This is What Fans Want with the Harry Potter Game – Wizards Unite

There were so many people who played Pokémon Go a couple of summers ago.  You can’t blame them as it was a really fun game.  But the popularity of it has dwindled and people are probably longing for something to fill that void.  The company that made Pokémon Go is bringing another game to the world, but this time it’s a Harry Potter themed game.  Will it be as much fun?  The short answer is that it has the potential to be that much fun, and be just as popular because it’s going to be based in augmented reality.  Niantic has raised $200 million in new funding in order to develop the game.

The Harry Potter fans out there are concerned that this game is going to be over before it starts – like Pokémon Go, so they are offering some suggestions to Niantic.

Make it About Learning

Niantic has confirmed that Wizards Unite will let players “explore their real-world neighborhoods”  where they will learn spells over time.  This sounds a lot like how Pokémon Go encouraged its players to get out of their homes and explore the world in order to catch Pokémon.  But Harry Potter fans really want this process to be an actual process.  The reason they want this?  Throughout the Harry Potter series, the students would try and fail to perform the spells that they were being taught.  In order to make this like the series, it would be refreshing for the players to have to practice the spells before they’re able to unlock the content once they’ve mastered it.

Make it Challenging

Another problem with Pokémon Go was the way that you would compete in battles against other human players.  In the beginning, the battling aspect of the game could be better described as frantically tapping on the screen, rather than allowing for the strategy of the original Pokémon games. With its concept of wizard’s duels, Harry Potter will definitely lend itself to players battling against other players.  Fans of Harry Potter hope that the game developers put some serious thought into how to make this both fun and challenging.

Manage the Mischief

One fan is specific in what he thinks the interface should look like.  He suggests that the interface should resemble the Marauders Map, which is depicted in the movie “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”.  The map looks like an ordinary piece of parchment paper until the magic words are spoken, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good”.  Once it’s activated, the map shows the footprints of every person in Hogwarts.  This idea will lend itself to the fact that the video game is based on your smartphone’s location.  This particular fan even thinks that players should be penalized for closing the app without saying the words that turn the map back to parchment, “mischief managed”.

Make it Scary

Last, but not least, fans want it to be scary.  Or at least dark.  Which is kind of how the book series unfolds.  Niantic promises that the new game will let players “team up with others to take down powerful enemies”.  At this stage of development though, they have to be intentionally vague on certain facts.  But this particular statement doesn’t sound that vague.  All in all, what fans want is to make sure that the game is true to the books and/or the movies.  They’re fans, after all, so giving them a game that lets them hold onto their precious story a little while longer is not a bad thing.  It will also likely bring more people to enjoy the books and the movies, so it’s a win-win.