HOGWARTS LEGACY: THE CASTLE IS THE STAR PUPIL

8.0 of 10 bananas. The best digital Hogwarts ever built, wrapped around a thin story.

By the Alpha. PS5 standard edition disc listing. Updated Oct 2026.

Platforms: The PS5 standard edition disc is the Amazon button. PC on Steam, PS4, Xbox, and Switch versions also exist. This page sells the PS5 disc only.

Sit with me a moment. I walked out of my first class, took a wrong staircase, and found a hidden room behind a painting. Forty minutes later I had not touched the main quest once. That is the magic of this game. The castle itself is worth the ticket.

What It Wants To Be

Avalanche Software's open world action RPG, published by Warner Bros. Games and released February 10, 2023 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series, with PS4, Xbox One, and Switch versions later that year. You are a fifth-year student who arrives late at Hogwarts in the 1800s and carries a rare kind of ancient magic. A goblin uprising and a group of dark wizards want that power.

What Works

Hogwarts is a masterpiece of a set. Moving staircases, talking portraits, secret passages, and house common rooms all feel lived in. Flying a broom over the Scottish highlands at sunset is pure joy. Combat is better than it has any right to be: you chain spells, break shields with the right color, and juggle enemies like a duelist. The Room of Requirement gives you a home base to decorate and fill with beasts.

What Breaks

Listen well. The story is the weakest limb. The goblin villain Ranrok is flat, and the big secret never lands with weight. School life is thin: classes are short quest gates, not real lessons, and there is no Quidditch. The open world repeats itself, with dozens of the same small puzzles and bandit camps. Your choices change very little.

Who Should Play

Play if you have dreamed of walking these halls since you were small, or if you want a cozy open world with a strong spell combat system. Skip if you need a sharp story or meaningful choices. For deeper role-playing, read my Baldur's Gate 3 verdict.

Related: Baldur's Gate 3, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

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