You attend a wizarding school in the 1800s, taking classes that teach you spells and then using them on creatures and dark wizards out in the countryside. You fly a broom over the hills, brew potions and tend odd animals at a private hideaway. It is a big, comfortable game with plenty to poke at between story missions.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
The short version
This is a big, comfortable adventure with plenty to poke at, and it succeeds most when you are exploring rather than following the main story. Classes teaching spells give the world a nice sense of progression.
In the hands
You attend a wizarding school, learn spells in class and then use them on creatures and dark wizards out in the countryside. Flying a broom, brewing potions and tending odd animals at your own hideaway round things out.
Look and sound
The school and surrounding hills look detailed and inviting, with music that leans into a sense of wonder. It favours a warm, storybook look over anything gritty.
The long haul
There is enough side content to stretch this well beyond the main story. It suits fans of the setting and players who enjoy exploring at their own pace.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control a student walking the halls of a large wizarding school, attending classes that teach a new spell every so often, cast with one button after selecting it from a simple wheel, and within your first hour you are likely to have learned a basic attack spell and a way to move small objects around. The castle itself is big and full of side rooms, staircases, and secret passages worth wandering into just to look around, and outside its walls the surrounding hills and villages open up for you to explore on foot or eventually on a broom, steered with the stick once you are airborne. Combat mixes several spells together in real time fights against creatures and dark wizards, cycling between them with the shoulder buttons.
The goal loosely follows a mystery you are drawn into at the school, but daily time mostly goes into smaller activities, attending a class, brewing a potion at your own private hideaway, taming and caring for magical creatures there, or simply exploring the countryside for hidden chests and puzzles. Difficulty in fights rises as you unlock more spells and face group encounters that require switching between them quickly, though the game is forgiving enough that failing a fight rarely costs you much progress. There is a comfortable amount of content to pursue outside the main story if you want to slow down and just explore.
A session can be a focused hour working through one story mission or a relaxed stretch spent flying around collecting things and tending your creatures at the hideaway. It suits fans of the wizarding school setting and players who enjoy a big, comfortable world with plenty to poke at between story beats. The honest drawback is that combat, while serviceable, is not the most demanding part of the game, and some players may find fights start to feel repetitive well before the story wraps up.