You can practice your own ‘wingardium leviosa’ in 2018
A story-based role-playing game inspired by Harry Potter is now in the works. Produced by mobile studio Jam City ( Marvel Avengers Academy), Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery will let players create their own Hogwarts student — a first for the multimedia franchise.
The game follows a storyline in which players’ custom wizard will attend class, run into familiar professors and experience all that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has to offer. A press release suggests that a majority of the academics fans remember from the series will appear in the game, and that it will hew closely to the established lore. (There’s no mention of whether Ron, Hermione or Harry will appear in the game, however.)
This is the second project announced by new distribution label Portkey Games, which Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment opened up earlier this fall with the purpose of creating video games set in the Harry Potter universe. The first is an augmented reality game developed by Niantic Labs of Pokémon Go fame.
It’s a bit wild to think that, when it launches, Hogwarts Mystery will be the only Harry Potter video game with a heavy role-playing focus in which players control someone other than an established hero. Browser-based site Pottermore aside, there haven’t been any official opportunities to actually attend Hogwarts as our own witches and wizards; thankfully, there’s always been fanfiction for that.
Portkey Games is targeting a 2018 release date for Hogwarts Mystery. Pre-registration is available now for both iOS and Android on the game’s website.
