The Creepiest Things We Found In Hogwarts Legacy
The "Harry Potter" universe takes fans to a world much like our own, albeit one that is secretly filled with magical abilities, fantastical creatures, and great adventures. With the release of "Hogwarts Legacy," players have been able to explore the past of this world as an original character. The game offers an opportunity to enroll at Hogwarts, interact with new characters, and grow as a young wizard. But as whimsical and fun as the Wizarding World can be, the franchise is home to plenty of frightening and creepy elements.
"Hogwarts Legacy" takes full advantage of these elements to help mix up its content and give players unique experiences throughout their playthrough. Whether it is a massive spider taking up the screen or a more subtle explanation of a horrible condition only possible in a magical universe, there is something in "Hogwarts Legacy" to scare everyone. Here are just a few of the creepiest things we noticed in "Hogwarts Legacy."
The Hand
One section of Hogwarts that is shrouded in mystery at the start of "Hogwarts Legacy" is the restricted section of the library. This forbidden area holds an immense amount of dangerous knowledge that only the most trusted wizards and witches are permitted to access. This makes it all the more exciting when players are given the opportunity to visit it themselves.
In one corner of the restricted section, players can also find a fun but creepy detail that could also be a fun reference. While searching the area players can find a small chest on top of a table beneath a creepy animated painting of a woman. The woman is unsettling enough on her own, but the chest is also propped open by a severed hand that constantly taps the front of it. The exact nature of the hand makes it all the more creepy to find, but it could also be a reference to Thing from "The Addams Family," but that doesn't make it less unsettling.
Minding Your Own Business
When "Hogwarts Legacy" was released, it came with a PlayStation-exclusive side quest called "Minding Your Own Business." The side quest is relatively short, but offers one of the most frightening experiences found in the game. It revolves around the player going through a haunted version of the store Hogsmeade. Players interact with mannequins throughout the quest to solve puzzles and continue advancing through the atmospheric store. Eventually, players come to a point where the quest crescendos into a very frightening sequence.
The section feels more akin to "Layers of Fear" than "Harry Potter," with players running through rooms that constantly change and shift around them. They are ambushed by mannequins, hear strange sounds all around them, and eventually are even attacked by a strange creature that falls on them in a doorway. It is a shocking jump scare and is then followed up by the player being in absolute darkness and having to deactivate their lighting spell to continue. After doing so, they can recast the spell only to find themselves surrounded by a crowd of ominous mannequins that serve as a great final scare for the entire creepy experience.
Cursed Tomb Treasure
Another frightening side quest in "Hogwarts Legacy" is "Cursed Tomb Treasure." It starts off with the player getting a treasure map for the crypt, but once they enter it quickly turns from a fun treasure hunt to something much more sinister. What really makes going through the tomb so scary are all of the giant spiders living within it. They attack the player as a giant horde, screaming whenever they are hit by a spell or take damage. It makes them even more creepy to deal with in the stifling darkness of the area.
Later on in the quest players also have to fight numerous creatures known as Infernius. They are effectively magical zombies that take on the appearance of scorched human skeletons. When players find them they rise out of the ground before shambling toward them menacingly. They are especially creepy when multiple are on the screen at a time, as they circle the player and moan. They also are very hardy, allowing them to imposingly advance even while burning from the player's spells.
Niamh Fitzgerlad's Trial
During the main quest line of "Hogwarts Legacy" players have to tackle different trials given to them by important NPCs. Each trial has its own theme, mechanics, and plot elements, but the trial given by Niamh Fitzgerald really stands out from its peers. This is largely because of its incredible hand-drawn art style, but also because of how creepy it turns toward the end. There is an incredible sequence during the quest where colossal skeletons larger than buildings appear and search for the player from around the map, forcing them to adopt stealth.
Then, crawling around their hands and trying to avoid being noticed at all only adds to the tension and scares they bring to the series. They are unlike anything else in the entire game and leave a massive impact on the player when the sequence is all said and done, as long as they have the bravery to get through the quest at all.
In the Shadow of Time
"In the Shadow of Time" is one of the best side quests in "Hogwarts Legacy," but is also one of its most unsettling. It follows the Slytherin student Sebastian during his quest to save his sister that suffers from a chronic illness. His desperate search for a way to save her from disease — and himself from grief — eventually drives him toward using the dark arts. While the areas that this quest takes players to are plenty unsettling in their own right, with some incredible atmosphere, Sebastian's moral fall is what really delivers the horror.
It is almost impossible to not feel sorry for Sebastian. He is a scared teenager struggling with the incredible weight of watching his sister die and his family fall apart. His desperation to save his sister is perfectly understandable, which makes his eventual use of the dark arts hit all the harder. By the time he starts going too far the majority of players feel for him and want to do everything they can to help, only to see him be punished. Players have to watch as Sebastian begins to lose himself in the pursuit, eventually going so far as to even lose his entire family. It stands as a frightening reminder that even the best intentions can lead good people to do terrible things.
Absconder
There are a ton of spiders sprinkled throughout "Hogwarts Legacy," but the absolute most terrifying one is the Absconder. It is a massive spider covered with thorny spikes that players have to face at the end of the side quest "Absconder Encounter." The fight should only be attempted by high level characters, but even then it takes a lot of skill to complete. Throughout the quest, the Absconder can be glimpsed scuttling by the player too fast to be seen. It all builds up to the terrifying beast with red eyes that has to be faced in its web-covered nest.
