Hogwarts Legacy, the critical and commercial success coming from Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games under its Portkey Games label, which focuses on everything Harry Potter related, took the gaming world by storm earlier this year.
The game, which currently sits at a very respectable 84 on Metacritic, whisks the player to the late 1800s, in which you can finally achieve your dream of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Here you can go on adventures, cast spells, tame wild creatures, and much much more.
Even though the game was released on February 5th for the PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox XSX/S and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 5th, Nintendo Switch fans have been left in the dust…until now. And with the Nintendo Switch release, set for November 14th, players who pre-order the game will get an exclusive bonus.
What Players Get When They Pre-Order Hogwarts Legacy
Nintendo Switch Players, who pre-order the game before its November 14th launch, will be able to get the exclusive Onyx Hippogriff mount, one of many mounts that are available to the game, but the only one exclusive to those who decide to pre-order.
There are five mounts to unlock in Hogwarts Legacy – the classic broom mount, the regular Hippogriff, the Onyx Hippogriff, the dark and mysterious Thestral, and the dangerously agressive Graphorn.
Only three of these mounts – the broom, the regular Hippogriff, and the Graphorn are available in-game after completing certain missions, as the Thestral and the Onyx Hippogriff are hidden behind pre-orders and DLC packs.
The Thestral is only available if you purchase the Darks Arts Pack DLC, which you should own if you decide to buy the Deluxe, or if you were lucky enough, to have bought the Collector’s Editions of the game.
What Other Players Received When They Pre-Ordered
Just like with the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox players also received pre-order bonuses once they bought the game.
For PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, and Xbox players who pre-ordered the Deluxe Editions, they received the aforementioned Dark Arts Pack which includes the Thestral mount, the Dark Arts cosmetic sets, the Dark Arts Battle Arena, and 72 Hours Early Access. They also got the Onyx Hippogriff Mount.
But probably the biggest pre-order bonus that was exclusive to PlayStation 5 players received was a PlayStation exclusive quest titled the Haunted Hogsmeade Shop Quest.
Anyone who is a fan of the Harry Potter franchise knows this iconic location and the great lore, countless ghosts, and haunted mysteries that fill the Wizarding World. So getting this exclusive quest was quite a treat to PlayStation players.
PlayStation 5 players also received an exclusive Felix Felicis Potion, which surely made them feel quite lucky.
If you were truly excited about the game and had an extra $300 to spend, you could have gotten yourself the Collector’s Editions, filled with all kinds of Witch and Wizardly goodies for those dying to finally attend Hogwarts.
This edition included a Life-Size Floating Ancient Magic Wand with a Book Base, a Steel Case, an exclusive Kelpie Robe, the entire Dark Arts DLC package as mentioned beforehand, the exclusive Dark Arts Garrison Hat, and 72 hours Early Access.
How Will Hogwarts Legacy Perform on the Switch?
Hogwarts Legacy is truly a massive game – with a map of around 3 square miles in size. Compare this to Fallout 4, which has a world of around 4 square miles, it’s truly astounding what Avalanche Games and Warner Bros. has fit into this massive open-world game.
But with a great size game such as this, some worry how it will perform on systems like the Nintendo Switch. Hogwarts Legacy has some very high-quality graphics, as well as state-of-the-art character animations, which port greatly to systems such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox that have the processing power to truly bring the game to life.
The Nintendo Switch isn’t the most powerful console out right now, only coming close in power to the latest version of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Nevertheless, the Nintendo Switch already has some pretty big RPGs available such as Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 3, and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Hogwarts Legacy does indeed fit into the size of the before mentioned RPGs, but what’s really worrying fans is that Nintendo hasn’t released any gameplay for the port, and with only little less than a month before its release, it will have any player worried about how it will perform on the Switch.
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