Hogwarts Legacy player notices major distinction between PS4 and PS5 open world environments
Hogwarts Legacy has now been made available on PS4 and Xbox One, leaving only Nintendo Switch to come on July 25.
Today will mark one week since the previous-gen release was completed; players were pleased with its performance initially but some have noticed major adjustments made to Hogwarts itself.
Hogwarts Legacy is not without flaws. Fans were initially disappointed at its lack of a companion system and inability to play Quidditch; however, many players pointed to Hogwarts itself as their favorite video game location of all time; many highlighted its immense success despite these drawbacks, hailing it as their favorite location overall! Many also speculated how well older consoles would handle such vast buildings filled with so many corners to explore; though initially surprised at its performance many later learned major concessions had to be made to achieve such great performance levels; many thought performance-wise they could only achieve such greatness but now discover major concessions had to be made for compatibility reasons which allowed this game’s grand success; many also highlighted its success due to Hogwarts itself being its vastness, seemingly limitless potential, being its star attraction!
Reddit user Eudon pointed out how simplified Hogwarts on PlayStation 4 (presumably Xbox One also is the same) can be at times. He posted four screenshots comparing one location from each version; at first glance, it may seem that these locations represent entirely separate locales, yet that’s far from being the case!
On PS5, we see a large archway leading to an exterior bridge, while in the PS4 version, it leads to an interior wooden-clad bridge instead. In both screenshots, we then position ourselves upon this exterior bridge that’s flanked by lush vegetation. However, they differ significantly in that the PS5 archway leads directly onto an external bridge while PS4 archways tend to be much smaller and plainer; both versions lead into something similar but with different ends: PS5 archways lead into exterior bridges but instead, lead inward from walled-in wooden-clad bridges with views across Great Lake.
Effectively, this change should make running the game on PS4 simpler as an expansive outdoor environment won’t need to be loaded every time a player goes from one section of the castle to another. Developers believe they made an effective call here while some PS5 users feel it is regrettable that not everyone gets to enjoy all aspects of Castle Keep.
Tek33 posted, “Man, I love getting on a bridge to hop my broom and leave. This would drive me nuts!” Others pointed out how many doors require button prompts in previous gen versions in order to open them; some players reported waiting up to two minutes when venturing outside Hogwarts before being able to load an exterior map image when leaving Hogwarts; I do wonder how well the game runs on Switch?