Even if the player isn't normally bothered by spiders, the boss' nature throughout the fight helps sell just how frightening it is. It quickly rushes the player down, forcing them to play defensively to dodge its attacks and lunges. This makes the start of the fight really stressful, while the boss summoning smaller spiders throughout the encounter really makes the player feel like they are in a desperate situation later on.
The Forbidden Forest at night
The Forbidden Forest is an iconic area featured throughout the "Harry Potter" series, thanks to its mystique and dangerous atmosphere. This makes exploring it in "Hogwarts Legacy" extremely exciting for fans of the franchise. It holds tons of details to find while freely exploring it, but players that choose to walk around the area during nighttime will be treated to what really makes it special.
It is no surprise that the forest is extremely dark at night, but the game does an excellent job of building its atmosphere to make it impactful. Every corner feels dangerous, the quiet soundtrack highlights just how alone and vulnerable the player is, and the strange scenes that players can find while exploring make them feel like a trespassing outsider. There is not much that happens in the Forbidden Forest at night that is horror-centric within itself, but the overall tone and feeling of the area make it an undeniably creepy experience.
The Black Lake Kraken
The Black Lake region of "Hogwarts Legacy" was always creepy, thanks to its foggy weather and unsettling merpeople. It only gets more frightening when players witness a scene revealing that the lake is home to a gargantuan kraken. There are hints players can find about the kraken before they see it, such as cave drawings, but seeing the real thing is still shocking. It can appear at various times, like when the player is standing on a beach or flying over Black Lake on their broom.
Regardless of where the player is when the scene starts, it begins with a loud moan to grab their attention. The kraken's two largest tentacles then tower out of the water to wriggle for a while before other thick tentacles appear out of the water around them. The kraken doesn't do much in the end, but its sheer scope in contrast to the player's character is effectively unnerving. Knowing that such an imposingly large beast lives just under the still waters of the Black Lake makes being in the area much creepier, and one can always imagine those massive tentacles coming out of the water yet again.
Azkaban
Another iconic location in the "Harry Potter" universe is the maximum security prison of Azkaban. It is a dark and horrifying place where the most dangerous and violent wizards and witches are imprisoned under the terrifying watch of the spectral creatures known as dementors. With that in mind, it is no surprise that visiting it in "Hogwarts Legacy" is a downright frightening sequence.
In the quest, players have to walk down a long hallway lined with cells on both sides. As they go down, inmates yell out at them, maniacally laugh, whisper nonsense, or even roll around on the ground in hysteria. The scale of the prison makes the player feel extremely small and vulnerable, while the inmates on both sides of them really sell the innate danger that permeates Azkaban. Then, when the player reaches an inmate they traveled to the prison to talk to with a professor, the inmate lunges out and slashes the professor's neck, forcing them to teleport out.
The player doesn't spend a ton of time in Azkaban, but that doesn't prevent it from leaving a massive impact on them. The sequence is so unsettling and pervasively creepy that it feels bigger than it actually is.
Isidora Absorbs Emotions
At the center of the narrative in "Hogwarts Legacy" is an ancient form of magic that has been hidden from most of the wizarding world to save it from being abused. The player's character is one of the few wizards that have an innate ability to access this hidden form of magic, but another character that can is the NPC Isidora. While the player's character uses ancient magic to generally improve their magical abilities, Isidora uses it for a unique technique that allows her to consume the pain in others.
However, this process carries with it the side effect of removing all of their emotions as well. Players watch one of the first times that Isidora performed the spell in a cutscene, and it is absolutely chilling. Watching Isidora strip somebody that needs the help of their emotions, only to then breathe that pain in to gain power from them is really creepy. The scene only gets more impactful when the player remembers that it is confirmed that Isidora has done the procedure on children at Hogwarts in the past as well.
Vanishing Sickness
While exploring the world of "Hogwarts Legacy" players can find various collectibles and journal entries that help flesh out the game's world. One of these can be found in the hospital ward of Hogwarts, however, that is just terrifying. Called "Vanishing Sickness," the note tells the story of a young witch that became afflicted with the titular condition when teleporting. The condition sees part of the individual's body disappearing, either temporarily or permanently.
In the case of the note's subject, a student named Tasmina McLaggen, vanishing sickness caused her entire head to disappear. This left her alive but completely unable to sense anything. She was left deaf and blind with no way of communicating with others or understanding anything around her. The concept of being left in such a state is absolutely terrifying, especially when it could potentially be permanent. Luckily it was only temporary for Tasmina and she was able to eventually return to her classes at Hogwarts, but the concept of the note is still horrifying to imagine.
Tangled Web
Another side quest centered around massive spiders in "Hogwarts Legacy" is called "Tangled Web." The quest sends players into a house that has been completely invaded by more massive spiders. The player eventually discovers a sprawling tunnel system of webs and spider nests beneath the house. The sheer scale of the spider structure is staggering as the player takes turn after turn only to find the massive webbed hallways stretching on.
The most unsettling part of the side quest though is the bodies players find wrapped up in webs throughout the basement tunnels. Most of them are clearly human-shaped, adding a very morbid flavor to the entire location. To make matters worse, some of the captured people will squirm and try to speak or call for help. Players can use a fire spell to burn the webs and save them, but being surrounded by captured humans that the spiders are planning on eating is creepy regardless.