New Hogwarts Legacy trailer goes hard on dark magic

Hogwarts Legacy dropped a new gameplay trailer at today's Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, and it goes all-in on the dangers and benefits of dark magic. 

"If either of you uses dark magic, I will notify the headmaster immediately," an angry professor tells two students who use dark magic immediately. "Unforgivable curses are so named for a reason," he adds, growling through a graying beard. Amusingly, our rebellious hero replies: "A spell that can save your life shouldn't be unforgivable." 

"None of us will be able to avoid dark magic forever," the students chip in as the discussion moves onto the iconic Crucio curse. It turns out that stick-in-the-mud professor may have had a point, because whatever dark magic these students are messing with, it's apparently tied to giant spiders, undead legions, and a downright evil-looking door.

"Should you choose to befriend Slytherin student Sebastian Sallow, you will be faced with the decision to embrace or reject the Dark Arts as you uncover his family’s mystery through his companion quest line," the trailer description adds. 

The trailer closes with a blurb for pre-ordering the digital deluxe edition of the game. This gets you a set of cosmetics including a fancy hat, 72-hour early access to Hogwarts Legacy, and an adorable onyx hippogriff mount. I've only known the onyx hippogriff mount for 11 minutes, but I would cast dark magic on its behalf without hesitation. This lines up with the contents of the game's collector's edition, which was recently leaked online. 

Following a recent delay, Hogwarts Legacy will now launch on February 10, 2023 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC, with a Switch version to follow. Of course, with that 72-hour early access, the release date is now technically February 7.