Alex Salfiti 
It’s here, the moment I am sure you’ve all been waiting for – thanks to Reddit user VapeThisBro we have been able to get a glimpse of a Harry Potter game in the works that actually looks good. Originally, leaks suggested that this was the elusive project of Rocksteady, who have gone dark since the release of the amazing Batman Arkham Knight, however this now seems not to be the case.
EuroGamer had claimed their sources suggest that even though this is a legit game, being worked on by Warner Bros Interactive, it is not by Rocksteady. Thus begging the question who is behind this game? My bet is on Monolith, who after an impressive release of Shadow of Mordor, and then a lazy, but none the less exciting endeavor with Shadow of War. It seems that Monolith have space to start something new. The look of the game maybe adds some weight to my very loose theory, with characters looking similar in terms of facial design and movement animations.
But let us take a look at what was actually on show for us in the video. First we must mention the press release sounding information that accompanied the video stating that it is set in the 19th century, very much like the new Fantastic Beasts franchise, and you being a Hogwarts 5th year student. However the juicy bit with extra pulp is the RPG style character creation. Now that is really exciting. Like most, I have for many years wished to have been in the fantastic world of Harry Potter but so far video games have failed to do that. Terribly developed movie tie-in games have plagued the franchise with only Lego Harry Potter giving us a glimpse into how fun you can make the world. At the end of the day even that was just another Lego Game, enjoyable, but not amazing.
So what we see are, character creation and class systems which I assume will lead into various skill trees that I imagine unlock specific spells. We see attendance of classes, maybe you will have to actually attend the great Hogwarts to unlock more difficult and powerful spells?
One thing to mention is that we don’t just see Hogwarts, from what I can tell and decipher from my excellent HP knowledge, is that we will be able to venture to at least Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest, and I am not sure where the caves are to be set, but they are certainly goblin infested.
The animations when running and walking looked a bit clunky, which again makes me lean towards this being a Monolith game. I was never a fan of their animations in the running and walking area, but combat looks fluid, exciting and colourful with charms and spells splashing all manner of different hues across the screen.
Looks like platform puzzles may make an entrance as you have to magic bridges back together to clear paths or destroy pillars to collapse roofs on your enemies. I think it may be a bit far fetched to assume full physical destructibility but the animations of rubble falling looks pleasing as you swoosh your wand so hopefully they have a lot of that to do.
Finally the most notable thing is duels. In Hogwarts. With fellow students. I mean does it get any more magical than that? No signs of brooms or flying yet but wishful thinking that a large open world would require such means of transportation.
I don’t know about you but I for one have been waiting for a game of this calibre for some time and I only hope that it is fun! I am looking for deep character creation so I can be the ultimate wizard, I want the ability to be good or bad, like an Infamous style system and I want to be sorted into a Hogwarts house! Give me a broomstick flying mechanic that i could spend hours on and I’ll be one very happy fanboy.
Check out the leaked video, hopefully you can make everything out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkEnG305Fn4
