Finally! One of the best parts of this whole game is riding around on a broom. The mechanics are smooth and very fun. Hogsmeade is off limits, but the rest of the open world and even sections of Hogwarts are broom-friendly. Although many locations on the map have the fast travel of Floo Flames, it can be fun just to fly places anyway.
Madam Kogawa is the flight instructor (and a very disappointed quidditch teacher since Headmaster Black ruled the game wouldn’t be played this year). We mount our school brooms — astride; “none of that side-saddle nonsense” — and start flying through large rings and around the grounds.
Another fan-service in Hogwarts Legacy is the chance to “play house” in the Room of Requirement. Anyone who’s read the Potter books or watched the movies knows what this is. An unmarked, invisible doorway leads to a space that can become anything the user desires.
Professor Weasley has consulted with her house elf friend, Deek, to introduce me to the room so that I can have a place to focus on my studies. I can create potion stations and plant-growing tables, as well as adding decorative touches.
It seems wrong to talk about the game without presenting these two enjoyable activities. With broom flight, Hogwarts becomes a sandbox. The Room of Requirement has design restrictions, but it’s still possible to personalize the space.
However, for story purposes, the Undercroft will become relevant in unexpected ways. I can’t know, when Sebastian asks me to meet him at night in the Defense Against the Dark Arts hallway, that he’ll show me a secret door with ramifications down the line. The Undercroft, a room no one at Hogwarts, not even professors, knows about, was shown to Sebastian by his good friend Ominis Gaunt, who learned about it from his relatives.
For now, we can practice spells not taught at school. Sebastian teaches me confringo, the Blasting Curse. (It’s a great spell!)
(This is also the reason you should always pick Sebastian over Natty as your dueling partner. She doesn’t know confringo.)
Ominis’ horrible family and their proud connection to Salazar Slytherin is an interesting side quest, but it isn’t part of the main story. It’s how your character learns the Unforgivable Curses. On this playthrough, though, I’m only pursuing the prime quests.