Since some of the earliest days in video game history, people have sometimes needed help getting through video games. Whether it was trying to solve a puzzle that was just too tough for them, to getting their party “just right” to defeat a boss, they needed guidance on what to do. There once was a hotline for certain games that you could call to get information. Other times, companies would make gaming guides that would allow players to have every secret of the game in one booklet. Even with the advent of the internet age, guides are still being released, including ones for upcoming titles in Hogwarts Legacy.
But there’s a slight twist in this tale. Because while it was announced that the Hogwarts Legacy guide would be coming out, its release date is March 7th, 2023. That got a lot of raised eyebrows for a straightforward reason: the game itself arrives on February 10th. That means the game guide will come well after the game itself is out. So why is that the case here? Gamers on Reddit even took it as a sign that the title would get delayed again. Thankfully, that’s not the case.
One of the games developers, Chandler Wood, was asked about the “delay” online, and he said there were no delays. Instead, the game guide is coming out later because the dev team wants players to “experience and discover things themselves” rather than dive right into the guide to get everything explained to them.
At first, that might sound like an odd reason for releasing the guide later. However, when you consider what the game is about, this is an endearing approach. The whole point of the game is to create your own experience within Hogwarts and the world of Harry Potter. You get to make your own young witch or wizard, you can pick the house you want to be in, and then you get to tailor the adventure to your desires. You can even take the path of a Dark Arts magic user if you want!
To have the guide spoil everything would mean hindering that experience or taking away some of your choices because you “know what happens next.” So by this token, giving the guide away later is the best option as that encourages people to see what they do on their own. Then, when they want to do later playthroughs, they can use the guide to look for the things they’ve missed.
Plus, if we’re being honest, even without the guide, you can just Google it if you need to learn something. But hopefully, you’ll only do that if you’re really stuck, so you don’t ruin the spirit of the game when it arrives next February.
Source: Reddit
