Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launched officially today on iOS and Android in the U.S. and U.K, to generally positive reviews. Meeting fan expectations with sophisticated storytelling and design, the new Augmented Reality free-to-play mobile app game is co-developed and co-published by Niantic, Inc. (the makers of Pokémon GO), and WB Games San Francisco as part of Portkey Games.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite offers users the chance to join the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, working with other witches and wizards assigned to solve the mystery of The Calamity. This phenomenon – at the heart of the game – is causing Foundables (magical artefacts, people, creatures and memories) to appear in the Muggle world, risking the exposure of the wizarding world.
The game sees players fill out a Ministry of Magic ID, complete with Hogwarts House, wand type and character photo. Players are then tasked with tracking down Traces of magic at various real-world locations in order to locate Foundables, casting spells, using (and brewing!) potions, in order to return the Foundables to safety, which builds up your Registry, a record of your progress.
Players can visit Inns to replenish Spell energy, collect Portkeys (which take players to familiar wizarding world locations) and potion ingredients as they walk around the real-world. Players can grow ingredients at Greenhouses, and brew potions to help them in battles. There are also Fortresses and Wizarding Challenges, which require players to team up against dangerous magical Foes. At Level 6, players can choose their wizarding world Profession (Auror, Magizoologist and Professor), giving players a unique set of abilities and specialized courses giving more depth to an already complex game!
Initial thoughts are that the game is incredibly well designed, and that there’s a lot remaining to be discovered, making it a game hopefully worth sticking around for. From the introduction of familiar faces in the Harry Potter series, to snippets of the film score being included in the game and voice actors helping to recreate the familiar feeling of the movies, it’s a great story to be thrown into for fans. The Portkey feature is brilliant: it’s definitely worth walking for!
The storytelling in this game is much more sophisticated than Pokémon GO. Most of the first day playing the game has been spent learning new terminology and making sense of the whereabouts of the many, many features. Once you get to Level 6, you start realising just how far the game could go. Fortress battles see you duel against creatures and dark wizards, casting spells in a strategic manner in order to gain Wizarding XP, and using your talents as an Auror, Magizoologist or Professor to progress further and uncover the mysteries of The Calamity.
There are, however, many mysteries to solve already regarding various in-game features and functionality issues. From supported devices, to whether or not fans want to see this game as canon (despite Portkey Games clearing this up).
Whilst the game is slow to load for the most part, downloading assets can help improve functionality. The majority of complaints from those able to access the game are about the lack of Inns in various areas, making it difficult to replenish Spell energy (required to play most of the features in the game) without purchasing coins. Niantic did well to add more Poké Stops and Pokémon encounters worldwide in line with comments when Pokémon GO launched, so it’s fair to assume they’ll be doing the same for this game, and then they enable a feature like Adventure Sync (allowing players to sync their step-count whilst the app is closed).
With a limit of 200 friends and Friend Codes being shared left, right and centre on social media, it would also be useful to know whether or not to focus on purely adding local friends, or those you interact with, to help with help with Fortresses battles. It’s also expected that the game will add gift exchange later on like Pokémon GO.
Overall, the game shows great potential. Especially when global events begin, it’s likely Harry Potter fans will come out in their masses to solve the mystery of The Calamity. However, I’ve not seen the same level of real-world neighbourhood hype as I did when Pokémon GO launched and crowds gathered in public places to Catch ‘em All, but who knows – maybe I live around Muggles!
Niantic made almost $2 billion in revenue from Pokémon Go, in its first two years, and the high expectations of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite seem to be met in its first day of launch by the unexpected depth of gameplay. Despite some functionality issues which could be easily rectified (as long as players keep sending their feedback, and Niantic and WB Games respond), it’s likely Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will become another hit.
