Hogwarts Legacy Won’t Have a Morality System

With Hogwarts Legacy approaching its launch, new details on the game are continuing to be shared by its developers, with many of them shedding light on some of the game’s core mechanics. One mechanic that it will not feature, however, is a morality system, which means that even though the game will let players be evil witches and wizards should they want to, its world and the characters in it aren’t going to react in any tangible manner.

The same was confirmed by the developers while speaking with GamesRadar. Narrative director and advanced game writer Moira Squier revealed that players will be able to use the three Unforgivable Curses, though whether or not you want to learn them in the first place will be left entirely up to you.

“The [Unforgivable Curses] are not learned in school, and the player very specifically chooses whether or not to learn them,” Squier said. “Even if the player learns them, they don’t have to use them. And the world does react to their use.”

How exactly will the world react to the Curses? According to lead designer Kelly Murphy, though characters will visually and audibly react if you use one of the Curses in front of them, there won’t be any material consequences. As per Murphy, the development team decided not to include a morality system because it would be “too judgmental” on their part.

“Characters will react visually and audibly to seeing the player cast an Unforgivable, but we don’t have a morality system that punishes them for doing so – this would be too judgmental on the game maker’s part,” Murphy said. “But, should the player continue these actions, the world will reflect back knowledge of them.”

It’s also been confirmed that Hogwarts Legacy will feature over 100 side quests, many of which will impact how the main story plays out. That main story will be roughly 35 hours long, as per a recent leak of the game’s official artbook.

Hogwarts Legacy launches on on February 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It will release for PS4 and Xbox One on April 4, and for the Nintendo Switch on July 25. Pre-loads for the game are now live on Xbox Series X/S.