The Harry Potter IP has been through an increasingly turbulent time in recent years. That said, the characters and settings remain iconic, and despite the controversy, this gem of a board game which was originally released in 2016 still stands the test of time today.
Naturally, pre-existing Potter fans will still get more of a kick out of a game which is specifically written in the world of Hogwarts. The characters, settings, spells, and villains are all there, so understanding the lore will add an extra layer of enjoyment for those already fluent in the Potterverse. However, it is by no means a requirement in order to play, so for those who are not fans of the IP or simply don’t know anything about it, you can still have a lot of fun with this very well-constructed game.
Essentially, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle is a deckbuilding game where you begin with very simple spells. If you’re playing the campaign, you start in the first year and use basic cards and cheap upgrades to defeat the easiest enemies. Throughout the campaign as you advance each year, you’ll gain access to better allies, stronger spells, and face more dastardly villains in line with the progression of the books. In a single game, you choose which year you’re playing out - or, if you’ve completed the campaign and unlocked all the content, you can mix them all up together - and you must defeat all the villains (and, if you’re in year 7, Horcruxes), before they take over the Locations you are trying to defend. If you lose all of your Locations, you lose.
The game is very well-structured and feels challenging without being overwhelming. Some villains are exceptionally hard to defeat, such as the terrifying Bellatrix Lestrange, while others like Dolores Umbridge are nothing more than a minor nuisance, but the fact that you face three villains at the same time allows you to manipulate which ones appear and ensure that you’re always focusing fire on the most difficult of the three, so that you’re not handling too many of the worst villains all at once. Additionally, each hero has different abilities, so if you play a game with Harry and Neville, it will feel very different to playing a game with Ron and Hermione, even if you play with the same villain setup.
Another great feature is the balance when there are two, three, or four players. Even with the same amount of villains and Locations, adding extra characters doesn’t make the game feel that much easier, because many of the villains’ abilities are AoE or apply only to the active player, and waiting that much longer for your turn can also have detrimental effects, so it makes each individual feel weaker, balancing out the strength of the team’s numbers.
Of course, the game isn’t perfect. There is a ‘snowball’ element; if you lose a Location early due to bad luck in the shop or getting some rough villains, the subsequent Locations usually require you to suffer through more Dark Arts events on the following turns, meaning that the game can very quickly spiral out of control and feel impossible to win if you lose ground at the start. Conversely, if you’re able to hold the initial Location through to the halfway point, the game can feel quite easy by the end, like you’re just going through the steps rather than actually being challenged. There are additional rules in the book which suggest how to increase or decrease the difficulty, but since they are all centered around how much Dark influence is on the Location at the start, it does little to solve this issue; it can feel very all-or-nothing.
There is also the matter of the shop. Although there’s mitigation in some sense (you can pay a coin to refresh an item in the shop if needed), there is very much an element of luck in getting the right cards early on to augment your basic deck. For example, the Horcruxes require you to roll the House dice (a fun mechanic which gives everyone additional random resources), but if you don’t find any of these cards early on, you can end up in a situation where you are unable to defeat any Horcruxes until halfway through the game, or relying on very few cards to get the rolls you need, which can slow things down - especially since all the Horcruxes need to be gone before you can even begin to damage Voldemort.
With that said, though, these are small gripes in the context of a fun and innovative game. The strategy is interesting, the heroes feel engaging and different to each other, and you can have a great time whether you prefer drawing cards, dealing damage, or simply generating tons of cash and buying everything in sight. There’s something for all playstyles and every game is different. It’s also not too difficult to understand for a first-time card game player, so even if someone is new to the genre, they can participate and learn as they play without needing a long explanation or a full understanding of card game mechanics.
Finally, and worth mentioning, the actual components are excellent. In addition to the full cardboard player mats with insets for your hero character, class background, and draw and discard piles, the health, damage, and coin tokens are all also good quality cardboard and easy to identify and maneuver. The dark influence tokens to be placed on the Location are spooky metal skulls with a great feel to them. The card stock is good quality, although the ink has started to fade a little after multiple replays, and due to the amount of shuffling, sleeves are definitely recommended to avoid damaging the edges. The House dice are neatly coloured and labelled to differentiate them from each other, and the box comes with some fantastic little insets designed to keep everything in order and easy to access.
Overall, I’d give this game an 85/100. Despite the controversial IP, and even if you know nothing about the world of Harry Potter, I would recommend picking this game up and giving it a try if you’re a fan of intuitive and strategic deckbuilding.
