Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Reviews

by FakeChris Hardwick

I was one of the many who were extremely excited for the prospect and idea of this game. Even before it was officially announced I remember theorizing and pretending in my head what a game like this could be. Ultimately thought it’s interesting on the first hour maybe two hours but once you get to the nitty gritty it’s fairly rinse and repeat. This game is good on paper but somehow they failed the execution. With an overload of bugs and lag that has still not been fixed since launch. Not to mention after using your wand to get confoundables you run out of energy and the game either requires you to go to a inn or buy coins with real money which in turn gets you energy. Assuming you like most people would prefer the free option it’s still not practical. It restores very small amounts of energy per visit to inn and that’s only 10% of the time you visit them. The other 90% is broken and freezes upon entering the inn and requires you to completely restart the game over and over until you are lucky enough to have the inn work. This goes for green houses and the castles you find in the world as well. Speaking of castles those are pretty fun but the combat is a bit tedious and repetitive at the same time if that’s even possible. Overall it’s fun at first but I strongly advise you wait a few months until patches are rolled out and maybe they listen to objective criticism. 2/5 go back to Pokémon go.

by The Domestic

As much as this game has potential, the biggest reason I uninstalled it is due to the massive amount of data and energy required to run it on any device. I currently have an iPhone 8 with 256GB and loads of unused storage (most of the gigs are free), and not only would my battery drain super fast, but my phone would heat up almost instantly as the processor too was working overtime to compensate. Even with HarryPotter entirely closed, the issues would continue even when my phone was sitting idle!

Now, I have had Pokemon GO, FaceBook, Discord, and Safari all running and open at the same time and never once did my battery drain that fast nor did my phone run hotter than the interior of an active volcano. I checked my battery usage in Settings for the past 24 hours after deleting this game. A few minutes of running this game, as per my phone’s battery logs, used up 18% battery life in that time. Pokemon GO barely reach 1% for much longer. PoGO, even back in the day of the memory and data leaks when it was first introduced never hit the level this game has. Ever since deleting HarryPotter and rebooting my phone, the issues have disappeared and everything has gone back to normal.

Again, this game has potential, and despite the glaring gameplay problems, the need for enormous energy to even run is absurd and disheartening to say the least. Maybe when Niantic sorts everything out will I make another at playing.

by Tamillee

I really enjoy playing this game...it’s fun, I enjoy the story line, picking a profession, and all that stuff. However, there are a few things that I think would make the game significantly better. 1) It’s been said by many already—spell energy. Can their be other ways to obtain this? Specifically for people in rural areas where inns and greenhouse and few and far between. Can we earn like 1 spell energy every 30 minutes or something? It would be awesome to be able to wake up with a full energy bank each day, and would also make me want to play the game more frequently because I know that I could. 2) Can Masterful casts actually mean something? It’s pretty stupid that a low level threat can resist a masterful cast. What’s the point in trying to get a masterful cast if all you get is XP? There is literally no other perk, as it doesn’t at all seem to affect your likelihood of capturing a foundable. I have defeated a high level threat on a “good” cast, but had a low level threat depart after a masterful cast? Seems stupid and pointless to have casting ability only count toward XP. 3) Storage. I know this has been said by others as well, but it’s annoying to constantly have to delete ingredients/potions...particularly if you’re trying to stock up for a Wizard battle. I realize this is to make people spend actual money buying coin to increase their storage, but it really makes me want to play the game less...not more.

by Need Boxes

I’ve been playing daily since it’s release. Almost all reviews complain about the amount of energy. That is only a temporary issue. As you get more coins you increase your vault and can store more energy. The real issues are 1) play is tedious. You must tap on every single foundable just to see if it something you need or not. Frustrating and slows down play. 2) greenhouses are next to useless. Very awkward timing for harvesting ingredients after you plant them. I’ve only successfully accomplished this once. And most ingredients you need you can find anyway. If you play a lot remembering where you planted and when they are ready for harvest gets confusing. 3) about 50% of foundables disappear when you cast. Makes is difficult to get what you need and makes all the tapping on foundables that much more tedious. Wastes energy and potions. 4) Collecting the foundables actually feels a little pointless. So you get all your stickers then what? You can’t use them for anything or even show them off to friends. Since no one that you friend is privy to anything you do in the game. Makes having friends in the game kind of pointless.
On the good side, the graphics are great, the casting of spells is fun and I love how intricate the game is. Brewing potions is also fun. I like that you can pick your house, profession and design your wand. I will keep playing but there are improvements needed to keep me in the game long term.

