On April 25th, Hogwarts Mystery; an RPG Mobile Game based on the Harry Potter universe was released by Jam City with help from the newly established game publishing company Portkey Games (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.). After playing for more than a week, I have more negatives to say than positives; which is something of a trait when it comes to things which come out of the Harry Potter Franchise these days.
Story
The story so far is interesting (certainly much better than The Cursed Child). This is one of the few positives I can give. Despite the fact that the story is quite possibly non-canon, the backstory hooks you in right away. The premises spans 7 years from the day Voldemort was defeated for the first time at Godric’s Hollow by baby Harry. By saying that, there are all sorts of neat references throughout the game. You’ll not only get to meet young Tonks but also the Weasley kids who attended Hogwarts before Percy.
As the name says, there is a certain mystery going on where our main player’s brother/sister has disappeared following a series of unfortunate events. Our task is to discover what really happened.
However, the new characters are uninteresting. What I mean by that is the fact that they all seems to be carbon copies of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and others. Been there, done that.
But here’s where the ridiculousness kicks in: The story contains a Draco Malfoy wannabe Slytherin bully named Merula Snyde. She acts and behaves much like a Deatheater and what she does throughout the game is completely worthy of a lifetime sentence in Azkaban (Seriously? Trying to murder a kid in broad daylight and leaving behind credible evidence?). I guess her parents being Deatheaters may have something to do with her bad blood. Yet, the teachers seems to turn a blindseye towards her antics. Not even Draco had this kind of freedom when it comes to bullying.
Graphics and Sound
Hogwarts Mystery is a gorgeous looking game. Eye-catching graphics and beautiful music will get you hooked right away. The music featured in the game are actually derivatives from the music featured in the movies (most likely to avoid any copyright issues had they used the original music).
The main line Harry Potter console games which came out during the movie days only showed the Griffindor Common Room with the exception being Chamber Of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince Video Games which also showed the Slytherin Common Room. Here of course if you choose to join Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, you’ll be treated with your first look at those respective common rooms.
I’m impressed with the graphics which put it on-par with a Playstation 3 era game. That being said, you’ll certainly need a good mobile phone to give this game a shot.
With that, this review is about to go 180 and turn towards the darkside.
Gameplay
Since Hogwarts Mystery is a typical ‘Free To Play’ type of mobile game, gameplay and micro-transactions go hand-in-hand. Though categorized as a ‘Role Playing Game’, the gameplay is a linear storydriven one where you have to tap objects for actions. That being said, this is not a game at all. An app such as this is normally categorized as an Interactive Mobile Novel. Imagine clicking a next button to advance. Yes; that’s pretty much it. There’s no “playing” involved. Here’s how it works: A small cutscene would play and you have to click on ‘Next’ to read the dialog. Once it’s done you have to tap on an object or a person to interact. There’s only one action to do and you just complete that action by tapping few times. Then another dialog will follow. Rinse and repeat.
Interacting with an object reduces “Energy”. You are given 24 Energy from the get go. Once the Energy is drained, you have to either wait 1.5 hours or pay real money to get it refilled. Here comes the messed up part: Some interactions are timed and requires a lot of Energy. Either you have to wait for several hours or pay with your own money to get the energy refilled. On a good game, these kind of ‘Paywalls’ won’t come on until you are few days into the game. But this game is a far cry from being a good game. You’ll get the “opportunity” to cough out money from your wallet few hours into the game. This is a clear cut ‘hook and sinker’ setup.
IF you choose to pay, you’ll be paying from Rs. 175 upwards. The transactions can go all the way up to Rs. 15,500/- But even so, the rewards are not permanent. Which means you’ll eventually end up paying much more.
If you are playing for free, a typical scenario would go like this: You’ll open the app, tap several icons or commands few times, you see that you ran out of energy, you close the app and wait for 1.5 hours. That wait is just to play [I kid you not] for another 1 or 2 minutes.
What Could Have Been
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery reminds me of an old mobile game called Layton Brothers Mystery. However, that game was leagues ahead when it comes to its transaction implementation. That game had Cases very much like this game’s Years. First case was free to play but the rest of the cases had a measly $5 to unlock them all. Also, there was no waiting involved. If you paid, you had the luxury to play to your heart’s content. And that is exactly what’s lacking here. The heart and soul of the Harry Potter franchise is lost with their lust for money.
Final Verdict
Hogwarts Mystery is a cashgrab. It’s no surprise when it comes to the microtransaction filled mobile world we are living in. As I stated before, there is no playing involved. There’s no deep thinking or figuring things out. Someone might say that there’s nothing much more you can do since it’s a mobile game. But some mobile games have proven to be even amazing than console games. This is certainly not that kind of a mobile game. Besides, as predicted, this game is a reskin of Jam City’s own Avengers Academy rather than being a new game of its own. It looks good visually, but that’s about it. This may not be the best start for WB’s Portkey Games, but we certainly expect something better next time for the sake of the franchise.
