Hogwarts Legacy already playable for some lucky buyers
Update (Feb. 6, 2023): Early Access for Hogwarts Legacy has begun in some regions of the world, such as New Zealand. We have a guide showing you how to play Hogwarts Legacy early as well, thanks to a neat trick using your console's time zone.
Original (Feb. 3, 2023): Hogwarts Legacy is already out for some lucky players, who by now are knee-deep in the open-world RPG exploring 1800s Hogwarts, mastering spells, and solving puzzles. Apparently, some pre-ordered copies of the physical edition of the game shipped out early, arriving a week before the game’s official release date, February 10, 2023.
These copies are perfectly functional, as is shown by a vast amount of leaked footage on places like Twitch and YouTube as well as lots of written reports on Reddit.
The official early access phase for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition is supposed to begin on February 7.
A redditor from Germany showed off a Xbox Series X copy of the game, which appears to have arrived at the buyer’s home on February 2. They stated in the thread that the shown box is not their own, though they claim the game was ordered from Netgames.de, which sent out the ordered product early.
Upon further investigation, it seems like several other gamers in Germany who pre-ordered Hogwarts Legacy from this site have already received their copies, both for Xbox Series X and PS5. PC players, on the other hand, seem to be out of luck so far.
Players, who already had the chance to dive into the game themselves or caught someone else streaming it online, are full of praise for it so far. “Nothing but good things to say”, writes one user on Reddit. Another says they are “impressed” and that the leaks “increased” their hype.
In our Hogwarts Legacy preview, we also found that the game gives players the freedom to explore the wizarding world like never before. Even if you can’t play the game yet, you can already preload Hogwarts Legacy to get into the action right away on release day or enjoy the latest cinematic trailer to get your hype juices going.
If you want to catch up on the controversies surrounding the game and book author J.K. Rowling, you can read our explainer at that link.
