Unplayable in Current State – Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Review

As an avid fan of Harry Potter, I was incredibly excited for this game and downloaded it as soon as it came out. I believed this game could have some genuine promise. The storyline itself could use some polishing, but was intriguing and drew me in rather well. However, after several months of playing, there are some integral and glaring flaws that need to be addressed. As many others have mentioned, the energy system is just unreasonable. Energy can be spent in the matter of a minute, and takes over an hour to fully replenish. The wait becomes even worse the further you progress through the game, as you increase the capacity of your energy bar, though those opportunities are few and far between. In order to make any significant progress and avoid disengagement with the story, you can pay an outrageous price to get gems to replenish you energy only to lose it all again within another minute. If that’s not an attempt to bleed players dry, then I don’t know what it is. Fundamentally the classes are neat, and it’s cool being able to learn different spells and potions each year, as well as unlock new types of classes as you progress through the game. However, after a while, the classes become repetitive, with the same few actions being performed each time you go to class. In addition, they rarely incorporate the spell or whatever else you’re actually learning until the very end of the lesson. Not to mention the fact that you have to gain stars in order to unlock the special lesson, meaning you have to grind through pointless classes, and waste even more time and energy, to even learn the new material. Special events are fun, new ways to challenge players and encourage them to take classes, boost their attributes, and try to win exclusive outfits and other prizes. As with the other elements of the game, however, in order to really make progress in a special event, players must shell out real money in order to attain the required number of stars in an unreasonably short time span. And because most special events use stars earned from classes, it only means more time spent grinding classes, more energy wasted, and—of course—more money being spent. The bonding system with friends is unique and a great way to interact with the other characters, but the recharge on these actions is ridiculous. Gobstones takes a full 16 hours to recharge, and is the only interaction that makes any significant progress through the friendship levels. The questions asked during the interactions also become repetitive and predictable, with the same questions being asked multiple times (and sometimes twice in a row). Thankfully they don’t require energy...or else I don’t think I’d have any friends at Hogwarts. Most of these weren’t enough to discourage me from playing the game. I can deal with long wait times and forgo the need to pay money (though the storyline is pretty much completely forgotten at this point). The icing on the cake is the new dueling system that they just released. Dueling is an integral part of the game, not to mention the Harry Potter world, and this execution of the dueling system is unforgivable. Instead of redeeming themselves and giving us an awesome new activity to participate in, they feature a special event (with another exclusive outfit) and three tickets to be able to duel with. That’s right, three. You do not lose a ticket if you win the duel, but if you fail to beat your opponent, that ticket is gone. WITH NO RECHARGE. You get three losses, and in order to keep dueling, you must pay 120 gems to get three more tickets. In addition to this, the AI opponents are boosted to what seems like 4x your own skill. An opponent who had 4 to 5 levels less than me in every attribute could defeat me in two hits. 20 points of damage on my opponent took away 1/5 of their health, but a taking 20 point hit from the opponent depleted over half of my health. With AI so difficult to beat, and tickets that force you to pay money to recharge, the developers have reached an all-time low with the game. Just a note, developers: in-game transactions are used as a way to enhance or speed up the gameplay for players who are willing to pay money. NOT make the game virtually unplayable for those who cannot afford to do so. TL;DR: The game is currently an unforgivable cash grab that preys upon the devoted fans of the Harry Potter universe. The developers had an opportunity to make an amazing game embodying the love we all share for this universe. Instead, they made a game that is barely playable, that attempts to strip players of their money through unfair and rigged mechanics, and boasts very few redeeming qualities. I have hope that maybe Jam City will listen to the displeased and frustrated voices of their players, and work to make their game truly enjoyable. But as it is now, their only intention seems to be riding on the back of a beloved franchise in order to stuff their own pockets.
Review by LucariaAura on Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.