Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Guide

The game puts you in the shoes of a prospective Hogwarts student, who gets a letter guaranteeing admittance into the magical school. You partake in the Sorting Hat festivities and can join any of the school’s four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. The first thing you will probably want to know is that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery takes place in the timespan between Harry Potter's birth and when he enters the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The second most important fact about this title is that it's very similar to a choose your own adventure game. So if you had high hopes of playing out your Harry Potter fantasies in a deep and fulfilling RPG or MMO, you can forget that. This is a casual game at its core, which may or may not play out in its favor. Ah, who am I kidding, people are going to eat this game up regardless.As you can tell from the screenshots and teaser trailer, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery isn't really a graphically intensive game. Sure, it gets the job done, but I would say the graphics are on par with any other bland non-offensive title available for children and adults alike. The characters look mostly similar to their movie counterparts, though there is a heavy lean towards the nondescript caricatures found on the dust jackets of the earlier books over the grittier styles seen in the later films.

After all, this is a kid-friendly game, so things need to be toned-down just a bit. Various challenges, interactions and encounters with other students in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery gain you House Points for your House. Much like in Harry Potter, the House at the end of the year who has the most points gets the House Cup and gains various rewards. You can lose points too, if you lose a challenge or you annoy a teacher.

Tell from the screenshots and teaser trailer, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery isn't really a graphically intensive game. Sure, it gets the job done, but I would say the graphics are on par with any other bland non-offensive title available for children and adults alike. The characters look mostly similar to their movie counterparts, though there is a heavy lean towards the nondescript caricatures found on the dust jackets of the earlier books over the grittier styles seen in the later films. After all, this is a kid-friendly game, so things need to be toned-down just a bit.Once you are sorted into your house, you then get to start attending classes. For the most part, these first segments serve to not only move the story along but also as a way to get used to the overall gameplay of completing tasks in a sufficient and timely manner while also learning new spells and potions.Within the first hour of the game you will learn that your older brother attended Hogwarts but was expelled from the school under odd circumstances. This, of course, follows you around. Not only are the teachers aware of your brother's checkered past, but so too are the students. As you can imagine, issues will arise as you try to figure out what happened. The gameplay is actually pretty simple and considering that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery plays a lot like a choose your own adventure, this is no surprise. You will spend a lot of time working your way through animated dialogue cutscenes, but in between these segments is where the true meat of the gameplay resides.

As you progress, you will learn new recipes for potions and new spells to perform. These will be used to get past more tasks in the game. Your ultimate goal is to earn points for your house by completing these tasks successfully. If your house has the most points at the end of an in-game year, you will earn yourself some Gems and Coins. When completing challenges, you gain XP which boots your level up. You can also gain additional level points in the form of Courage, Empathy and Knowledge (and perhaps something additional for the Slytherin House? Unsure). Some challenges and classes won’t let you in until you have gained a certain amount of e.g. courage. For example, there was a challenge I couldn’t do because I needed to be level 5 courage. To gain courage, I have to go and take a Flying Lesson. Once I’ve completed the Flying Lesson, I can gain Courage, then go back to the previous challenge and complete that. When you move up the levels you gain extra money, gems and energy too, but you can’t move on to Year 2 until you’re up to level 30. As I said, it’s a slow going game. Honestly, the gameplay is super streamlined, though you do get a few different choices with where you want to go or who you want to interact with. What is nice is that figuring out where you need to go next, or what tasks you should be taking on next is a breeze, which should make Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery an easy game to pick up no matter the player's gaming skill.Coins are the first currency, and they are easier to earn in-game than the secondary currency of Gems.

These Gems are of course used almost exclusively for the best items in the game, which at the very least appear to be mostly cosmetic.  Like Harry, Ron and Hermione, you attend various classes around the castle. Potions, Charms and Flying Lessons are all in first year, and as you complete the challenges you earn yourself XP, money, gems and energy. You need energy to complete the challenges, but once it’s down to zero, you have to wait for 5 minutes to gain 1 energy. This is a slow moving game, for sure. Gems are used to purchase more energy, and coins are used to upgrade you wardrobe (and probably other things as the game continues). Once you’ve completed your challenge, you move on to the next one in the chapter. Chapters make up each year at Hogwarts, and various challenges must be completed before moving onto the next year in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. The game puts you in the shoes of a prospective Hogwarts student, who gets a letter guaranteeing admittance into the magical school. You partake in the Sorting Hat festivities and can join any of the school’s four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.Along the way, you will meet known series characters Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, and more. Hogwarts Mystery takes place several years before Harry Potter was born, so you will also encounter a younger Bill Weasley.You have been chosen to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Embark on your own adventure in this all new RPG set in the wizarding world, years before Harry Potter received his Hogwarts letter. Explore never-before-seen rooms of Hogwarts Castle and investigate ancient mysteries.

Learn powerful magic and knowledge from Professors Dumbledore, Snape, and more. Duel against your rivals and forge alliances with new friends to help you on your adventures. As part of WBIE’s Portkey Games label, this groundbreaking mobile game puts you at the center of an all-new story in the wizarding world. As you begin the game, you’re asked if you’re a witch or wizard, and then to create a character. There are limited options as to what you make your avatar look like, however some elements are locked and are accessible when you move up the levels, or earn enough money, energy and gems. When you’re ask to create an avatar like this, you have two options really: create a random person that just seems cool, or try and make it look the most like you that you can. Because this is Harry Potter, I went for myself (or rather, as close to) so I could feel like I was going to Hogwarts.The challenges take a long time; some are little ones such as ‘go and talk to Rowan about this book’, and others are longer, such as ‘go and learn a new potion in Potions Class’. The class challenges in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery can take anywhere from 1 – 8 hours, depending on how much energy you have. To complete the challenge you click on the blue illuminated items and people in the class, and each click takes one energy. You get a limited supply of energy, which only replenishes by one every 5 minutes. If you start a challenge with only 10 energy, then you’re going to have to come back to it later, as you can’t complete the challenge all at once. My concern with this is I can feel like this would get boring after a while. As I entered Flying Lessons, I did what I could with my energy, and then had to wander around the castle trying to find out energy orbs (of which there are a few here and there – try clicking on empty picture frames in the hallways), and just wait for time to pass before I could go back and complete the Flying Lesson. It would be cooler, therefore, if there were other challenges or mini games you could play around the castle that didn’t involve a time restriction. If you don’t make it back and finish you challenge before the timer runs out, then you on’t get your reward and you lose House Points.