Right, just how evil can you actually make your character when playing Hogwarts Legacy?

Hogwarts Legacy lets players create whatever story they want to tell within the Victorian era of the Wizarding World, with gamers being let loose on an in-depth character creation system that lets you play as whatever kind of witch or wizard you want to be – within reason. But just how evil can you be when playing Hogwarts Legacy – can you go on a murderous rampage around the castle or do you have to be, generally, a hero?

‘If you want to be evil, be evil’

The above quote comes from one of the developers of Hogwarts Legacy talking about playstyles in the game, but it’s not quite as cut and dry as they suggest. In some ways, you can be evil by learning the Unforgivable three spells in the Wizarding World and casting them – this will make characters comment on what you’re doing and certainly fear you. Despite this, you can’t go GTA style and start blasting off the Killing curse at every student like you can with a pistol in some open world games.

You can commit villainous acts, and make decisions that definitely paint your character as an anti-hero and someone to be afraid of with questionable morals, but Hogwarts Legacy is designed to make your character the hero of its storyline. Also, a lot of the characters are school age – and murdering children in video games is generally deemed a societal no-no.

You can look as evil as you like though!

The character creation system in Hogwarts Legacy has many options for you to make your witch or wizard look as conventionally evil as you may wish, and you can undertake missions then to learn the curses and let rip.

Hogwarts Legacy has been controversial and has garnered criticism regarding transphobic remarks from franchise creator JK Rowling since 2020. Avalanche, the developers of the game, have said she is not involved at all – but it is likely since she owns the IP rights to the franchise that she will profit from the sales.

To learn more about transgender rights or lend your support, please check out the charity Mermaids in the UK.

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