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The first gameplay trailer for Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions features a bevy of familiar faces, as well as a system that I thought I'd left behind in 2001.
The new trailer, which you can check out below, documents your journey from the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch all the way through a career that culminates in the lifting of the Quidditch World Cup. Allowing you to play as your own creation or as characters including Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang, and Harry Potter himself, as your skill and prestige increases, you'll play in bigger and grander locations on your way to the biggest prize.
There's not a huge amount of gameplay in this gameplay trailer, but there's a brief look at some Chasers carrying the Quaffle and charging up a shot to score, as well as a couple of clips of players dashing forward on their brooms, one of which looks to culminate in a tackle. If you fancy yourself as something of a Potter or Krum-style figure, however, it looks like you'll be able to play as a Seeker, chasing after the iconic Golden Snitch.
That, however, has thrown me a little, because the brief snippet of Seeker footage we get takes me all the way back to 2001 and the PC and PS1 version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. With limited official licensing and some meme-worthy character designs, those initial games don't necessarily live up to the standard that Hogwarts Legacy would set 20 years later. What they did have, however, was Quidditch, albeit a version of the game where Harry would chase the Snitch through a series of colored hoops in the sky - pass through enough hoops, and you'd grab the prize.
That was how EA chose to make Quidditch work more than 20 years ago, so imagine my surprise when I saw a dark-haired Gryffindor character dashing through colored hoops in the sky in an apparent attempt to close in on a fast-moving golden ball. It certainly looks from this admittedly brief clip like Quidditch tech hasn't really moved on in the past two decades.
Regardless, we should find out a little more in the coming weeks, as Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is set to launch on September 3, with a physical edition launching in November.
The release of Hogwarts Legacy was the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling’s public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.
