Considering how popular Harry Potter is, it’s surprising that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is the first game that lets you create your own witch or wizard and become a student at Hogwarts. Nevertheless, Hogwarts Mystery is available now on iOS and Android.
After you create your character, Hogwarts Mystery starts off in Diagon Alley, where you gather the essential items for your first year of school. In Diagon Alley, you secure your textbooks from Flourish and Blotts, get fitted with a wand at Ollivanders, and answer personality questions along the way, which influence which house the Sorting Hat puts you in.
As an RPG, your choices in dialogue affect the way your time at Hogwarts unfolds. You attend classes, make friends, play Quidditch, duel other students, and even have the opportunity to romance your crush. The game features interactive spellcasting using the touchscreen swipes, which you will learn under the watchful eye of your professors.
The game is set in the 1980s, in the gap between the death of Harry’s parents and his arrival at school. So there will be no interacting with the most famous young wizard in the world, but you will see other familiar faces from the books and movies. Maggie Smith reprised her role as Professor McGonagall and Michael Gambon will offer you sage advice as Dumbledore. Professor Flitwick, Madam Hooch, Madam Irma Pince, and Madam Pomfrey are all voiced by the original film actors as well.
You will also meet some new characters that will prove to be important to the overarching story in Hogwarts Mystery: Penny, a Hufflepuff potions aficionado, Merula, a Slytherin with a troubled past, and Tulip, a Ravenclaw class clown. This will also be the first time you see characters such as Bill Weasley and Tonks in their Hogwarts days.
Hogwarts Mystery lets you play through all seven years of your education at Hogwarts. The most appealing aspect of Hogwarts Mystery for most Potter fans will probably be the freedom it gives you to explore the grounds. It’s not a linear experience where you’re tied down to one objective at a time.
Hogwarts Mystery was developed by Jam City and published by Warner Bros. new Harry Potter-dedicated label Portkey Games. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is free-to-play on iOS and Android.
