Hogwarts Legacy lacks magic — and Rowling's views have tainted series, says critic

Day 69:06Can Hogwarts Legacy stand apart from J.K. Rowling?

Many Harry Potter fans around the world eagerly awaited the release of the new video game Hogwarts Legacy — a title mired in controversy due to comments by series creator J.K. Rowling about transgender people.

Fans have since boycotted the game over what they see as Rowling's anti-trans views. The author has questioned the use of gender-inclusive language and trans people's right to access gendered spaces. Recently, she opposed the Scottish government's proposed gender recognition legislation.

Jaina Grey is a writer and reviewer with Wired magazine, and a trans woman, who says she grew up loving the Harry Potter world. 

After playing the game and documenting her experience, Grey says she's saying goodbye to a fictional world she once adored.

"There were just all sorts of little details that my inner Harry Potter fan was like, 'That's not right,'" said Grey. "And all of that together really just solidified that, outside of everything else, it just wasn't a very good game." 

Hogwarts Legacy was released on all major video game platforms Feb. 10, and is an open-world, action role-playing game set in the 1800s wizarding world of Harry Potter.

Grey spoke with Day 6 guest host Manjula Selvarajah about the controversy with Rowling and how the game became such a focal point.

You grew up loving the world of Harry Potter. Can you tell me about your own relationship with the world of Harry Potter? 

It wasn't until like the second or third book that I really felt immersed and engaged in this world. The third one had a lot of themes about, like, complicated parental figures and feeling like an outcast. 

And that really resonated with me as a young queer person, and it really resonated with my family too. It was something that my younger sister read, my mom read. It was one of the few books that we all read sort of together. 

And then when the movies started coming out, they just naturally became like comfort watches for us.... They were basically seasonal decorations for us. 

You're saying that it resonated with you. What did that mean to you growing up as a trans person and what you were experiencing around you? 

It made me feel very seen. Especially since it's such a narrative about characters who come from complicated homes and complicated backgrounds — dealing with things like prejudice and having to deal with challenges that are, honestly, things that they shouldn't have to deal with yet because they're kids. 

But growing up as a queer trans person, you do have to grow up fast. And these books really, really offered a place where these experiences felt validated in a way. 

There's a line at the top of your review saying that the game, in your words, helped you say goodbye to the setting for good. What do you mean by that? 

So for the last couple of years, as the rhetoric from J.K. Rowling has sort of intensified, I had been trying deliberately to avoid the Harry Potter universe and hearing the things that she'd said. 

[That was] in part to try and preserve some of that sparkle that the setting still had for me, in hopes that I might be able to return to it at some point — or get to a point where it's like a series of books and movies that has a complicated situation around its author. 

But this game really solidified for me that every part of this setting is laden with just the burden of the things that she said. 

It felt very clear to me that this is a game, and this is a setting, that I can say goodbye to now because I do know that going back to it's just not going to happen — that the damage has been done. 

What did you think of the game itself? 

I was really primed to enjoy it. My friends and coworkers often tell me I'm a bit of a forgiving gamer. There are a lot of things in games that a lot of other people don't like that I will come to enjoy and I'll spend a lot of time with. 

And I sort of expected that to happen here. But the thing was like right from the beginning, as a game, the gameplay loop and the design choices used — like menus and the way systems worked — they all felt very clunky. 

A little bit less than I would expect from a game with this kind of budget.

I understand that you're saying goodbye to the setting. Is this a clear line in the sand for you then? 

I think so. At least for the foreseeable future. While I was reviewing this game, my partner and I thought it would be good to do a refresher and try to rewatch some of our favourite movies. And there was just something about it that the magic for us was just gone. 

It didn't just ignite that feeling of joy or comfort that the setting used to bring us. And that really informed, I think, my decision to say that ... this is goodbye for me from the setting. 

And this would be a permanent decision of sorts?

There's just nothing in this setting that I think can bring me back to it. I mean, short of J.K. Rowling coming out and doing a complete 180 [degree turn] on her views on trans people, which seems unlikely. 

What would you say to any Harry Potter fans who might be trying to decide whether they should buy this game or really engage with anything else from this fictional world? 

I would say, despite what all of the reviews say, it is a personal decision. It's a decision that no one can make for them but themselves. 

But if you're like me and it just feels like it's not something you can enjoy anymore, I would take a look at a number of articles from other publications that people have put out that are listing games and movies that are of a similar aesthetic and style that come from different authors and different studios. 

Written by Bob Becken. Segment produced by Matt Meuse. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.