by Pope Nucci

Overall, I like the concept of the game. But I have to agree with others who live in suburban or rural areas: it is extremely difficult to regain energy because the nearest greenhouses/inns are too far away to visit on a regular basis. There needs to be other ways to gain energy. Same goes for Spell Books that can only be gained through Wizarding Challenges- I can’t get them because I don’t live near Fortresses. And the greenhouse is basically useless for growing things I need, because they are all too far away to plant things and then revisit 15 hrs later.

Also, potions. If a potion is good for say, 5 spell casts in one battle, but I win the battle in one spell cast, the remaining spell casts should carry over to future battles. Otherwise spending hours brewing a single potion is a waste of time and ingredients.

It would also be nice to know (on screen) when entering a battle, whether or not I already have that complete item in Registry. It’s extremely difficult to remember each item, especially because some items are gained in fragments. For example if I need 12 fragments of Buckbeak but can’t remember if I completed him or not, I have to exit the battle and open my Registry to look up the information. I don’t always want to collect extras simply for experience points, because it wastes spell energy that I can’t replenish because the inns/greenhouses are too far away.

by SirenKnight

First it’s addicting, I love certain aspects of it, including the potion brewing master notes. I’m glad you added the knight bus so I can actually complete my daily tasks now since I am a homebody (not by choice) - I understand these games are intended to get you off your feet, but I can drive around just as easily and no my errands include trying to obtain those things I can’t get at home since the game sees I’m not moving. Additionally- brilliant events, I just used tonic for trace detection and of all the traces (which are needed when you don’t drive/walk) and only got 3 brilliant traces. When I can’t leave the house it’s almost impossible to complete the extra challenges. I’ve been on for an hour and have seen water and 1 ingredient. If you’re going to keep it that way, and not fix the known issues you have (I disabled the camera since I can’t turn off AR+ again- and you have to reboot your phone and restart the game and go look at your daily assignments and pray for the game to recognize you're completing those tasks.) you could at least extend the range on inns and greenhouses like was done for Pokémon poke stops and gyms, or provide another means to acquire the pieces and parts needed to play the game during a pandemic and for those that can’t/won’t go drive around every day to do some of the minimal things making the game worth playing.

by Jabberwock87

I love the game but I don’t like that you have to travel to greenhouses and stuff just to get energy. I’m not on the move all the time and I don’t understand why the energy can’t just refill itself with time. Even if it refilled with time only halfway that would still be cool. I know some challenges that you complete or goals can give you some energy but how can I complete them if I don’t have energy to begin with. I think it’s also a little unfair if you live out in the middle of nowhere and you have to drive like an hour to a greenhouse. It makes the game not fun. Or maybe every couple of hours you get energy that would be nice. A mini game you can play to earn energy. So far I can’t even play the game unless I’m willing to drive hours away to get energy. Also I get that you don’t want people driving while playing the game but that thing that pops up all the time when I’m playing the game telling me not to play and drive is annoying because sometimes the game freezes and then all the stuff around me disappears or because that message popped up I can’t collect the stuff around me because they timed out and disappeared. Also sometimes when I’m not even walking or moving at all that message still pops up that I’m going at a fast pace. It even pops up when I’m walking which is annoying. There should be someway to turn that message off.

