Verdict № 09 · Adventure
Hogwarts Legacy review
The castle is a triumph and the open world around it is ordinary. The same game costs £15 more on PS5 and Xbox than on PC.
A student flying a hippogriff towards Hogwarts castle above the clouds. Official image: Warner Bros. Games.
Hogwarts Legacy lets you enrol as a fifth-year student in the 1800s, learn spells in class and explore the castle, Hogsmeade and the Highlands around them. It became one of the best-selling games of the decade, with 40 million copies sold by December 2025, and the critical consensus is solid rather than exceptional: 84 on Metacritic and on OpenCritic, where 88% of critics recommend it.
For UK buyers its price varies more than any other game's here: £49.99 on Steam and Switch, £64.99 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. It is also in both PlayStation Plus Extra and Game Pass, which makes it the easiest game in our set to play without buying at all.
A beautiful castle in an ordinary open world; subscribe rather than pay the full console price.The verdict in one line
The review, milestone by milestone
- mark 8.5
Hours 1 to 6
The Sorting and the castle
Character creation and a prologue lead to the Sorting and your first term. Classes teach spells, and the castle itself, with its moving staircases, talking portraits and hidden rooms, is the game's greatest achievement.
Hogsmeade opens early and is just as carefully made.
- mark 7.5
The middle stretch
The Highlands and the Room of Requirement
The main story about ancient magic runs alongside companion quest lines, the Room of Requirement, where you grow plants and raise beasts, and brooms for travel.
The open world is large and handsome, but its activities, from 95 Merlin Trials to collectible hunts, repeat, and the role-playing systems stay thin.
- mark 6.5
The long tail
Clean-up, but no second act
The story ends with a house-specific quest and a final confrontation. There is no New Game Plus, and a planned expansion was reportedly cancelled in 2025.
What remains is open-world clean-up, photo mode and, on PC, official mod support added in January 2025.
- mark 7.5
Craft and access
Stronger now than at launch
At launch the PC version stuttered at doors and while loading the world; later patches improved it, and the Switch 2 version brought better visuals and load times.
An arachnophobia mode, narrated menus, adjustable text and difficulty settings make it welcoming.
The bill: what it really costs in the UK
The base game is complete. What changes the bill is your platform, and whether you want the Deluxe extras.
The bill · Hogwarts Legacy
The PEGI “In-game purchases” label refers only to these fixed-content add-ons. There is no currency and nothing random for sale.
Where to buy it and how you can pay
Hogwarts Legacy is sold on Steam, Epic, the PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store and the Nintendo eShop. On PC, Steam is the reference price; on console, a subscription is usually cheaper than paying £64.99.
Steam
Digital Deluxe £59.99.
- Card
- PayPal
- Steam Wallet codes
PlayStation Store
PS4 £59.99; Digital Deluxe for both £74.99.
- Card
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- paysafecard
- Mobile billing
- PS gift cards
Xbox and Microsoft Store
Digital Deluxe £74.99, or £59.99 for Game Pass members.
- Card
- Mobile billing
- Xbox gift cards
Nintendo eShop
Digital Deluxe £53.99 until 14 October.
- Visa or Mastercard
- PayPal (18+)
- eShop cards
Before you pay: it is included in PlayStation Plus Extra (since April 2025) and in Game Pass Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass (since October 2025). One month of either costs less than the £15 difference between console and PC prices, and the main story takes about 27 hours.
How the scores add up
| How it plays | Weight | Mark |
|---|---|---|
| First hours | 15% | 8.5 |
| The middle stretch | 30% | 7.5 |
| The long tail | 20% | 6.5 |
| Craft | 20% | 7.0 |
| Access | 15% | 8.0 |
| What it costs | Weight | Mark |
|---|---|---|
| Price against play | 35% | 8.0 |
| Honest pricing | 25% | 6.5 |
| Ways to pay | 20% | 9.0 |
| Protection | 20% | 7.5 |
What we rate
- The most convincing Hogwarts ever built
- Welcoming options, including an arachnophobia mode
- In both PlayStation Plus Extra and Game Pass
- Fixed-price add-ons only, with no currency
What costs it
- Repetitive open-world activities
- £15 more on PS5 and Xbox than on PC
- No New Game Plus and no story expansion
- Launch performance problems on PC, since improved
Buy it if
you love the setting and can play it through a subscription you already have, or buy it on PC or Switch at £49.99.
Think twice if
you want depth from your role-playing games, or would be paying £64.99 on console with no subscription.
Final verdict
Hogwarts Legacy is worth playing for the castle alone, but its wider world is the least distinctive in our set. As a purchase it rewards shopping around: £49.99 on PC and Switch, £64.99 on PS5 and Xbox, or included with PlayStation Plus Extra or Game Pass. That last route is the one we recommend.
Some players choose not to buy it because of public debate around the franchise's creator; this review covers the game and its price.
Weigh it against
Sources
This review is an editorial analysis of published evidence; see how we judge. Prices checked 25 September 2026.