So What’s Going On With the Harry Potter RPG?

Potter RPG

Sometime ago, someone posted footage that they claimed to have been of a Harry Potter RPG (https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/leaked-harry-potter-rpg-magic-awakened-1202966926/) in the process of being made by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Supposedly, they were one of a number of individuals who participated in a survey for an unannounced title that was carried out at a local mall. However, while the participants were asked to sign NDAs, sloppiness on the part of the survey takers meant that he managed to avoid this part, thus enabling him to post his phone-recorded footage. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing was met with a fair amount of criticism, though it is interesting to note that it received a substantial boost when the BBC journalist Lizo Mzimba tweeted that one of his sources stated that it was real. Assuming that what has been revealed is real, here is what we know about the Harry Potter RPG:

Its Existence Has Not Been Confirmed

First and foremost, it is important to note that Warner Bros. has never confirmed the existence of the supposed Harry Potter RPG. In fact, there has been no further release of information from either official or unofficial sources since the initial incident. As such, interested individuals should not assume that anything about the supposed leak is real, meaning that they might want to take everything stated here with a grain of salt.

Its Name Had Not Been Decided By the Time of the Leak

Supposedly, a name had not been decided for the game by the time that the leak came out. The BBC journalist Lizo Mzimba tweeted that his source said that the game had the working name of Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, though it wasn’t set in stone. In particular, said source mentioned Harry Potter: Magic Forever as another one of the names that were being considered for the game.

It Is Set in the 19th Century

It is interesting to note that the Harry Potter RPG was said to be set in the 19th century. Assuming that this is true, the 19th century seems like it would be an excellent choice of period for a new project in the Harry Potter setting. In part, this is because the 19th century was early enough that none of the major characters featured in other Harry Potter media would be around. Some people might see this as a bad thing because of the loss of name recognition. However, there are a couple of reasons why this can be considered a positive as well. One, major characters being major characters, their established backgrounds mean that there is a serious limit to what can and cannot be done with them. Something that can constitute a major problem for the game’s storytelling. Two, major characters have an unfortunate tendency of overshadowing other characters by virtue of being major characters. Given the kind of game that the Harry Potter RPG is supposed to be, there would have been a very real risk of seeing the player-character and thus the player overshadowed, which would have been counterproductive for the desired goals of the game-makers.

Its Protagonist Is a Student with Unusual Circumstances

Story-wise, the player-character is said to be a student who has managed to receive a very late acceptance to Hogwarts. In fact, they are so late that they are starting out as a 5th year student. As for how this happened, there are various commonplace explanations. For instance, it is possible that the player-character wasn’t living in Great Britain until the start of the game, meaning that they would have been getting their magical education from some other place. Likewise, one can’t help but suspect that education wasn’t quite as common in the 19th century as it is in the 21st century even when one is talking about the magical world rather than the non-magical world. Having said this, it seems very likely that the player-character’s late acceptance is connected to their unique connection to some kind of ancient power that will presumably play an important role in the game’s story.

Character Customization

Some of the images shown in the leak suggest that character customization is included in the game, meaning that players will be playing their own characters rather than a preset character. This makes sense because it taps into the fantasies of a lot of Harry Potter fans out there, which is presumably something that could have a very real impact on the eventual performance of the game.

Branching Paths

Naturally, if the player gets to play their own character rather than a preset character, this means that they get options that should have important consequences for their overall game experience. For instance, the leak claimed that players wouldn’t be automatically sorted into a single house but would instead be permitted to choose from the four. Furthermore, the leak claimed that the player could choose the friends that they would make, which sounds like a system with a great deal of potential but could prove to be incredibly difficult to implement in a fun-to-play manner. Having said that, the most intriguing suggestion of branching paths is a statement that the player will be capable of choosing between becoming either a good wizard or an evil wizard, which seems connected to another statement that the player would be impacting the fate of the magical world as a whole. As such, one can’t help but wonder how dark the Harry Potter RPG is supposed to get since it seems likely that it won’t be limited to just a single year at Hogwarts.

Is the Supposed Harry Potter RPG Even Real?

In any case, it cannot be stressed enough that the Harry Potter RPG has not been confirmed to exist. Certainly, it seems reasonable that the people who own the property would want to make more Harry Potter games for the purpose of tapping into the very lucrative video game market. Furthermore, a Harry Potter RPG set in Hogwarts is pretty much exactly the kind of Harry Potter game that a lot of people would be interested in, meaning that there is plenty of commercial potential. However, the appealing nature of the leak is exactly why interested individuals should be on guard against it, lest their hopes turn to ashes in their mouth.

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