by Sarondipity

So far I’m really loving this game! I’ve been an avid Pokemon Go player since the game was released, and I was very excited for Wizards Unite, and so far it’s really fun! However, some of the game mechanics are really clunky. Spell casting is very difficult and it seems much harder to achieve a masterful spell cast than it is to achieve an excellent throw. Also, the story is extremely complicated so far. Pieces of the story unfold as you play through the game, but it’s incredibly overwhelming upon first opening the game. So far I’m struggling to understand what the overall point of playing is. Will the Calamity eventually be defeated? And if so...what will happen to the game? And if not, will the story just continue indefinitely? On the positives, I think the portkeys are SO FUN, and definitely a good motivator to put in the kilometers, and the inns are a good way to easily get energy. The negatives are how overwhelming brewing potions, growing plants, and going doing lessons for your profession are. There seem to be a million and one things to keep up with in this game, and it was a lot to hit a player with at once. I would have unrolled these features slowly over time and made the gameplay a bit more straightforward at first, but nothing to do about it now. Overall I love the game, but I’m definitely looking forward to improvements and streamlining in the future.

by Br0wn!e

I love the game and the concept of returning the Foundables to there proper place and time. I like that you are following a story line in this adventure, and that you actually brew potions and cast spell. But there are some issues. The growing time for ingredients at greenhouses is so long you can’t feasibly collect on what you plant, and I find it frustrating that since I don’t live close to a lot of inns I quickly run out of energy, which can’t be easily refilled any or the way except buying it. You get a very small amount for completing daily task that is quickly used up completing other dailys. And you get some when you log in for a 30 day streak reward that is easily broken if you miss a day. You don’t get energy for leveling or for completing a weekly goal, like walking a certain distance. Which leads to the biggest issue. The game only traces distance by gps while HarryPotter is open and actively running. It doesn’t track when not open, and because it’s gps and not steps I can walk several kilometers all over my house doing chores, but since I haven’t covered a long enough distance for the gps to move I get nothing from it, which makes if hard to unlock portmanteaus, especially for the recent event. I hope the game developers are tracking these issues and can fix some of them as the game updates.

by Cmoney1112

Overall, the game is fine. I am interested to see how the game evolves.

The graphics are good, but I don’t feel invested in the game’s mission. I am a big Harry Potter fan and was optimistic about the game, but have been disappointed thus far. The story seems forced and there doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason for finding the objects to progress the story. Though HarryPotter name suggests cooperative gameplay, there seems to be no point in having friends (yet) and only allows limited interaction in the Wizarding Challenges. The vault seems small out of the gate and is segregated in such a way that you can’t cater it to your gameplay. In the beginning of Pokemon Go, you could use your bag to stock up on pokeballs when that was your focus, and as you began to progress and start battling, you could expand your bag. This game seems more focused on people purchasing upgrades with limited opportunities to collect coins. I haven’t even touched on the fact that the different Hogwarts houses are virtually nonexistent in the gameplay. That is a missed opportunity as most fans of the series take pride in the house they have chosen/into which they’ve been sorted. The greenhouses also seem superfluous. Unless you have a greenhouse at your place of residence or business, the greenhouses seem more like places to dump stuff to clear vault space.

by Kmaroney13

I started playing the game when it first came out. The creators have made many improvements over the last few months, but there are still quite a few bugs that need to be worked out. I have sent several messages about Confoundables being “whisked away by magic” and it seems to happen more frequently since the last update (and it seems to happen more frequently with the higher level Foundables). I’ve also experienced a lot of freezing, mostly in certain areas, which I have sent several messages about. The worst part is the disappearing and freezing happen after I’ve used potions and a lot of energy. Lastly, when I reached level 30, the game said Confoundables would be easier to overpower. I have found this to be the exact opposite. If anything, I am using more energy (even when casting multiple Great and Masterful spells). Before this latest update, though, I absolutely loved playing the game. It was a lot of fun, I walked so much more, and my family and I have spent more time together than we ever have before (we’re also Pokemon Go players). I just hope that the creators can fix these issues soon because we stopped playing Pokémon Go for a couple of years (after it first came out) because of some frustrating problems with the game. I don’t want to have to stop playing Wizards Unite, but I’m also not going to keep spending money to play when it’s more frustrating that fun.

