Summary
- Hogwarts Legacy nails castle exploration but lacks authentic student life and daily schedules.
- Community mods add schedules, classes, curfews, house points, and longer days for immersion.
- Many mods are available through the in-game mod loader, easing installation for casual players.
Hogwarts Legacy gets a lot right, with the castle itself being a wonder to explore, for example. However, after the first few missions at Hogwarts, the story and many side quests begin to seep into the surrounding countryside, rather than focusing on life as a student at Hogwarts.
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Furthermore, the students and staff don't act exactly as they should during a school term. For example, aside from a few missions, they don't attend classes and wander into Hogsmeade whenever they want. Thankfully, there are a number of gameplay mods for Hogwarts Legacy that make Hogwarts feel like a real school, with players able to experience what it would be like as a young witch or wizard.
Some of these mods are even available with the official in-game mod loader, making the process easier for those who don't like downloading from Nexus Mods.
Immersive ModPack
Structured Days For Students & Other NPCs
- Link to mod by icouldifiwantedto
For a collection of Immersive Meals, Immersive Classes, Immersive Common Rooms, and Immersive Hogsmeade, players can download the Immersive ModPack. This is one of the options for giving Hogwarts and its students structured days, while also doing the same for other NPCs, such as vendors in Hogsmeade.
In the morning, students will leave their Common Room for breakfast before attending classes and essentially live proper lives at Hogwarts. It is designed to work alongside Time Dilator and Emote With Any NPC, the latter of which allows students to sleep in their own beds rather than eerily standing still at night.
NPC Schedule Enhanced (Better AI)
Students Have Breakfast, Go To Class, Have Weekends Off, & Much More
- Link to mod by Khione95
- Available in the Official In-Game Mod Manager
The NPC Schedule Enhanced mod is essential for making every day in Hogwarts Legacy feel like a real boarding school. With this installed, students will head down to the Great Hall for breakfast before attending classes and returning for dinner. After their afternoon lessons, they may engage in some random behaviors before returning to their common room to study and eventually sleep.
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However, at weekends, which aren't a part of the base game, they will visit Hogsmeade and other places. Teachers are also part of this mod, patrolling the corridors at night and also relaxing in pubs at the weekend. Vendors get their own schedule too, no longer remaining in place all day, finally able to return home for sleep. These schedule changes for NPCs help to make Hogwarts Legacy feel more immersive.
House Point System
Fight With Other Houses For The House Cup Each Season
- Link to mod by Damien92
- Available in the Official In-Game Mod Manager
While Hogwarts Legacy does include the enchanted hourglasses outside the Great Hall that depict the points earned by each House, these are purely aesthetic and have no function within the game. With the House Point System mod, however, players can earn points by making morally correct choices, random events, and new tasks. On the other side of things, casting an Unforgivable Curse will cost points, with any points or deductions appearing on screen as notifications.
Players can visit the entrance hall to keep an eye on the hourglasses, which fill up and empty accordingly. At the end of each season (Autumn, Winter, etc), the House with the most points will win the House Cup. While this isn't exactly how it works in the books, with the Cup only being awarded at the end of the year, this makes for a more engaging experience in the game.
Night Curfew
Avoid Prefects At Night
- Link to mod by nathdev
- Available in the Official In-Game Mod Manager
Reading about Harry sneaking around Hogwarts at night, narrowly avoiding prefects, professors, and Peeves, was always a highlight of the books. However, in Hogwarts Legacy, players are free to roam the castle at any hour, and with no risk, the thrill simply isn't there.
This is where the Night Curfew mod comes in handy, adding 16 prefects to patrol the corridors and towers between midnight and 6 am. Upon being caught, players will be sent back to their common room and face a 100 Knut fine. This encourages stealth gameplay and adds tension to every nighttime excursion.
Class System
Attend Classes & Complete Homework
- Link to mod by nathdev
Classes are the bread and butter of school life at Hogwarts, but after one lesson for each subject at the start of the game, there are no more to attend. The Class System mod is therefore a game-changer, introducing 28 unique lessons across five popular subjects.
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These can be attended from 8:30 to 11:30, after which, players can complete homework in the library to hand in. There are even detentions for students who miss too many classes. Lessons are text-based with decisions to be made, but are presented in an immersive way on parchment. Doing well academically will help the player's house win the House Cup.
Time Dilator
Slow Down The Game Time For Longer, More Realistic Days
- Link to mod by icouldifiwantedto
- Available in the Official In-Game Mod Manager
To complement many of these mods that make the school experience in Hogwarts Legacy better, players may want some form of time dilation, allowing for longer and more realistic days. Tempus Imperium by RyselZ was one of these options, but as that is no longer being maintained, Time Dilator has taken over.
A normal day in Hogwarts Legacy lasts 48 minutes, but with this mod, players can tweak that number in any way they like, even making an in-game day match one real day. With a schedule mod installed, NPCs will then have longer to go about their days.
Hogwarts Legacy
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- February 10, 2023
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Avalanche Software
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
