Hogwarts Legacy 2 Needs To Borrow One Key Feature From Xbox's Best 2024 Exclusive

Hogwarts Legacy's sequel has been much discussed, especially the many ways it should improve upon the original game. While Hogwarts Legacy was a strong open-world entry that managed to capture the magic of the Harry Potter franchise, it was missing a lot of features that would help immerse players better into the wizarding world. Fortunately, since its launch back in early 2023, several games have been released that would serve as strong inspiration for the sequel.

There are lots of features Hogwarts Legacy 2 should borrow from other games, whether that's classic open-world experiences or even older Harry Potter titles. However, one feature it absolutely needs to take comes from Xbox's best 2024 exclusive. Not only does it make that game a far better experience, but it could also help make Hogwarts Legacy 2 a much more immersive game without needing to rely on mods.

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Needs To Borrow Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's Best Feature

The Tactile Gameplay Makes The Great Circle More Immersive

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a triumphant Xbox exclusive and easily one of the best games of 2024. Its success should come as no surprise to fans of MachineGames' other works, as the Great Circle takes everything the developer learned from those games and expands upon them greatly, offering an immersive and action-packed cinematic spectacle that manages to be faithful to the source material while innovating upon it. One of its many great qualities that contributes to its towering achievements is its tactile gameplay, something that is elevated greatly by its first-person perspective.

Most items utilize a combination of realistic animations and player interaction in order to make them feel believable. Indy will reach out to any interactable object, allowing players to pick it up and then examine it from all angles. The player will actively have to pull out keys and then twist them in the lock, turn each dial on a lock by flicking the joystick, reach into a bag to open the inventory menu, and hold out the map in order to check it.

While Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn't the first game to include this level of immersive animation and player interaction - there's even another 2024 Xbox exclusive that's equally immersive - it does it to such a great extent that it feels like it has set a new level of standard for other games to aim for. It also helps make combat more exciting, as players have to reach out and grab nearby weapons before smashing them over the heads of Nazi soldiers.

Not only does it ramp up the level of tension in each fight, but it also makes it feel substantially more involved, as opposed to just pressing X next to a rifle and it then appearing in Indy's hand. Of course, Hogwarts Legacy 2 could absolutely benefit from this sense of tactility. Combat is fun in the original game, in large part thanks to the sheer number of spells on offer. However, among the many features Hogwarts Legacy 2 needs, a greater level of control and input into the spells players cast is perhaps one of the most important.

Involved Spellcasting Would Make Hogwarts Legacy 2 More Immersive

It Would Help Make It Feel Less Generic

Making spellcasting a more involved process in Hogwarts Legacy 2 may make combat a little slower, but it would also completely immerse players into the action. Considering the potential for new spells in Hogwarts Legacy 2, an improved or even substantially altered combat model that is more interactive would help make them feel more impactful. It would also allow for a more complex and unique approach to spellcasting that has never been done before.

Of course, the one advantage Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has over Hogwarts Legacy, at least when it comes to this particular type of immersive feature, is that it's played from a first-person perspective. However, there are other third-person games that have implemented more involved combat that extends beyond simply pressing a button to shoot a gun or, in this case, a wand. For example, Okami, the beloved cult classic from 2006, required players to paint certain symbols in order to unleash attacks, which, on the PS2, was done using joysticks.

Additionally, the original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone game on PC had players draw out spells to cast them. There is a lot Hogwarts Legacy 2 could learn from past Harry Potter games, a lot of which would help greatly improve how it immerses players into the wizarding world. Regardless, developers have been finding unique ways of implementing increased interactivity in third-person combat for a long time, with each attempt more often than not improving on the last. Hogwarts Legacy 2 adding something similar would not just be a continuation of that, but also an attempt to perfect it.

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Needs To Be More Than Just A Third-Person Shooter

It Needs To Make People Feel Like Wizards

Hogwarts Legacy's combat felt, at the time, like the best representation of spellcasting that a game of its structure could offer. Were it any more complex, it could have made simple open-world encounters too laborious, especially if they were more tactile, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. However, there is room for there to be a change in structure in Hogwarts Legacy 2, something that makes it a more concise experience that would facilitate a far more involved combat system.

Of course, the game doesn't necessarily need to dramatically change its whole identity to fit in a new combat style, but altering both could lead to a more satisfying experience, as often Hogwarts Legacy can feel too akin to a third-person shooter rather than a wizarding simulator. Avalanche Software did an incredible job of creating a vibrant world, but all too often it feels like Hogwarts Legacy played it safe, feeling more like its open-world inspirations and not like an entirely new breed of magical-based RPGs.

This new style of combat, alongside structural changes, could lead to Hogwarts Legacy 2 feeling like its own style of RPG, rather than feeling like Assassin's Creed with a Harry Potter skin. Hogwarts Legacy 2 will undoubtedly innovate upon the original experience in a number of ways, and will hopefully implement some of the more requested features that help immerse players further without the need for mods. However, if Hogwarts Legacy 2 makes just one key change to the original formula, it should be to the combat, in order to truly make players feel like powerful wizards.

Source: Dan Allen Gaming/YouTube