The wizarding world's narratives are usually a dramatic battle between good and evil, from the perspective of those who are portrayed as the heroes. Because of this, the darker side of the wizarding world is a bit of an enigma, which has Hogwarts Legacy players hoping that they may choose to play the magical game as an evil villain or as a noble hero.
House Sorting in Hogwarts Legacy: Which house should you choose?
Hogwarts Legacy is all about fans of the wizarding world getting to tell their own story. But does this also mean that players may choose their own route when it comes to whether or not they want to pursue the lighter side of magic or enter the Dark Arts realm?
Is it possible to master the Dark Arts in Hogwarts Legacy?
In Hogwarts Legacy, players will have the ability to choose to be evil, but to what extent this extends to is a bit unclear. However, there are aspects of gameplay that are known and can be considered in deciding how evil they will be permitted to become.
Hogwarts Legacy will allow players to use the three unforgivable curses, including Crucio, which causes the target extreme agony, Imperio, and, most importantly, Avada Kedavra, which instantly kills the target.
All three curses were extremely taboo in the Harry Potter series, but Hogwarts Legacy is taking a completely different strategy. Players will be able to learn and use them if they wish.
Performing the unforgivable curses might enrage other characters in different ways. However, Hogwarts Legacy has been verified to not have a morality system that allows players to freely cast the spells as they desire without fear of being punished for doing so.
In certain conversations with other players, players may perceive the negative effects of being evil. In Hogwarts Legacy, players will be given the chance to deeply befriend certain characters called companions.
Players will sometimes face different dialogue options or important choices with these characters (and possibly other side characters as well). In these situations, players can often choose to be mean or helpful, which will likely result in different responses.
In Hogwarts Legacy, how exactly do friendships work? It's highly probable that being rude to companions regularly may result in a diminished friendship or no friendship at all. Companions are critical to acquiring new abilities, so players may want to tread lightly with their companions until it's confirmed whether or not players may freely be evil to them without consequences.
In the companion quest "Sebastian Sallow's Dark Legacy," players will have to choose whether to allow Sebastian cast Crucio on them, learn Crucio to cast it on Sebastian, or learn Crucio yet let Sebastian cast it on them.
Companion quests are optional, but will always help players understand the characters they are encountering and usually help them acquire new wizarding abilities. However, in a situation similar to the one mentioned with Sebastian, it's hard not to imagine that certain choices will result in players taking a different path and causing damage to their companion relationships.
With Hogwarts Legacy's Dark Arts pack, players may choose to be evil in gameplay or cosmetically. This pack includes a Thestral mount, a Dark Arts cosmetic set, and a Dark Arts battle arena, which means that players can live up to their unforgivable curses in style.
Ultimately, players will determine whether or not to go down a different path in the wizarding world. The Hogwarts Legacy team has stated that players' paths in the game are up to them, and that this does definitively mean that they may be evil in some ways.