For the Harry Potter fans who were disappointed by the lack of Quidditch in the Hogwarts Legacy smash hit video game that released last year, your wait is over and be prepared to be as pleased as 1st years in Hogsmeade with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions!
The Quidditch pitch is a nonstop, action packed, dangerous, but fun filled Race for points! Harry Potter Quidditch Champions takes place in one of many dynamic Quidditch stadiums each with live commentary. Players will get to fly around in iconic locations from the Weasley burrow, the colorful Hogwarts grounds, the dark fields of Durmstrong , The lively grounds of llvermorny, and even the massive Quidditch World Cup Stadium.
For those who do not know, Quidditch is a wizarding world game that is played over a large pitch, or field for the Westerners, while flying on brooms as they attempt to score goals. Two teams are broken up into 4 different positions:
- Chaser: who is responsible for controlling and scoring goals
- Beater: who is a defensive position player and uses a bat and enchanted steel ball to knock out players.
- Keeper: who guards the three golden hoops at the end of each pitch
- Seeker: The player responsible for catching the golden snitch.
Players score points by throwing the “Quaffle”, a large red “ball”, through one of 3 guarded golden hoops or by catching the illusive golden snitch, an enchanted winged ball the size of a walnut, when it appears.
Game modes
There are several game modes to choose from in Quidditch Champions, including solo story mode, Co-op versus AI, and three on three PVP. There is an “Open Practice” mode so players can refine their skills on the pitch, and an exposition match mode where players can use their favorite team, either solo or co-op, against an AI team.
Quidditch positions
The player has the choice of playing between one of three dual purpose positions on the Quidditch team.
The player can choose to be a keeper whose goal is to defend the three hoops at the end of each pitch, which are worth 10 points each.
The player can choose to be a chaser who is responsible for chasing down the Quaffle and scoring goals in one of the three hoops.
The Beater is responsible for hitting bludgers, which are enchanted steel softball sized metal orbs, into opposing players in order to knock them off their game and sometimes even their brooms. When a player is knocked off their broom, they have to sit out a waiting period before being allowed back on the pitch.
The final position on the Quidditch team is the seeker. This is the individual whose responsibility it is to track down and catch the golden snitch which awards its team with 40 points.
The match ends when one team reaches 100 points or when the 7 minute time runs out and the team with the most points wins.
As mentioned, every character is playing two roles so if a player chooses to be a goalie, they will also have the opportunity to switch during gameplay as needed and be a chaser. If a player is a beater, they can also be a chaser. If a player chooses to be a chaser, they are also the lone seeker.
Brooms
Players have 10 brooms to choose from, however, a lot of the brooms and their variants can only be unlocked by leveling up, reaching milestones, or completing challenges. Players can pick from many of the brooms we read about in the books, like Harry’s first broom: The Firebolt all the way to the latest in broom technology: The Nimbus 2001. Each broom is unique in both design and performance. Brooms have different max attributes that can currently be leveled up to 5.
These attributes are Speed, durability, and agility.
Players can toggle details to see their brooms max speed, boost efficiency, maximum health, health regeneration rate, drift distance, dodge cool down, and maneuvering speed. These broom attributes can give the players the edge on the Quidditch pitch so gamers should find the broom that best fits the position that they like to play the most. Players can choose different brooms for every position if they so choose, or they can choose to copy their favorite characters broom to the other positions. Players can also copy their characters look, accessories, goal celebrations, and emoticons to these positions in the same manner, or customize each position to have their own individual esthetic.
Player customization
Customization of characters isn’t as diverse as it is in other games, a lot of teammates do look alike with the limited amount of facial customization available. One way to make the player stand out from the others on the pitch is by choosing different types of robes and headgear for them to wear. Players can unlock robes by playing the solo storyline, participating in the different Quidditch cups available, by leveling, reaching milestones, or by purchasing them from the marketplace.
XP and Leveling.
Whether the player chooses to play solo vs. AI or against other people, XP (experience) and rewards are earned. Players are given points to allocate to their players position. There is a max amount of 10 skill attribute points per position. These skill points can be distributed to three different categories depending on the position. Players can remove and assign points to different attributes, which unlock different abilities like a larger quaffle catch radius for keepers, a boost for successfully dodging bludgers as a chaser, a faster recharge boost, a faster bludger recall or dodge recharge time. Players should play with these skill point attributes to see which combination best works for them and their playing style.
Broom control
Flying around on a Quidditch broom wasn’t that easy in the books, and it’s not that easy in the game either. But do not worry, there are plenty of opportunities for training and practice. In the story mode players are given a step-by-step walk-through by the Weasley clan at their personal Quidditch pitch at their burrow. These individual scenarios teach players the finesse and tactics of the game and allows the player to replay them as often as they like until they are confident enough to play against real opponents.
As players level, they unlock several options of customization with both career fame and season awards.
Career
Career fame levels up the player individually. For each level a player moves up they earn rewards like gold, moonstones, or cosmetic items and player icons.
Season
The current season is called “Quidditch Tryouts” and is made up of 50 levels of rewards. Seasonal rewards give additional cosmetic items like variations to broom styles, looks, player icons, and winged keys. Winged keys are another form of currency used to unlock cosmetic items in the vault section of the market place.
Challenges
As players progress through their Quidditch careers, they are given daily, weekly, and career challenges to complete which unlocks additional cosmetic items and characters. Some of these challenges can include playing five PVP matches in one day, the first win of the day, and competing in 5 daily matches.
The weekly targets are a little more difficul and players earn winged key rewards for completing those tasks.
The career challenges require dedication to complete. The career challenges are specific to each individual position on the pitch. For instance, using the focus cam to track the snitch as a seeker or to catch the snitch over 100 times. As a chaser the player needs to complete 100 passes or score 200 goals. As a beater the player needs to knock 10 players off their broom with their bats or bludger 10 opponents. The keeper needs to strike their opponents with five kicks, knock out a seeker with their kick or intercept 30 Quaffles. Each career mastery has several more challenges to complete as well as other challenge groups like dedication and career goals.
One of the easiest career challenge groups to complete is Quidditch 101 where players are rewarded tasks for customizing their character.
Deluxe edition
If you’re lucky enough to be on the PlayStation network, Harry Potter Quidditch Champions is part of the September Free monthly games that is available to download and play for free, so act fast. There is a “Deluxe” version available for $14.99 which gives players 2,000 in game gold, The “house packs” for all 4 Hogwarts houses which include: Hogwarts Travel School uniform, house emblems, and broom stick variants. Otherwise players on other platforms have to pay $39.99.
Market place
The marketplace is the in-game store where players can spend their moonstones, gold, and winged keys earned on cosmetic items like Hogwarts house specific uniforms, broom trails, and house specific hats for their player character. Players can also purchase heroes to use in game from the books like Hermione Granger, the Weasley Twins, Chan Cho, Draco Malfoy, and Cedric Diggory.
I look forward to any DLC, add-ons, or expansions that will hopefully come in the future, because despite the game being a lot of fun, there’s not much you can do as far as spending the gold earned once you reach max level 50. It’d be nice to see more options for brooms, robes, and celebrations as well as a “Professional Quidditch” team options where players can take part by playing on “Professional” Quidditch teams and their stadiums.
Overall, Harry Potter Quidditch champions is a fun and entertaining game. If you’ve ever played sports games, it has the same type of competitive rush, challenging controls, and strategy. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you’re gonna really enjoy playing through some of the iconic locations, customizing your team, hearing the familiar commentary from beloved Harry Potter characters, and living the dream as a Quidditch superstar!
