As all good things must end eventually, so did my Hogwarts adventure. I have completed the game together with all the quests, achievements and collectibles. Has my opinion on it changed in the meantime? The short answer is no, I still consider Hogwarts Legacy to be an excellent title, not only for Harry Potter fans, but for everyone who wants to feel a bit of magic in their lives.

I must say I haven’t approached the end game in an ordinary way. In the middle of my play I have focused mostly on aquiring the achievements related to collectibles. I was exploring the entire map looking for new Merlin Trials, baloons to pop while airborne, astronomical tables to use, etc. It was fun and exciting experience, because I never knew what I would encounter: a new enemy? Undiscovered place? A riddle to solve? I put many hours into finding all the collectibles, getting the achievements and so on. As a result, when I had nothing left to do but the final quest of the game, I was already at level 39, out of 40 maximum levels available in the game, with most of the revelant perks maxed out, fully upgraded armour and four sets of spells on quick draw. I was more than ready to face Ranrok.

The final quest and the final battle with Ranrok was pleasingly unsurprising: it tested my magic skills, ability to cast different spells in rapid succession, dodge and reposition myself, use elixirs and magic plants—yet none of that was particularly difficult, complicated or frustrating. This is exactly how end game battles should feel most times. Maybe I’m simply too old, or maybe I value my time a little too much, but I no longer feel the pressure to try and punish myself with the highest difficulty level and sweat for hours, trying to defeat the final boss, only to get killed numerous times. In Hogwarts Legacy the balance of the difficulty and weight of the final battle with Ranrok, contrasted with player’s abilities to match the game requirements for speed and dexterity, is perfect, at least on normal difficulty mode. It was not trivial to defeat Ranrok, but it was also not annoyingly difficult. When the battle was over I still had a solid part of my magical supplies left.

One thing I wish Hogwarts Legacy’s developers could change, is the ability to reach the maximum level before the main fight. I was trying hard to do this, but it turned out to be impossible. To reach level 40 one needs to complete all achievements, and one of them can only be completed upon finishing a side quest after the main battle. Unfortunately, this happens quite often in many games: the final level, or the best armour, or the best weapon can often be obtained only so late in the gameplay, those upgrades are no longer useful, because most battles are over by then. The Witcher 1 is a good example of such strategy.

What Hogwarts Legacy did right, though, was the ability to continue the exploration of the game world even after the main plotline is finished. Although I’ve spent dozens of hours immersing myself in the Hogwarts universe, I have not reached a point when I could said “I’m done, I don’t want to see Hogwarts anymore”. I love to, every now and then, load the game and fly around the Hogwarts on my broom, or to play with magical creatures I saved and gave shelter to, or simply to walk through castle’s corridors at night, observing moving portraits, ghosts and other wonders.

I can honestly say that Hogwarts Legacy is the best game I have played in the last year. I do not know if there is a sequel planned (although I would be really surprised if it weren’t—the game was a global hit), but once Hogwarts Legacy 2 is released, I will gladly return to this magical world.

This article is no. 12 from the 100 Days To Offload series.