Game story · NexWave Games
The secrets of Hogwarts in the old Harry Potter games
The books and films show Hogwarts as a place where something can happen behind every door. In the old Harry Potter games you were allowed to take a hallway, investigate a suspicious object and linger for a while after completing an assignment. It's that walking around that makes these games interesting to revisit. The castle is both a well-known location and a play space that rewards curiosity.
A castle that you have to get to know yourself
A movie determines where you look and when a scene continues. A game can make you get lost between classrooms, corridors and squares. You get to know a place by choosing routes yourself. As a result, a modest side path or a well-known staircase can make more of an impression than a large story fragment that you already know from the screen.
Take the time to read the area. Are there objects that are prominently placed? Is a corner reachable with something you just learned? Such questions provide a purpose for a second round of play, without having to know every solution in advance. Part of the fun is in noticing yourself.
Collectible cards make detours attractive
In the GameCube edition of The Chamber of Secrets, famous witches and wizards cards are part of the game world. The original manual describes that you can trade with students and playfully warns that even the map makers don't know all the secret rooms. This combination invites you to investigate the castle more thoroughly.
Collectibles can thus become a reminder of a place. A card is something tangible within the game: you may later remember which corridor you were walking through when you found it. Therefore, view an incomplete collection as a reason to look around again, instead of immediately completing a list of exact locations.
Magic outside of battle
At The Order of the Phoenix, much emphasis was placed on dealing with the environment. EA producer Harvey Elliott described how players do things like repair armor, move furniture and light candles. With the right spell on a suitable object you can earn discovery points. Magic thus becomes a way to explore the castle.
That is an attractive game idea for fans who especially want to experience what it is like to be a student at Hogwarts. Even a small action takes on meaning when you choose the spell. It makes the school usable as a playground: you recognize parts of the stories and at the same time try out what the game does with them.
The Hogwarts from the movies, with space in between
In an interview about The Order of the Phoenix, Elliott explained that the team based the school on the Hogwarts from the films. The makers also used elements from the books for places and storylines that were given less space in the film adaptation. For example, a well-known location can invite new detours.
The different Harry Potter games each have their own structure. So a secret from a GameCube manual does not have to be in the same place in a different platform version. If you get stuck, use a guide that goes with the exact release. If you want to keep the surprises, you can first just look up the controls and spells.
Playing again with a different view
For a new round of play you can choose one simple goal: view every unknown door or calmly replenish the card collection. This creates your own route through the story. You don't have to have forgotten the ending to discover something again; attention to another corner of the castle can be enough.