Therefore, considering how closely Hogwarts Legacy’s iconography compares to that of Harry Potter, there are details that decades-long fans will be able to pinpoint. Hogwarts Legacy maintains the nostalgia of Harry Potter in its environments, but the game’s 1800s setting suggests that not every location or interior will be a facsimile from what fans are familiar with in Harry Potter movies. Certain expectations may need to be stifled between what fans anticipate from certain areas they can explore in Hogwarts Legacy, but there are subtle comparisons between the game and the movies.
RELATED: Hogwarts Legacy Offers New Look at Hufflepuff Common Room
Hogwarts Legacy’s School Grounds Are Much Larger and Exterior
Perhaps the most notable difference so far between Hogwarts Legacy and the Harry Potter movies, at least in terms of its geographical iconography, is how much wider and more open its school grounds are. This is depicted in wide-angle footage representing a massive courtyard beside the castle with a hedge garden enveloping a fountain. The interior of Hogwarts Legacy’s castle has been briefly observed in the gameplay and cinematic trailers that have been offered since its announcement, but it is yet to be shown how similar or dissimilar it is from the Harry Potter movies. Hogwarts Legacy has the added benefit of being able to integrate different parts of the castle or grounds that are not seen in Harry Potter.
In its own generational era, Hogwarts Legacy’s Hogwarts could viably have a different aesthetic or feature that the latter rendition does not. This could be explained as elements of the grounds being removed later on, but as long as each area is satisfying to explore, players will likely not find too many issues with original areas that do not comply with Harry Potter’s definitive iconography.
Indeed, any changes made to the castle or its grounds in Hogwarts Legacy are purely for the player’s benefit and to make exploration or traversal more engaging. Hogwarts Legacy already looks like it has an immense scale that players will be able to explore. Hogwarts Legacy could have simply chosen to make the school and its immediate grounds available to explore, but it also introduces Hogsmeade to players.
RELATED: Hogwarts Legacy Fan Points Out Interesting Detail About In-Game Currency
Harry Potter’s Theatrical Hogwarts is Much More Confined and Interior
Harry Potter movies portray the school grounds in a number of ways throughout each installment, likely as a result of budget or scope in terms of how much or how little is actually shown. For example, characters are often shown inside the school itself, surrounded by stone walls with engraved pillars and entranceways.
Harry Potter’s constantly alternating atrium is depicted often due to its originality, as well as portraits that are animated and can speak. Its grounds, however, are rarely shown outside transitioning shots while characters proceed to another area of the castle or to Hagrid’s hut near the Forbidden Forest. This gives the implication that Hogwarts’ island in the Harry Potter movies is much more claustrophobic with far fewer places to trek outside the immediate school grounds. Even then, the school’s grounds are essentially reduced to small courtyards, a small field for broomstick flight training, and a Quidditch pitch.
Besides that, two long viaduct bridges connect different parts of the island, with one such viaduct bridge seen in Hogwarts Legacy’s own environment. Some changes have needed to be made for continuity’s sake, however, such as the removal of a Whomping Willow from Hogwarts Legacy’s key art.
Hogwarts Legacy is scheduled to be released holiday 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Will Hogwarts Legacy Be Delayed?
