It’s no secret that Hogwarts Legacy is wonderful and has conquered Harry Potter fans and non-fans alike. Not even the controversies have prevented the video game from being today, February 24, the seventh most played on Steam below the recent craze called Sons of the Forest and from being among the most viewed games on Twitch during its launch.
You know it’s magnificent, but I’m sure you don’t know how magnificent. Hogwarts Legacy It has an exclusive secondary mission for PlayStation users (PS5 and PS5). And damn the time that mission stopped being accessible for PC and Xbox consoles! It is one of the best in the game.
Own Business, Hogwarts Legacy’s tribute to Batman Arkham
Warner Bros. Games is behind Avalanche Software and Hogwarts Legacy. He knew that it was quite likely that he would drop his hand on the magical world to release some or other win to Batman Arkham… but I didn’t expect it to be so sublime.
The “Own Business” mission, exclusive to PlayStation, is that huge tribute to Batman Arkham. I have already told you how to access it. However, I took the trouble to record the entire mission to show it to all PC users and Xbox consoles who can’t enjoy it. PlayStation puts the cry in the sky for a possible exclusivity of Call of Duty while catching exclusivities.
And why do I say that it is a tribute to Batman Arkham? Because Hogwarts Legacy stops being a magical and colorful action game and becomes a video game dark, tense and with some jumpscare. All very cloudy, seriously.
A crazy poltergeist, a spooky mansion, terrifying mannequins and a perfect set design
It is impossible not to draw certain similarities between Batman Arkham and Hogwarts Legacy’s Own Business mission. We are deceived and we are trapped in a very old trunk with a poltergeist well dressed, completely crazy, lover of chaos and who proposes to play his macabre game to reach an agreement. He doesn’t stop making jokes and laughing at you. It is obvious that this is a representation of The Joker.
“History always has two sides, you know? Unfortunately for you, here both sides are mine” https://www.iGamesNews.com/”I’m sick of not having anyone to play with.”
The mission takes us to a abandoned mansion. It is a space that is not in reality and that does not always respond to the laws that we know. The first thing we see is the use of mannequins to scare us and who are depicted as upset and scared people. Batman Arkham not only uses mannequins and statues on several occasions, it also has an extremely similar setting: Arkham Asylum in Batman Arkham Asylum, a place full of deranged and scared people.
Batman Arkham Knight / Hogwarts Legacy
There are winks everywhere. Another early indication of this relationship is the flock of bats within minutes of entering this terrifying mansion. There are several scenes exactly the same in Batman Arkham. Not to mention the obvious: Batman’s symbol is a bat. The protagonist has a phrase that says: “Bats, nice!“
Bats at Hogwarts Legacy
When you go a little further, you can see two other references to mythical settings of Batman Arkham Asylum: the asylum library
Hogwarts Legacy / Batman Arkham Asylum
Hogwarts Legacy / Batman Arkham Asylum
And the thing with the scenarios does not end here. The first or secondary encounters against the boss take place in arenas that are very characteristic of the Batman Arkham saga: fight against Poison Ivy and The improved Joker in Asylum. Are theater type scenarios (as I usually call them) because you have a rectangle to move (left and right) and they are confrontations based on dodging blows and attacking at specific moments to hit.
Hogwarts Legacy / Batman Arkham Asylum
The final battle also bears similarities to the final battles against The Joker from Batman Arkham Asylum and City. Both scenarios are large, open and circular. And because? Because we fight improved versions of Joker: the first is a doped Joker and the second is a mutated Joker.
Hogwarts Legacy / Batman Arkham City (Joker Mutado)
And you will wonder: And how does the final boss of the Hogwarts Legacy mission mutate? raise a wood monster with tables, chairs, barrels and other objects. The mechanics of the fight is the same as in Batman Arkham: dodge, block and counterattack while the monster instigates us with melee attacks and some throwing. If you manage to hit him with an item, you can stun him.
Hogwarts Legacy / Batman Arkham Asylum (Joker dopado)
The wonderful set design of Batman Arkham
The Batman Arkham franchise is amazing in many ways and the stage design It is one of them. Hogwarts Legacy He’s not far behind either, but in the Own Business mission he does unique things, things that he doesn’t repeat at any other time in the game… and I wish he did.
- use the light and darkness to move the mannequins and change the scenes. The Lumos spell turns us off so that when we turn it on we see everything changed. It is not an automatic light event, we reveal the change by turning on the light.
- Use the camera to change the scenery: It makes us head towards a wall and when we turn around, the scenery has completely changed. We can see this in all Batman Arkham. I leave you the example of the reference to the Killing Joke in Batman Arkham Knight.
- The corridors straight or in an infinite circle They are not exclusive to Batman Arkham, but they are a distinctive brand. Every game in the franchise has one. The most famous is the hallway in Batman Arkham Asylum when The Scarecrow reminds Batman of the alley where his parents died. Other games like The Evil Within make use of this illusionary technique.
- The stage design is so good that the damn poltergeist does the shit you see in the following image. While Batman Arkham does have some similar one-offs, it’s more akin to Psychomantis’ antics in Metal Gear Solid and the change of controls of the final fight in Beyond Good & Evil.
- He sound as you walk through the settings it’s pure madhouse and closer to a psychological horror game like The Evil Within than to Batman Arkham, but it also has some very murky moments.
- Another detail that I loved about the scene design is that there are some puzzles that involve dubbed scenarios, inverted and other very rare magical moves.
These are some references and similarities that I have taken from the 60 minutes that the mission lasts. It doesn’t matter if you are a fan of Batman Arkham or not. If you can’t and/or don’t plan to play it, I recommend you take a look in the video that I shared with you at the beginning of this publication. You won’t regret it… especially if you’re a fan of the Batman saga.
Before concluding, I want to clarify something: this is a personal appreciation. I don’t know for sure if the developers have taken the Batman Arkham franchise as inspiration to develop the mission Own Business of Hogwarts Legacy… although I wouldn’t be surprised if they admitted it either. There are too many similarities and references to get me off this boat.
In any case, I want to know your opinion: what do you think of the mission? Does it seem as fantastic to you as it does to me? Do you think it is a reference to the Batman Arkham saga? I read you in comments!
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