First gameplay details for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite have been unveiled, and it’s sounding like a pretty unmissable experience for fans of the magical franchise that probably should’ve stopped a couple of films and one stage play ago.
Still, Wizards Unite does sound cool to be fair. It’s the new augmented reality mobile game from Niantic, the team behind Pokemon GO, and forms part of Portkey Games, the new label from Warner Bros dedicated to creating games based on the Potter franchise.
Presumably Warner Bros are hoping Wizards Unite can do for Harry and friends what Pokemon GO did for Pokemon. By that I mean absolutely dominate the planet and make lots of money.
The official press release tells us we’ll be stepping into a role as a new recruit for the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, “with the purpose of investigating and containing a Calamity that has befallen the wizarding world.”
It’ll be up to us as players to track down Foundables, which are basically creatures, characters, and items from Harry Potter that are showing up where they shouldn’t. Once “caught”, they’re returned to their rightful places in the Wizarding World.
As in Pokemon GO, real world locations will factor as players “discover Inns that replenish their Spell Energy, magical ingredients for brewing special potions, Portkeys that unlock AR portals into iconic wizarding world locations and much more.”
It also sounds like there’ll be a feature that works in the same way as Gyms do in Pokemon GO. Here, they’re called Fortresses. They’ll once again be disguised as real world locations, and players can visit them to accept Wizarding Challenges.
What exactly is a Wizarding Challenge? The press release tells us they’re real-time multiplayer battles against dangerous foes. We can team up with friends to take on higher level threats and unlock all kinds of cool rewards.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is coming to iOS and Android mobile devices in 2019. Pre-registration is now available on Google Play. You can also go more in depth on some of the game’s mechanics via the official website
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.