Cover Photo By Willem Dimas
Cover Photo By Willem Dimas.

Explore the wizarding world in “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery”


Experience the life of a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry student in Jam City’s “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.”


By Jillian Cu, and Ronyella Mae Veliyusa | Friday, 19 March 2021

Released in 2018, Jam City Inc.’s “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery” lets Potterheads experience the Hogwarts student life as they learn spells and magic potions, as well as flying on their broomsticks and taking care of magical creatures. With players getting into the excitement of finally living their Hogwarts life digitally, the mobile game has reached over 10 million downloads. 

Before starting their journey, the player is able to freely customize their character. As students gather in the Great Hall, the Sorting Hat decides on which four notable houses they will be destined to, whether it be Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Throughout the game, the character gets to meet new friends such as Rowan Khanna and Ben Cooper, along with some familiar characters like Professor Albus Dumbledore and Professor Severus Snape who will help them succeed in their missions. Aside from friends, enemy-like character Merula Snyde will also be interfering along the way. 

Aside from succeeding in quests, the character must be able to help their house in getting first place in the game’s House Cup to be able to get rewards. This is done by attending classes such as Charms and Potions. The player can have the chance to either duel with fellow players from different parts of the world, share a meal with a friend, or play Gobstones. Recently, Jam City added a new feature to the game where players can join clubs depending on their interest in magic spells, potions, and caring for the creatures. 

Simple interaction with a few taps

Harry Potter’s role-playing game (RPG) is easy to control as the player gets to interact during classes or meet with other characters with a simple tap. While gaining stars through learning the lessons in Hogwarts, players get to test their Harry Potter knowledge through a short quiz. While the interactions of the game come easy, there are thrilling challenges that would test the players’ decision-making skills.

The character also gets involved with their greatest mission of solving mysterious secrets around Hogwarts revolving around themselves throughout the game. Through exploring different floors and rooms around Hogwarts, the player gets to learn more about the mysteries inside Hogwarts and get more rewards. As a change in pace from all the excitement and thrills Hogwarts has to offer, the player can also customize their own dormitory and interact with the creatures. With the character going on quests, the game also creates a storyline to make it more interesting. 

Glitches along the way

Although the user experiences learning spells and potions, the energy needed to do that is limited. It takes a lot of energy to complete one task, making players either wait for more or to buy them with gems. Furthermore, being able to purchase energy to continue finishing a quest requires real money.

Users also experience connection and server problems upon opening the application. Although these issues are out of the user’s control, the allotted time for their ongoing task continues to run despite these problems. To prevent this from happening, a good and reliable internet connection is recommended to play smoothly. 

The application can also get boring as time passes. Even though the user can make choices with their interactions with friends or professors, learning spells and potions in classes are completed by just clicking the glowing objects around the room. It doesn’t offer much user interaction, and it becomes monotonous the longer the user plays the game.

Despite the glitches, this game lets us experience the life of a Hogwarts student based on how J.K. Rowling created the world, even just on our own screens. By being able to experience the life of the characters from the books and movies we love, it certainly brings us closer to them and the wizarding world. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Last updated: Friday, 19 March 2021