Platform:PS5 SX SS (PS4, Xbox one ETA April) Developer: Avalanche Software Release date:Today
For a long standing Harry Potter universe fan I am happy to share with you the first 3 days of early access I have had with this title, lets get to it:
Graphics
This game looks really good in general and its also good that they put a variety of graphic modes to cater for different TV hardware. Amongst the nice variety of modes there's one I am currently playing this game on and its Fidelity with Raytracing. I prefer this mode because you don't lose a lot of draw distance detail and also you get to have reflections within buildings and a bonus of this is the uncapped framerate. You can cap it to 30fps if you wish. But it does have an issue which I would like to believe will be patched soon.
The issue I have noticed is that when you select this graphics mode there is some annoying frame time spikes that are visible to the eye. For example if you swivel your camera you will see some stuttering almost every time randomly. Clearly its not the go to for framerate enthusiasts but for me I find it a balanced mode regardless because you are getting graphics plus higher framerate than 30fps but it plays between 33 fps up to the late 40 to 50th mark (had to check online for some channels that special with benchmarking). It's weird I must say. So I am wondering are they are going to lock it or how best will they mitigate this. From what I have seen the 45fps modes are normally for TVS with HDMI 2.1 and VRR but in this case this mode applies to basic 2.0 TVS. With this mentioned please bear in mind your experience may differ due to the different TV sets we may have. Overall the game looks good character models are properly done not much to even take away here they may not be the best models compared to top tier triple AAA games but they don't really run short either. The lush green forests and fields are also appealing. Overall good work.
Gameplay
This is the best part about the game. I must say for best experience play this at a very high framerate. Playing this with fidelity at 30fps is not the way. So the gameplay is very strategic its not your normal hack and slash and mash button but more of making applicable moves per combat encounter. This is what makes the game more engaging and not obvious. The right spells and gear plus your own wit contribute to a fun experience.
There's only one little nitpick, whenever you are doing combat the way in which you have to switch and mount spells kind of slows down the pace but for me it doesn't bother me because the Witcher always had such until recently they tried to have you to quick select your powers. Its the best part about this game for e and it was very well done
Story
I cannot conclude as I am still playing it myself. What I like about this game story is the pace of the buildup, its not too fast neither slow coupled with a myriad of side quests which on their own are interesting. I am not speed-running this at all and won't mind spending a year on this game as I want to enjoy every moment of it and as a long standing fan of the Harry Potter universe getting this game at this point in time after a long time is jus satisfactory.
Just to drop something here as I conclude , I am no politician and I don't want world politics to be involved in gaming if at all all I want is for video games to be video games, these virtual worlds give us soothing experiences away from reality and I get baffled when video games are used to transmit political messages to satisfy certain groups or agendas or used as battlegrounds for political disparities, it brings unnecessary divide and bickering to no avail. Companies and devs should just focus on the art, develop a game and if some people love it it shouldn't be a crime if some don't it shouldn't be either. For example I don't like Elden Ring that doesn't mean its bad its a me thing it shouldn't be your problem if you love it buy it play it regardless of me. The whole point of gaming since the super Mario days (my young days) has been to just have fun. Point is buy a game to have fun that's all leave the rest. So my recommendation to you for this game is get it if you wish and have a good blast because you are going to.
Pros Lots of graphics modes Good gameplay Very interesting story
Cons The uncapped framerate stutter
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