The Harry Potter video games let you step directly into the Wizarding World and become a part of the magic. With these titles, you can e☂nroll in Hogwarts, learn spells, play Quidditch, and experience the most iconic moments from the books. However, not all Harry Potter games were created equal. Let’s take a look at the franchise’s best moments that occurred on console.
12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
Harry’s departure from Hogwarts at the end of the Half-Blood Prince was a major turning point for the series, and to match this change, EA flipped the formula for its Harry Potter video games completely upside down. Though the prior games had largely relied on casual exploration and adventure, the Deathly Hallows games were effectively third-person shooters. The gameplay loop in both of these entries was repetitive and lackluster, but it was occasionally fun to play through the most iconic duels from the book. The ability to apparate during battles and the big cast of playable characters made the second Deathly Hallows game mercifully better than the prior one.
11. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
Quidditch Champions is reasonably enjoyable sports game that’s somewhat akin to Rocket League, but it’s bogged down by how grindy its currency and hero skin unlock systems are. The rules of the Quidditch matches here don’t actually line up with the source material, and while these changes are largely meant to keep things fair, they end up making Quidditch Champions feel especially distant from♍ the books and movies. The ability to switch between chaser, beater, keeper, and seeker at will is at least brilliant. You can pick up and play these positions with relative ease, but mastering them takes serious work.
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The top down look at Hogwarts from the Goblet of Fire video game had some interesting ups a🐎nd downs. On one hand, it made the three tasks from the Triwizard Tournament suitably dangerous and challenging. On the other, it severely limited exploration and made trivial, non-combat spell casts unnecessarily difficult. Though the movie series had at this point already shifted towards a darker tone, the video game was oddly comical in some of the story’s most serious scenes, such as the graveyard at the end. Plus, Ron’s constant obsession with collecting jelly beans sometimes makes you want to turn off the sound.
9. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
Quidditch World Cup was short, whimsical whirl of a game that came out in 2003, between the Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban films. It had straightforward mechanics that quickly got repetitive, but the campaign mode was at least enjoyable. The nine national teams that you could play as, plus their uniquely designed stadiums, felt like a reasonable expansion of the Wizarding World. Each international squad had its own special combo move, and chasing down the golden snitch was definitely thrilling. This one won’t keep you glued to the screen for nearly as long as the much more recent Quidditch Champions, but what the game does have to offer ca🎃n definitely be fun for fans of the series.
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The video game adaption of the first Harry Potter movie set up EA’s basic formula for the initial three games in the series. To cast magic, you’d simply need to point your wand at the spell symbols on the sides of moveable objects or locks. This system worked reasonably well, except in Sorcerer’s Stone, it required you to stand in place while you were casting a spell. And about 90 percent of the time, that spell was Flipendo. There were severa﷽l book moments in the video game that didn’t make it into the film, such as Harry and Hermione’s nighttime journey up to the astronomy tower, and the final potions challenge that was guarding the Stone.
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The expansive version of Hogwarts available in the Half-Blood Prince video game is a ton of fun to explore. The recognizable characters make the castle feel welcoming and homey, and the awkward romances from the book and the movie make for funny breaks from casting spells. The Quidditch matches and potion-mixing challenges are also enjoyable. Where the game falls short is in its dueling system, which is easily exploitable if you’re mashing your controller’s buttons fast enough. In addition, there could have been a wider array of collectables to find. The reduction of everything to house crests and mini-crests was a step back from the variety found in Order of the Phoenix.
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron and Hermione are just as much the protagonist of the game as Harry himself. The members of the trio each had their own spell and spell challenge, and group casts were essential for solving some of the puzzles. The extra candy-based currencies made collecting wizard cards more enjoyable, and the platforming was solid. What held th♓is one back was the uselessn🅺ess of the added spells compared with the prior game. The ability to freeze water with Glacius was lackluster, and transforming statues into rabbits and dragons was too niche to feel useful.
5. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
The giant map of Hogwarts and wizarding London, plus the huge selection of playable characters, make LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 a must play for fans of the franchise. The UI and animations are considerably smoother than the first LEGO Harry Potter, and the soundtrack from the final four movies gives the game some serious shine. However, there’s a bit of a mismatch between the goofy LEGO formula and the darker, more adult tone from the Order of the Phoenix and two Deathly Hallows films. In a recent playthrough, I also found the multipla🐼yer split-screen to be a bit disorienting. Overall though, the game is a magical experience.
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Order of the Phoenix altered the course of the Harry Potter video game series by offering significantly more open exploration and a wider variety of side activities♈ than the earlier games. The castle was much larger, had tons of awesome secret passages, and actually looked familiar to anyone who had already seen the movies. Mini-games like Gobstones and Wizard Chess were also a great addition that sa💞dly didn’t reappear in the next game. Actors from the films, such as Rupert Grint, who played Ron, and Tom Felton, who played Draco, also reprised their roles. The Wii version of the game had decent dueling, but on platforms like PC it was much more difficult to master.
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The platforming, spell casting, and environmental lighting from Chamber of Secrets made it a great game for its time. The Spongify spell opened up lots of vertical exploration within the castle, and Rictusempra introduced us to some light, enjoyable combat. You could also learn Lumos, Flipendo, and Alohomora in the early stages without much fanfare, which made it feel like you were picking things up right where you’d left them at the end of Sorcerer’s Stone. The showdown with Aragog and the final level in the actual Chamber of Secrets was a pitch-perfect leve🐓l of difficulty. Plus, the soundtrack w♏as solid, and helped give Hogwarts a comforting yet mystical feel.
2. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is an incredibly charming experience that’s full of fun spells, silly humor, and satisfying collectables. The levels in the front half of the game, which adapt the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, are cozy and inviting. In the later two years, it’s all about put🍸ting what you’ve learned to good use. Unlike the movie tie-in games, the spell wheel here works flawlessly. Plus, switching between the characters you’ve unlocked actually makes sense since you need to brew Polyjuice Potion to do it. I personally also enjoyed how the weather and behavior of the 🌞students changed within the Hogwarts hub zone as you progressed from book to book.
1. Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy has just about everything that a Harry Potter fan could hope for in a game. The ability to create your own character, join the house of your choice, and wander around the corridors truly make you feel like you’re a student at the school. Discovering small details from the books hidden in corners of the castle is also a blast. You can enter the Forbidden Forest, properly explore the village of Hogsmeade, and use a much wider array of spells for dueling than in earlier titles. The Merlin Trials system alone can keep you engaged for several hours. The only real knock against the game is that there’s no Quidditch. But even if Hogwarts Legacy isn’t completely perfect, it’s def🧸initely the most magical version of the video game Wizarding World that we’ve re🐼ceived so far.
Published: Feb 1, 2025 09:08 am