Hogwarts Legacy Was to be Much More Ambitious; Tons of Stuff Were Cut

Hogwarts Legacy proved to be one of the most successful launches of the year. The project is selling like crazy and is getting excellent feedback from players. However, it turns out that the title could have been much more elaborate. Youtuber GrandTheftDiamonds rummaged through the game's code and found mentions, suggesting what ideas the authors decided to abandon during the development process.

1. The game was supposed to offer a reputation system in the style of Red Dead Redemption 2. Among other things, mentions were found in the code about penalties for using forbidden spells. Casting Avada Kedavra would cost us 100 reputation points, while Imperio and Cruciatus would cost us 50 and 25 points, respectively.
2. The game was also originally planned to include a number of additional spells, such as Accio Maxima, Aguamenti and FiendFyre, as well as several curses.
3. There are many indications that there were plans for much more extensive mechanics related to being a student. Players were supposed to attend classes regularly and decide whether they wanted their character to be, for example, a slacker, a class clown or a troublemaker.
4. Also found in the files were mentions of options such as going truant, stealing or extortion.
5. The player could also bully other students or defend them from being bullied.
6. There was also the option of gossiping and getting drunk.

It is not known how advanced these elements were before the devs decided to abandon them. Some of them may have been mere ideas that were never implemented in a meaningful way, while others may have been cut just for lack of time.

Hogwarts Legacy also had a companion system

We previously learned that originally there were plans for a companion system that would enable us to take friends on all adventures, not just those with a predetermined storyline. A substitute for this can be obtained through the mod called AnyTimeCompanion, built based on the remnants of this system found in the code.

From all these reports emerges a picture of a game that was originally much more ambitious. All indications are that the developers have begun work on a sequel, so we hope that many of these ideas (especially those simulating student life) will be implemented in the sequel.

Hogwarts Legacy debuted in February this year on PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, with last week marking the release of the surprisingly good port for Xbox One and PS4. A Nintendo Switch edition is still planned, but we'll have to wait until July for that.