Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a mobile RPG for wannabe wizards

It may require pulling out a Pensieve to remember, but in late 2017 Warner Bros announced a brand-new publishing label, called Portkey Games, which would be dedicated to creating games tied to the Harry Potter universe.

The first game to be announced was Harry Potter: Wizards Unite – an AR game from Niantic, the team behind the wildly popular Pokemon Go. Though we’re still waiting to hear more about the next Harry Potter phenomenon, Portkey Games has revealed another Harry Potter title that will be coming to iOS and Android in 2018: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.

Rather than using AR to bring the wizarding world to you, Hogwarts Mystery is a role-playing game that will give players the chance to escape to Hogwarts and live the life of a magical student. 

Create your own adventure

Players will start their adventure by creating their own avatar, choosing a pet and getting settled into their Hogwarts house. After this they’ll be able to attend Hogwarts classes, learn magical skills, interact with other players, and make decisions that will affect their character’s story arc as they go through their years at Hogwarts.

Playing the game, it’ll be possible to go on quests, improve skills, unlock new locations and upgrade your avatar. According to Jam City, the quests players will be able to take up will range from large plot arcs to smaller relationship-based missions. It’ll be the decisions players make during these quests that will impact the direction of the narrative and determine how other characters interact with them.

There won’t be any risk of crossing over with any of Harry’s adventures in this game – it’s set between Harry’s birth and first year at Hogwarts, so players are much more likely to bump into Nymphadora Tonks or Bill Weasley. 

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is expected to launch in spring 2018, but it’s possible to pre-register on the official website to receive the latest information as it comes. It seems that Portkey Games is on a roll with its Harry Potter titles, and we’re very interested to see what kind of title is released next – we wouldn't object to seeing an open RPG of this ilk released on the latest consoles, that's for sure. 

• This is everything we know about the Harry Potter AR adventure coming in 2018

January 18, 2018 at 08:00PM
Emma Boyle