Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions Review – Loser Queue

When Hogwarts Legacy was announced, the one thing that every Wizarding World fan wanted to know was whether it would have Quidditch. It didn’t, obviously, and even if the action RPG ended up making WB Games’ year (before it all came crashing down with Suicide Squad), the demand was still there. Would it arrive in a post-launch update? Maybe an expansion? As it turns out, neither.

Instead, Warner Bros. tapped Unbroken Studios for Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a separate competitive multiplayer title focused exclusively on the sport (and not quite as much on Harry Potter, despite the naming).

"Not that you’ll get too much story content out of the game. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions offers four Cups, but the Weasley Burrow Garden Cup, set in their eponymous backyard, is a tutorial (which is admittedly decent)."

Obviously there would be cash-grab concerns, but the overall approach is interesting. There are no microtransactions (for now) and a retail price of $30. Yet, the latter makes it more challenging to garner wide-spread interest, especially with the amount of free-of-play competition. And while the gameplay loop can be fun, several issues keep it from living up to its potential, much less engaging anyone but the most hardcore beyond a few hours.

Those coming from Hogwarts Legacy will notice the graphical fidelity and presentation aren’t near the same level. The “cutscenes” consist of static character art and dialogue boxes, usually offering banter before matches. When you’re partaking in single-player tournaments, barring solitary celebration animations for each team member, there’s a distinct lack of fanfare – it’s simply off to the next match. I’m not opposed to snappy pacing, but the matches blend together after a point, especially when participating in the Inter-House and Tri-Wizard Cups.

The graphics are by no means ugly, but follow a more animated aesthetic, which works well enough for the character models. The arena structures could have used more sprucing up, but otherwise, the lighting, shadows and skyboxes look decent enough. Outside of the more famous characters like the Weasley Twins, Ginny, and Harry Potter, the voiceover performances feel imminently forgettable but serviceable.

Not that you’ll get too much story content out of the game. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions offers four Cups, but the Weasley Burrow Garden Cup, set in their eponymous backyard, is a tutorial (which is admittedly decent). The remaining three include the Hogwarts House, Tri-Wizard and World Cups, with qualifying matches and brackets.

"Nevertheless, it does a decent job of acquainting you with the gameplay loop. As in the books, there are four roles – Beater, Seeker, Chaser, and Keeper."

They’re acceptable and offer difficulty options, but there’s otherwise a sparsity of single-player content. Team management isn’t much of a thing outside of adjusting individual Skills, brooms, and looks, and it’s a far cry from a proper Career Mode. Even the voice lines and dialogues between matches are utterly barren in variety.

Nevertheless, it does a decent job of acquainting you with the gameplay loop. As in the books, there are four roles – Beater, Seeker, Chaser, and Keeper. The Chaser is constantly fighting for possession of the Quaffle; the Beater is in charge of launching Bludgers to stun and knock out opponents; the Keeper is the goalkeeper; and the Seeker is after the Golden Snitch. You can customize each member of your team when starting, which is a nice touch to making them feel like your own.

Each role feels distinct in gameplay, whether you’re shuffling constantly between rings as a Keeper to keep your opponent guessing or racing through golden rings as a Seeker to catch the Snitch. There’s even some nice interplay, with the Keeper able to generate rings for restoring speed boost meter for players who pass through them, the Beater trying to take out a Seeker, or the Chaser helping the Keeper to ward off attackers.

Each role has different Skill categories and broom choices that lean into them. As a Beater, durability is king, because you’ll be tanking hits as much as dishing them out, while Seekers are all about speed and agility to stay on the Snitch’s trail.

"Quidditch Champions’ multiplayer is technically composed of teams of three players, even if there are six "

However, it’s worth noting that the rules aren’t “pure” Quidditch. There are six players on each side instead of seven; the total number of points to win is 100; and the Golden Snitch awards 30 Points instead of 150. Furthermore, it doesn’t automatically end the match – the Snitch is deployed several times throughout.

While I understand its comeback potential, nearly scoring a goal, only to be halted roughly a second prior because the enemy Seeker caught the Snitch, thus resetting our positions leaves a bad taste. The Seeker’s task also seems unfairly balanced in favor of the AI – even on lower difficulties, they were consistently catching it with very few issues or hindrances.

Granted, the opposing AI has its share of weaknesses – rushing the Keeper when deploying the Quaffle to steal it for a quick goal is easily abusable. At times, they stand in one position, barely reacting, perhaps accepting that you’re unstoppable.

Of course, the limited single-player is only part of the experience. Multiplayer is arguably the main attraction, and when queuing up, you can flex or play two specific roles. Wait, two roles? Yes, because Quidditch Champions’ multiplayer is technically composed of teams of three players, even if there are six roles in a match, with each player switching between two roles when necessary. Considering 6v6 was available during the pre-launch playtests, it’s baffling to see it absent for launch, especially with all the fun chaos it would have caused.

"Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions isn’t an awful take on the fictional sport and offers some fun gameplay packed with a decent amount of strategy."

Matches against real players can otherwise be fun, but they exacerbate some control issues, especially when abruptly turning or drifting. There was also some strange rubber-banding at certain moments, resulting in some odd moments. Though they didn’t consistently occur, they were common enough to elicit outright confusion at best, and frustration at worst.

Outside of the regular Quidditch matches, it’s strange that there are no limited-time modes or fun variations to participate in (though the developer has some events coming later this month). The experience thus feels monotonous, especially with the lack of replayable single-player content.

As noted before, there are no microtransactions in Quidditch Champions. All currency is earned in-game, with challenges doling out XP and Gold and the Season Pass grants cosmetics and other rewards at each rank. You can head to the Store to purchase victory highlights, emblems, and even full characters like Hermione.

Then there are the Winged Keys used to purchase quote-unquote heroes like Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang. However, the rate at which they’re earned is mediocre. There are currently three options available, and I don’t want to imagine how much grinding it’ll take to catch them all.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions isn’t an awful take on the fictional sport and offers some fun gameplay packed with a decent amount of strategy. The animated visuals are also above average, even if other presentation aspects could have benefited from a slightly deeper budget.

"Even at $30, Quidditch Champions could have used much more to keep players engaged."

Outside of the rubber-banding in online matches, sparsity of solo content, Seeker issues, rule changes, annoying AI, and so on, its longevity is perhaps the biggest question mark. Whether Unbroken Studios can introduce enough new content to keep it going while rolling quality-of-life changes, improvements, and new features remains to be seen.

Even at $30, Quidditch Champions could have used much more to keep players engaged. If you like the sporting fantasy and can deal with its many warts, this might be worth a look, but even if you won’t find anything quite like it, there are far more engaging competitive multiplayer titles that offer way more value.

This game was reviewed on PS5.