Hogwarts Legacy's first gameplay trailer explores the majestic castle and whimsical world

The first Hogwarts Legacy gameplay trailer is here, showing several main characters, adversaries, giant mythical beasts, and of course, the wonderous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The trailer kicks off with a duel between the player character and another wizard student, before exploring other parts of the castle. Inside Hogwarts, we see the player taking on various tasks like making potions, learning spells, growing magical plants, and getting to know classmates and professors. We also get to see some footage of the player character exploring the outside of the castle, where you'll find dungeons, secret passageways, and tricky puzzles. Further out in the castle's surroundings are lush, diverse landscapes seen from the ground and the sky atop a wizarding broomstick.

There's also a good chunk of combat shown in the new trailer, including magic fights between the player character and goblins and sinister wizards and witches. As explained in today's footage, there's a dark alliance forming between the bad wizards and the goblins, and we're willing to guess it's up to you to stamp it out. Fortunately, you're quite the capable wizard, and the trailer shows off a variety of standard and special attacks, as well as dramatic finishers you can use to best your opponents.

While the lengthy gameplay trailer shows off a lot of Hogwarts Legacy, including the progression system, the real star of the show is its majestic castle and surrounding areas. The world benefits from beautiful lighting and dynamic weather, and everything just looks very alive, with all sorts of creatures crawling around outdoor and indoor areas.

The Hogwarts Legacy release window was confirmed for holiday 2022.

Although she is not involved in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, GamesRadar+ acknowledges the role of J.K. Rowling in the creation of the Wizarding World, as well as her publicly stated, harmful views regarding the rights of transgender people. If you’d like to offer your support to the communities affected by Rowling’s rhetoric, consider donating to the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, or Mermaids in the UK.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.