31 Jul Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Game Review

The highly-anticipated Harry Potter Wizards Unite game finally launched in June! It’s a location-based, augmented reality mobile game from the developers at Niantic, the same team that brought Pokémon Go to the masses three summers ago. Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World and the Harry Potter franchise, the story, characters and elements of wizardry are reminiscent of what it’s like to be a magical student of Hogwarts. By helping faculty and fellow classmates defeat and contain the Calamity, players unite under the common goal of investigating and capturing traces of magic that have chaotically seeped into the Muggle world, risking exposure to the secret and protected world of wizardry. 

There are many features of game-playing that makes this a complex and addicting game for both fans of Harry Potter and location-based games. One feature that popularized Pokémon Go that Wizards Unite continue to implement is augmented reality. While not necessary for game-play, it is a fun feature that adds an element of realism. Can you imagine finding Hedwig, Harry’s owl friend, directly on your front lawn but trapped in a whirlwind spell that she can’t escape? Or seeing Harry himself helpless at the fate of a Dementor’s Kiss while on a neighborhood stroll with your dog? 

GPS is one feature that is necessary for game-play, as it tracks your real-world movements to expose players to lost magical traces called Foundables, and to visit Inns for collecting Spell Energy, Greenhouses for growing ingredients to use in potions, and Fortresses to fight dangerous Foes guarding rarer Foundables. One of my favorite features to play are the Portkeys, the Wizarding World’s equivalent to a transportation portal. By collecting devices called Portmantaus that can only be unlocked by adding up your walking mileage, they reveal Portkeys that transport players to a safe environment back at Hogwarts to collect rewards like XP, ingredients, Exploration coins and Foundables to progress your investigative adventures. 

Some of my coworkers play, too. Jamie, House of Ravenclaw, gives her take on the gameplay: 

• When I turn off the AR option I find that the Foundables pop up on the screen much quicker, but what’s the fun in that!?
• I enjoy being able to team up with friends in the Wizarding matches.
• I don’t always get to check off my daily tasks due to inns and fortresses not being around the office and my home. But I like going to a park, walking around, and playing the game to check things off.
• One pointer: When casting your spell, the speed of your cast seems to be just as important as following the cast trace.
• It’s fun to have different features and filters on your profile pictures, but it’s kind of a bummer that you are the only one who can see it.