by Piggy2.0

On your ministry ID it would be cool if a profession was professional quidditch player. it would be really cool if you added that. This game is good right now because it gets players moving during quarantine. Also I would like to say that the energy And coins gets annoying. If you don’t have enough you have to buy some and no one wants to keep buying stuff for a game over and over. I read in the other reviews that others were having that issue to. Also In the vault you can delete items. I would like it to ask twice instead of once to delete an item because I accidentally deleted a very useful potion. In the chambers In Hogwarts it doesn’t let me switch back to AR so can u make that easier please. Since we are in quarantine I would like it if more objects came closer to me because we can’t leave the house as much as before. Also I live in a small community and I have to ride my bike half a mile to town hall to visit an inn and find traces. Also you have to spend money to fill energy.
Other than that whole paragraph this game is great. You should try adding a hogsmeade. Thank You for taking your time to read my Review and I hope you take my suggestions into consideration.
-Addicted Player

by Borinand

Despite the long tutorial and semi-confusing naming structure for the confoundables, the game is pretty good. The spell casting is very intuitive, wizarding challenges are fun and the events are interesting. However there are a few tweaks that I feel need to be made in order to make the game more enjoyable. Customizing your profile (wand type, house, etc.) doesn’t seem to really do anything. You can’t share pictures with your friends so the camera feature seems a little out of place. The spell casting mechanic seems to be a little inconsistent (what seems like a great cast may be considered only a fair sometimes?). Some of the confoundables are ridiculously hard to catch. I understand the ranking system but some seem to depart on the first spell way too often (mostly the same ones every time) even if their ranked as easy. But then again some seem to take a lot of tries to catch even though you make multiple great casts in a row. I’d imagine there should be dueling and presents (parcels?) you can send to a friend in the game, just like Pokémon go, but that feature isn’t available. Seems like a lot of these things are similar issues at launch of Pokémon go so they should be able to fix them pretty easily.

by Veinexes Videos

It’s a great game though uses the developers strengths and ideas that they learn from Pokémon go to help them make an enjoyable experience. However, in my main argument is with the wizarding energy. For those who don’t know this is the energy that is required to cast spells, think of it like polka balls in Pokémon go you need to visit inns to recharge your energy by eating meals. You recharge is based on what meal you eat and can be anywhere from 2 to 10 points of energy, And can re-charge again every five minutes. You use up one energy every time you cast a spell whether it succeeds or not in capturing the confoundable. Your energy has a maximum amount of 75 so you can gain over this amount the part that I I’m slightly annoyed at is that energy does not re-charge normally even at a rate of say one per hour. Neither does it re-charge upon leveling up where as in Pokémon go you could be given at least maybe 10 to 20 balls when you level this sometimes forces you to either re-charge with the limited gold that you’re given or to camp outside in this until you’ve reached a good amount of energy. It’s more of a small annoyance than a dealbreaker but with the amount of times you have to sometimes cast at one target you can end up running very low on energy very quickly

by Bsb_lvr

It is too difficult to get energy. In Pokémon go I never had an issue getting poke balls, In fact I often maxed out. There are too many greenhouses in my town. They are everywhere and pretty useless imo. I attempted to use one once but as I’ve never had an issue getting ingredients I really don’t need to waste my time with them. Inns are a completely different story however. I have to drive across town to find a good selection of inns. They are so spread out and having to use my car to get to them defeats the purpose of the game. There is only one park so far that I have found that have multiple inns within walking distance of each other, a green house, and a fortress which is nice because I enjoy the fortresses but can’t play too often as it takes too much of my energy. The only issue tho is this park isn’t exactly close to me. I think if you’re going to have so few inns, they need to give more energy. Very rarely do I get 5 or 10. It’s mostly 3 and I don’t have time to sit for 5 mins for it to refresh for another 3 energy that’s typically gone with one battle and I don’t want to drive 10 blocks back and forth between inns every 5 mins as that’s a huge waste of my gas. Please fix this inn issue and the game will be perfect.