Hogwarts Mystery officially hit the app stores on April 24, which means we’ve had some time to play and give you our honest review of the game. Jam City created this game after making a few other successful ones, like Panda Pop and Cookie Jam, which made them qualified to bring Harry Potter’s world to life for us. J.K. Rowling did not write the story for this game which takes place in the 80’s before Harry and his friends arrive at Hogwarts, it still makes sure to stay true to the world she created.
The gameplay starts out very exciting as you receive your Hogwarts letter and meet your new friend Rowan in Diagon Alley where you gather supplies. The game allows you to receive the wand made for your character, name your character, personalize them, and pick your Hogwarts house. After the sequences in Diagon Alley, you take the train to Hogwarts and begin the gameplay which is where the negatives to the game kick in. Each task requires energy to complete and they don’t reload quickly, unless you purchase more, which means you can only get ten to fifteen minutes of gameplay in before you have to turn it off and wait again.
The school looks amazing and you interact with the Professors, like: McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Dumbledore, and Madam Hooch though they don’t speak except through words on the screen, though some of the actors did lend their voices to the game to add to the authenticity. The classes are there and require you to complete intro lessons for each new skill before you do the official lesson, which means more time waiting on energy.
Hogwarts Mystery does allow you to explore the castle, more so with each school year you progress to, and it brings the world to life for many of us Potter fans. What we wish for this game include less time waiting on energy, and the ability to be more interactive with your character. You are able to send them to different rooms and places in the castle, but you can’t move them at all once you arrive which prevents you from interacting with people with the game that aren’t designed to speak to you. We are currently in year 2 of the gameplay and we are enjoying it, but we do wish the things we mentioned were possible. Until then, we will continue to enjoy our seven years at Hogwarts.
What are your thoughts on the game? Are you addicted or does the waiting cause you to stop playing and forget about it? Let us know what you think and we’ll be sure to update if anything within the game changes to make it even better! We’ve also included a video with some tips on how to get more energy which can, sometimes, get you through a challenge.