Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Wed, October 16 2019

Since Niantic forced Ingress players to switch over to the nearly-unplayable monstrosity that is Ingres Prime in September 30th, I have felt a void. I played this game for over four years, and it was beneficial in so many ways.  In an attempt to replace the game that held such a large place in my heart, I decided to download Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which I will refer to as HPWU for brevity in this post.

When the game was released a few months ago, many of my friends signed up. Although the Harry Potter trend somehow skipped over me (I just finished reading the third book for the first time a few weeks ago, and I have no plans to finish the series), many of my friends are Potterheads. And while I am not a huge fan of the franchise in any format, I do like fantasy and AR games.

My first experiences with HPWU weren’t fantastic. It’s a very large game compared to Pokemon Go, which I thought was too large compared to Ingress. There are tons of animations that I’d prefer to skip to save time and battery. Fortunately, you can skip the opening sequence at least.

I spent a few days wishing there was a “lite” version of HPWU only to realize that the default version already is. Rather, there is an option to download additional assets to make the game run more smoothly and to use less data. However, even if I had the app running on my SD card, the assets want to download to my internal memory, and there’s just not enough space. Some sites say you need about 1.3 gigabytes available, but I had that, and it still wasn’t enough room. Like I said, it’s a big game.

Without those assets, I suffer through almost more loading screens than actual play screens.  Initially, this meant I was dawdling as I waited for screens to finally load. I’ve adapted to keep my walks going without pausing my stride. I definitely miss things, but there does seem to be more to interact with than either Ingress or Pokemon Go, so perhaps I can afford to miss those things. I miss being able to everything I wanted to do without breaking my stride as in Ingress, however. My perfect replacement would allow me to do that.

With that said, I’ve gotten used to it. The game is much more involved and arguably interesting than Niantic’s other projects, even if you’re not a big fan of Harry Potter. Some features are comparable to those in Ingress or Pokemon Go (all greenhouses, fortresses, and inns are based on portals, for instance, and there are spell-tracing minigames that remind me a bit of hacking), while other features are brand-new to HPWU.

In fact, there’s so much going on in the game that it’s a bit confusing at first. I am level 12 and am still seeing dialog screens from Harry, Hermione, and other characters who explain to me the importance of certain aspects. I suspect that knowledge of HP lore might help. This game is quite text heavy, which is not only annoying but is actually hard to see on my phone. I prefer smaller screens because of my smaller hands, but it almost seems a requirement to wear my glasses when play HPWU.

Aside from performance issues, the game interface seems a bit crowded, I think mostly because there’s more to do than in Ingress or Pokemon Go. While I don’t want to give a complete guide because you can find that elsewhere (I’ve been using this one), here’s the basic rundown. After you log in, you’ll see your local map. Wizards Unite has the most attractive map of all of Niantic’s AR games in my opinion.

Players click on Traces on the map, which are represented by medallions, to perform spells to release items known as Foundables from Confoundables that are holding them hostage and possibly battles with the chance of winning XP and items, which may be needed for tasks. These items populate the Registry, which is similar to the Pokedox. As players fill the Registry, they earn XP as well as books and pages that are necessary to purchase skills for their skill tree.

Anyone who plays RPGs understands skill trees, and HPWU gives you the choice of three professions: Magizoologist (heals), Auror (does more damage), or Professor (balanced). The skill tree is long and messy. I’ve always worried about making the wrong choices in games and should look up a guide to make sure I’m not shooting myself in the foot. While I initially choose Magizoologist, you can change professions. You’ll just lose your progress.

A second item on the ground are portkeys, which players can collect. They’ll earn keys through leveling that can be used to unlock those keys by walking a certain distance similar to hatching eggs in Pokemon. Once unlocked, the player can “step through” the portal to a different room and collect items, gold and XP.

The maps also contains ingredients that can be used to brew potions that help players complete challenges as well as supplies that players can use to grow specific ingredients in greenhouses, which make up one of the three types of buildings on the screen. The other two builds are Inns at which users can dine to gain energy, which is necessary to perform any battles or traces, and fortresses where players can battle similarly to gyms in Pokemon Go. It’s necessary to visit inns to do much of anything, even though energy doesn’t drain super quickly. In my city, inns are located almost exclusively downtown with most of the buildings in less-populated places being greenhouses. Fortresses are interspersed across the map but less common than either inns or greenhouses.

I don’t find it necessary to ever stop at greenhouses, in part because my inventory is always full. Although you can upgrade, it takes some time to earn the gold to do so. Furthermore, while I live close to downtown, HPWU can still be annoying if I am running low on energy. People who do not have access to many buildings or cannot play close to where inns are clustered will similarly experience frustration. It only makes thematic sense to limit inns in this way, not experiential sense.

With that said, there’s so much to do: collect traces, brew potions, grow and pick ingredients at greenhouses, and battle at fortresses. This is also expanded by the events, which might add Azkaban prisoners to the map that players must defeat. On top of that, there are 7 tasks players can complete every day for bonus gold, potions, ingredients, XP, etc that are always the same. This can be completed in perhaps an hour. I find that it takes longer than it should simply because I spend so much time waiting for different screens to load. Furthermore, the lag means my traces almost always fail on the first try and take longer, so they’re less effective overall.

Finally, there are overall achievements, which work like medals in Ingress/Pokemon Go that players will unlock over time. Special assignments are tasks related to the current event while the Statute of Secrecy tasks follow an overall lore in the game. Challenges and Mysteries, both in the Registry, both refer to lore. Mysteries are triggered by returning specific Foundables while you find challenges mostly at Fortresses. There’s also a special tab of the Registry dedicated to event items, which are only available as long as the event is active. This gives players an incentive to focus on event challenges before the event expires.

Your profile allows for more customization than other games. You can pick titles based on your achievements, show medals, choose your house, upload a picture of yourself and add wizardy filters, and even choose the cosmetic appearance of your wand. Spoiler alert: it really makes no difference. But it’s there should you want to waste a few moments.

I’m level 12 and Wizards Unite has yet to become super redundant. I have yet to experience all traces or find fragments for every item. All of the events are new to me, and I am not sure if they will cycle back through. Because events involve new Registry items, they’re more exciting than events in Pokemon Go. In fact, HPWU seems to be the more interesting game than Pokemon, and like Ingress, it’s more interesting for solo play; although, you can certainly add and play with friends. I’ve also been able to prestige my first Registry page, which means I can collect fragments to fill it in again while gaining more rewards as I do so.

The multiple daily tasks mean that I sign in daily and complete them for bonuses. It’s short enough that I can spend an hour walking to complete them and will find new Foundables and necessary items along the way. Knowing what the tasks are means I can dependably complete them more easily than the random tasks I receive in Pokemon Go from spinning stops. The rewards are known and not generally rare, but I don’t mind this. However, I will almost always walk for an hour every day while I recognize that other people may not. If you have less time to dedicate to the game or want to play more casually, I wonder if it will feel more overwhelming or less rewarding than Pokemon Go.

For me, Harry Potter Wizards Unite is the superior game. Unfortunately, it suffers from inferior performance that could make it much more frustrating. I would also say that the sheer number of Foundables (regular, event, challenges, and mysteries) is overwhelming and confusing. If HPWU were a bit simplified, it might gain more users, especially since so many people have recently quit Ingress. I’ll stick around for a while because it fills that void better than PoGo, but I’m not sure how long.

It might help if I had more friends, so feel free to add me: 242599238747

Tagged: android, app, ar, game, harry potter, mobile games, wizards unite
Categorized: Entertainment, Reviews, Video Games
Commented: No Comments