Avalanche Software's action RPG Hogwarts Legacy introduces fans to a whole new side of the Wizarding World with its 1800s setting and cast of new characters. The game is an exciting insight into the beloved world before Harry Potter and his friends arrive at the famous wizarding school, and Hogwarts Legacy has been praised for its engrossing environments and excellent use of spells. However, there are some aspects that gamers wish Hogwarts Legacy explored in greater depth.
With several games already released over the years in the Harry Potter franchise, Hogwarts Legacy had its work cut out for it if it wanted to show fans something new and original. Taking the action back a hundred years or so allowed Hogwarts Legacy to navigate new areas of the IP, while still retaining many of its magical elements like the well-known school and familiar aspects of wizarding society. One such feature was the return of house-elves – creatures made popular by characters like Dobby in the books and films. But while players might have enjoyed bumping into these diminutive magical beings in their playthroughs, the way Hogwarts Legacy handles them could be a little problematic.
Harry Potter's History Of House-Elves
The Harry Potter universe contains a rich world filled with magic and builds a complex society with a fascinating history. While Hogwarts Legacy operates within this framework, the game does choose which elements of the source material it includes and which it doesn't, making it a great mixture of both new and old. One aspect that is arguably a smaller part of the Wizarding World, but still one that has a sizable impact in the novels, is the role of house-elves. Magical creatures in their own right, most house-elves have been essentially enslaved by witches and wizards and made to undertake housework and other tasks.
This is presented as an established part of the magical society, but it's definitely not something that sits comfortably with audiences. Notable house-elves like Winky, Dobby, and Kreacher have difficult lives in the Harry Potter books, working either for old wizarding families or in Hogwarts Castle itself. Forced to do whatever their master or mistress commands of them, house-elves have little freedom and represent some of the harsher inequalities in the Wizarding World. The majority of witches and wizards seem happy with this status quo, but characters like Hermione actively campaign to improve the position of house-elves. However, Hogwarts Legacy doesn't give players a chance to protest the plight of elves at all.
House-Elves In Hogwarts Legacy
House-elves in Hogwarts Legacy are just as integral to the running of the castle as they are in the books, but they're also treated with just as much contempt. As players explore and uncover the school's secrets, it becomes more and more apparent that house-elves are being systematically mistreated. Worse still, gamers can't do anything about it or even comment on the situation. One example is the way gamers can choose to decorate the Room of Requirement with ‘Mounted House-Elf Heads' – a horrifying insight into how witches and wizards view them. Players can also come across house-elves as they're hard at work making meals and stoking the fires and can see the cramped barrels that they sleep in tucked away in a corner of the kitchens.
Players have no option to complain about the mistreatment of house-elves, or even speak to them about it and offer their support or sympathy. One particularly uncomfortable example of this is when they can ask Scrope, Phineas Nigellus Black's house-elf, how he came to be missing an ear. His heartbreaking account of nearly being decapitated by his mistress is bad enough, but there isn't even a dialogue option to acknowledge it. Hogwarts Legacy seems to have missed an opportunity to give players the chance to address the treatment of house-elves, especially as an aspect to incorporate into their role-playing experience.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, with a Switch version coming on July 25th.