Last month on June 21st, the first day of the summer, the new Augmented Reality mobile game ‘Harry Potter Wizards Unite’ is released. It is a collaboration between Warner Bros Games and Niantic.

So if you are familiar with Niantic’s very popular game named ‘Pokémon Go’; then you see the similarities with this game: A drawn map of where you are, things popping up, a challenge where you have to draw gestures on your touchscreen of your smartphone to do something, the good-better-best judgings for those gestures and the chance to ‘win’ the challenge. And so on…

Harry Potter Wizards Unite is not only about the Harry Potter books themselves… it is also, in my opinion also mostly, about the whole Harry Potter world including Fantastic Beasts. Even the copyright says it.

YouTube Launch Trailer

To explain everything behind every object – related to – Harry Potter is a big explanation, there are several books about it. So I will explain my opinion about the game and where it is based on in my view.

Pros and Cons of Harry Potter Wizards Unite

Pros:
– Design: The design is lovely! Especially of the challenges and object you gather. Some other parts look a bit more simplified compared to the rest of the game.
– Awards: XP (experience points), ingrediënts, paper rolls, books, game coins, avatars and badges. Such a variaty of which everything has its own challenges to achieve.
– Skills: You decide if you want to become an expert as e.g. a Magiczoologist so you have a benefit when you have to conquer beasts.
– Difficulty: Changes throughout the game and depends on your decisions for skills and the timing of the day and where you are located.
– Diversity: Lots of objects and areas and categories.
– Friends: it is not a co-op nor real multiplayer, but at a base you can help out your friends a bit. Everybody has a unique code.
– Gathering pieces: The fun thing is that you gather pieces (images) of all those objects and persons or creatures so you do not have completed every object or person or creature immediately at first catch. Sometimes yes you do but most objects, persons and creatures need to be conquered first.

Cons:
– Battery: Every augmented reality game that uses your location asks a lot of your battery. Though I have the feeling that it’s a bit more lightweight than Pokémon Go.
– Difficulty: It is a pro for variety but also a con because it is a bit inconsistent and it you could get a bit irritated when you do not conquer the same beast or object after numerous times trying and your spells were at best, ‘masterful’ is displayed then when casting a spell. But you don’t master the beast or object so how…?
– The drawn map location: You do realise that you see your own Google Maps area in a map. Why not walking in a Harry Potter created virtual world instead of the real world… oke it is augmented reality so it shows a layer on top of the reality. If it was augmented virtuality it would show a layer in a virtual created world.

YouTube Gameplay Trailer

Future, features and events:

On the Harry Potter Wizards Unite website you find information about the game developing for the future and that there are even real events organised around playing this game in the real world, around the world.

New feature in the game will be to fight dragons! And the preview could be seen at the San Diego Comic Conference.

The 20th of July 2019 was also the first Harry Potter Wizards Unite community day! People gather at festivals to play games together or online and even for mobile games this is now working, when there is a community – a big interest – in a subject where a game is based on.

The dragons feature will be released in the fall of this year.

In Indianapolis there is even a real Harry Potter Wizards Unite Fan Festival from August 31st till 1st of September. More info about the festival can also be found at the website.

Facts:

Game title: Harry Potter Wizards Unite
Released: 21st June 2019
Developers: Warner Bros Games / Niantic
Operating Systems: iOS / Android
Size: 198MB+ (iOS)
Special: Augmented Reality
Rating: 8 / 10

What do you think of Harry Potter Wizards Unite?
Do you play this game?

Greetings by Sophie