Before I entered the fun world of tech journalism, my mom had immersed me in literature, particularly during my childhood years. Through reading, I was able to travel to different places, and by far one of the most memorable was the magical world of The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you were to ask me if I’m one of those girls still hoping to get their Hogwarts letter, you would get a resounding “yes.” So when I stumbled upon the latest Harry Potter mobile game in the app store, installing it was a no-brainer.
Live like a wizard
In a nutshell, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is an augmented reality (AR) game that puts players in the fantasy world of the Harry Potter books. Co-developed by Niantic and Warner Bros. Games of San Francisco under Portkey Games (a game division dedicated to creating games inspired by J.K. Rowling’s original stories), Wizards Unite requires you to get up and walk around in the real world, but interact with characters, collect magical ingredients, brew potions, and fight dark wizards through augmented reality. It’s pretty similar to Pokémon GO, but instead of catching ‘em all, you get “traces of magic” around your neighborhood.
Set in a post-Deathly Hallows timeline, Potterheads now have the chance to fulfill their dream as wizards and witches. They are tasked by the Ministry of Magic, together with the International Confederation of Wizards, to investigate an unusual phenomenon called The Calamity that threatens to tear down the wall between Muggles and magic. You’ll need to prepare your most comfortable footwear, though. This title will actually motivate you to move around and walk, even if you are a couch potato. Freeing up some space on your phone will also help since it eats up about 200 MB of storage. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite requires an internet connection. You may use mobile data, but we highly recommend to connect to a stable Wi-Fi connection for a smoother and more immersive experience.
Players can also personalize their Ministry ID which serves as the official member badge of the Statute of Secrecy (SOS) Task Force. This includes their avatar, name, title, profession, wizarding achievements, and wand specifications.
Your dictionary to the wizarding world
Getting everything you can out of a game as complex as this one can be tricky, so you have to know some terms before you start. Your main goal as an SOS Task Force officer is to prevent the magic of the Wizarding World from bleeding into the Muggle world, and you do this by finding things called Foundables from the World Map. These are special magical creatures, characters, memories, and items from various timelines of the Wizarding World that you encounter on the map. To gather Foundables, you need to tap the small floating discs with different symbols on the map called Traces. Some Foundables are guarded by various Confoundables that can be defeated by casting a spell, done by tracing the corresponding glyph on your device’s screen. In gathering Foundables successfully, accuracy and speed is the key. Foundables vary in difficulty and type.
Hunting Foundables starts by lining up an AR reticle to lock on to the target. Specific potions boost your performance in either fighting foes in Inns or Confoundables. Foundables, when collected, go directly to Registry (Ministry of Magic’s own record of Foundables that you have returned). Rewards are earned through finding Traces on the map, returning the Foundables, and unlocking Treasure Trunks.
You will see landmarks like Inns (a real-world location for refilling Spell Energy, a primary resource in the game to cast spells), Fortresses (where players can combat with other fellow wizards and complete challenges), and Greenhouses (a breeding place for potion ingredients). Some ingredients can also be collected within distinct biomes. Players can also brew different potions according to their needs during various weather conditions.
Your valuables can be stored in a Vault. Here, you can review the inventory of potions, dark detectors, and other wizard tools of the trade. Its space is usually limited, but you can expand its capacity to accommodate your growing cache of supplies through Diagon Alley. The said in-app market store is where you can buy all your wizardry needs. You can either shop the best deals to get the most of your collected gold, find tools to become a top-notch Task Force member, fill your purse, or get potions as well as indispensable ingredients that you can use in interacting with Confoundables.
Portkey Portmanteaus, meanwhile, are locked, muggle-proof trunks that contain Portkeys which transport you to different locations within the wizarding world.
Once they reach a certain level, players will have to choose three different professions that unlock unique skills and abilities: Auror, Magizoologist, and Professor. Aurors like Harry Potter are trained to defeat Dark Forces; Magizoologists like Newt Scamander are strong against Beasts; while Professors like Filius Flitwick and Minerva McGonagall can duel Curiosities. Players from different professions are encouraged to work together to defeat Wizarding Challenges and unlock rare content.
Recent Updates
At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, Niantic announced the first-ever Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Festival in Indianapolis. Along with this announcement, the Pokémon GO developers also shared that iconic dragons in the Harry Potter franchise, from the Common Welsh Green to Antipodean Opaleye, are on their way to the game. However, it will only be available in certain regions. Players will also soon be able to record their walking distances even without running the app.
Augmented reality games such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite create an entirely different experience. Its little details make it distinct from, but still comfortingly similar to Niantic’s Pokémon GO. The game may receive a lot of criticism due to comparisons to Pokemon Go, but one thing is definitely sure: it offers a more fantastical setting that every aspiring Hogwarts student dreams to experience.
Developers: Niantic Inc., Portkey Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Publisher: Niantic Inc.
Platforms: iOS and Android
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE August 2019 Issue
Words by Jewel Sta. Ana