Warner Brothers Games’ Portkey Games studio has put the world-famous Harry Potter franchise in the capable hands of NetEase Games to create Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. The worldwide release was announced on the 20th May during NetEase Connect 2022, NetEases annual product launch event, and provided a few details about what is in store.
The trailer does not show too much gameplay itself, besides revealing that the graphical style seems to be what would've happened if Tim Burton worked on Borderlands. However, it does show that the player character will be a new attendee at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Magic Awakened has already launched in China to impressive acclaim, already racking up over 50 million downloads as of May 20th, and topping the App Store and Google Play charts.
Players will take on the role of this new starter and embark on their own journey through the magical world, starting with shopping at the iconic Diagon Alley for school supplies, before arriving at Hogwarts and donning the Sorting Hat to determine which house they will be in. The story has been crafted with the expertise of Portkey Games, the studio dedicated to Harry Potter games, with input from creator JK Rowling and the promise of some familiar faces popping up, culminating in what will hopefully be another beloved entry to the series.
The gameplay has been categorised as a real-time role-playing card game, and with references to learning spells and charms, and participating in the duelling club it sounds like a deck-building with spells being added to create a unique spell deck, or players can partake in the real Harry Potter experience and spam Expelliarmus. A closed beta test will take place in 2022 with pre-registration being announced soon, and a collaboration with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is already planned, so there won’t be too much longer for the worldwide community to wait.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened will be available on mobile devices and PC, and will feature cross-progression. For those wanting to view the NetEase Connect reveal, this is available on NetEases’ Facebook, Twitch and Youtube pages, and was the last game discussed so skip to the end.
