Hogwarts Legacy Switch 2 Review
Summary: One of the best glow ups on Switch 2 brings the magic of the wizarding world to Nintendo's new handheld with aplomb.
4
Mischief Managed
It’s no secret that Hogwarts Legacy on the Nintendo Switch was by far the worst version of the game. To say it struggled was an understatement. The performance was choppy, the textures were muddy, the draw distance was a joke, and the load times were long and frequent.
There wasn’t so much a gap in performance compared to the other versions, but a gulf, a giant sinkhole that made the game almost unplayable.
But hey, It was one of those miracle ports, just like the feeding of the 5,000. If everyone got a flake of fish, a crumb of bread, and were told to be happy about it.
Now, thanks to the significantly more capable hardware of the Switch 2, miraculously, it doesn’t look far off the current-gen version. Granted it’s not as good as the Series X or PS5, but it’s certainly on par with the Series S.
With that in mind, if you want to see what we thought about the game itself, as opposed to how much better the Switch 2 version fares, you can check out Andrew’s original Hogwarts Legacy review on the PS5 here.
Anyway, It might not be running at 4K60, and there’s still some minor pop in at times, and occasionally the upscaling can make your hair look a ittle fuzzy when you swing the camera around, but it’s more than playable, especially considering this is essentially a handheld port, and the improvement over the original Switch version is huge.
The other major change is the support for mouse controls. It’s a nifty little mode that essentially lets you switch between traditional twin stick and the Switch’s version of mouse and keyboard on the fly. Simply put the right Joy-Con on a surface, and your ability to aim becomes a lot more accurate. It’s great for when you need to scan the environment for hidden goodies; however, in combat, thanks to how spells automatically stick to foes anyway, it’s not as impressive.
It’s one of those times when I wish the Joy-Con 2’s improved motion controls were used instead. Not being able to flick your Joy-Con to fire spells off seems like a massive own goal to me.
The mouse controls can also be utilised during the spell learning mini game, which sees you adjusting the mouse pointer while tapping the right buttons at various points. It’s a neat twist, but it’s clear that this was meant to be performed with an analogue stick, because it can be a little awkward at times, and after a couple of times, I switched back to using sticks for it.
Final Thoughts
As a $10 upgrade for your shiny new Switch 2 Hogwarts Legacy is an absolute no-brainer. (Just remember you have to boot up the game and look in the shop section of the main menu to buy it),
As a brand new purchase, though, it’s a much trickier sell. To be honest, if I weren’t reviewing it, I wouldn’t have bothered.
The game itself is grand, Hogwarts Legacy maintains the wonder and home counties charm from the best Potter films, and is by far the best game set within the Potterverse by a country mile.
However, I can’t condone the actions of JK Rowling (or is it Robert Galbraith). Sorry, Joanna’s odious bigotry doesn’t sit well with me.
Maybe she’s just projecting?. She’s spent the last 30 years pretending she’s a man for her own personal gain, so why wouldn’t she think trans people are doing the same?
But then you look at Hogwarts and what Avalanche has done with the Potterverse, and you can see they’ve tried to make a game everyone can enjoy. It’s inclusive, it’s a little camp at times, it takes the source material and attempts to scrub away some of the worst parts off it. while expanding it in some fun ways.
The fact that one of the best characters in the game, Sirona Ryan, is trans (and treated with the same love and respect as every other part of the cast, like she bloody should be) shows how little Galbriath had to do with its creation, aside from the cash it brings in for her to fund hate groups.
That’s the rub, never has a once beloved franchise been so poisoned by the actions of its creator. (Even when the adaptation in question had pretty much nothing to do with them).
My advice, if you still want it, buy it secondhand. Get a cheap copy of the OG switch version and spend $10 on the upgrade. Find a friend and have them zap over the digital cart for a couple of weeks. Play it on PS+.
Just do what you can to ensure not another penny lands in the pocket of Robert Galbraith, or JK Rowling, or Joanna, or whatever name this hateful closeted cretin is using this week.
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