Hogwarts Legacy Nintendo Switch 2 Comments Update

With the end of the Nintendo Switch 2, the first thing I initially had to do was play something that didn't work well on the original switch, just to see how much improvements the new console is. At the top of the list is Hogwarts Legacy: an ambitious open-world game that really struggles with the Switch. First, let's review why I liked it for the first time, when I reviewed it on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC.

Hogwarts Legacy is close to unplayable on Switch 1

I replayed the way it ran in the first few hours of the original switch before starting Hogwarts Legacy on Switch 2 and it turned out to be very bad. This thing runs like a wounded animal, with extremely low Rez characters and environments every time you travel quickly, unstable frame speeds and very long load times. On PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or PC, Exploring the Hogwarts campus is one of the best parts of this adventure, and whenever you try to walk through a door and find it locked, it locks when it takes a few seconds to load, and sometimes even displays some load icons after a while. It's to the point where I sometimes think a door cannot communicate until I start walking away and suddenly spinning.

The performance gap between this release and the ones available on other platforms is so great that I don't even recommend you play it even if you don't have any other recourse. When Hogwarts Legacy is like this, it is not possible to experience all the things that Hogwarts Legacy does really well.

Switch 2 is a huge step, even if it still lags behind PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Modern PCS

Thankfully, the powerful hardware of the Switch 2 is even more powerful. It still doesn't align with the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, or the high-end PC, but at least feels similar to what the Xbox Series S feels like I remember – not 4K or anything, but good enough, especially considering that all of this runs on mobile devices. (It's really shocking.) I still noticed some pop-ups and needed to reset a bug at some point, which are all the issues I've seen in other versions, but this makes an absolute huge improvement on Switch 1 and plays in docking and handheld modes.

There have been some neat updates since I last played

Since I last played, there are only a bunch of things that have been added to Hogwarts’ legacy, including photo mode, which is essentially important on Harry Potter Isekai Life Sim and is able to reset your skill tree selection to avoid locking yourself in some rookies. Plus, my personal favorite upgrades: They remove all the annoying platform-exclusion stuff like the Side Quest available only on the PS5, and add some new makeup to collect.

For Switch 2, Hogwarts Legacy in particular, also supports a new mouse mode that allows you to swap between traditional joystick controls and use one of the Joy-Cons (like the mouse) if you prefer to target this way. The mouse controls work well and I can no doubt aim at the battle. Still, I really can't see myself using it in standard joystick mode, just because it's uncomfortable to fix the Joy-Con on one side for a long time, and it's nothing wrong to just operate it in the old way. But it's definitely a neat choice!

I still really like this game

After more than two years, I really appreciate my fun. Hogwarts is still one of the most detailed settings I've ever seen in the game, and I might waste time exploring the venue and practicing my spells. The battle is also surprisingly fun, considering its lame feet in the movie. In fact, when you laugh at enemies in the air, parry and fight back against enemy attacks, they whip up a lot of fun on the sticks and consider whether to murder people with just a very illegal curse.

The main story is definitely a weakness, with a very generic and boring goblin villain, and ambiguous about ancient magic. But the role you travel with from classmates to professors who teach you every day makes up for this shortcoming.

Two years ago, I was still bothered by all the things that bothered me, especially the enemy breed, which felt worse than I remembered it (boy, oh boy, this thing will make you fight a lot with the spider). After all, some technical issues are still alive and not bad. But it's still a really great game, and it's almost everything I want as a Harry Potter fan. The fact that it is now available on devices without major sacrifices you can play on the subway is crazy, which makes me want to play again the next time I get on the plane.