable atmosphere, whether players’ blood pressure is spiking from stress-inducing broomstick flying lessons or Gringotts’ nail-biting mine cart ride. Yet, many ofHarry Potter’s games could be lost to time or overwritten in memory and be all the better for it, which is an opportunity the HBO show has if it is unafraid and competent enough to produce meaningful adaptations of its seasons or characters.
