The new game based on the world of Harry Potter has its detractors, and how you can get Lara Croft onto your smartphone.

Hogwarts Legacy game something of a quandary

There have been a few video game set in the world of Harry Potter, but none have attracted the attention of Hogwarts Legacy.

This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the 1800s, a century before the time of Harry Potter, but there’s much here that is familiar. There’s a teacher with the surname Weasley, a headmaster with the surname Black, and all manner of creatures and goings-on at the castle in the Scottish Highlands.

This is an open world role-playing game where you’ll explore and collect and level up your character, a fifth-year student who is attending Hogwarts for the first time.

You can customize your character in a number of ways, choosing different noses and hair styles and skin colours.

And you can choose your name and gender identity, mixing things up however you like. Which is significant, given the overt and public anti-transgender beliefs of the person who created the Harry Potter world.

There’s a reasonable protest to Hogwarts Legacy as a result.

As a game, this is a serviceable open world that has its own take on combat which stretches into the casting of spells. The controls for moving around the world are a bit soft, but aren’t tragic.

Developed by Avalanche, a Warner Bros. Games studio, the visuals and environments are immersive and compelling.

The story, which is based in the Wizarding World lore, is interesting, and the characters fully developed and believable. People who are enamoured with this universe will want to spend time in Hogwarts Legacy because it is such a convincing representation.

But anyone playing the game is advised to do so after first understanding the criticism to it, to better inform that decision.

Hogwarts Legacy is available now for PS5, Windows, and Xbox X/S. It’s planned for release on PS4 and Xbox One this spring, and on the Nintendo Switch this summer. Rated teen.

Tomb Raider Reloaded puts Lara Croft on your smartphone

Developed by Burnaby’s Emerald City Games, Tomb Raider Reloaded is a roguelike that has you guiding Lara Croft through a series of levels in which you need to navigate around dangerous obstacles and defeat treacherous enemies.

The farther you go, the better the loot, the better the power ups, and the more intense the action.

Tomb Raider Reloaded is published by CDE Entertainment, which includes the Eidos-Montreal studio. It’s playable on Android and iOS and is free to play for Netflix subscribers.