Hogwarts Legacy 8K RTX graphics update is spellbindingly beautiful

Hogwarts Legacy is a game that undeniably lays some solid foundations. That being said, when a sequel is inevitably announced, there are a variety of areas that fans are hoping to see improved.

Many have hailed Hogwarts castle itself as their favourite video game location of all time, but the rest of the game’s open-world leaves much to be desired. It’s far too obsessed with caves and ruins. In a sequel, fans are hoping to see a wider array of locations used, a companion and morality system introduced, and more varied side activities. Given the commercial success of the game, I’d be shocked if a sequel or DLC expansion wasn't announced. We do have the Nintendo Switch release looming in November so perhaps devs are planning on getting that out of the way first. In the meantime though, fans are testing the upper limits of Hogwarts Legacy’s graphical capabilities - and it looks stunning with this 8K RTX update.

Enjoy a tour of Hogwarts’ four house common rooms below.

YouTube channel Digital Dreams is behind the graphics showcase. They posted a video showing what Hogwarts Legacy looks like on an RTX 4090 with DLSS 3 and RTX ON. There’s a noticeable difference. You can see reflections in the polished marble floors of Hogwarts Castle, plus the ray tracing as the light shines through the castle’s windows is much more polished. Take a look below.

Later in the video, the player journeys to the Forbidden Forest which has a much deeper contrast in its shadows and pockets of light. Towards the end of the showcase, we see the player gliding across the map atop a Hippogriff. The trees and horizon lines look much sharper. It’s a nice taste of what we could see in a possible sequel.

Hogwarts Legacy was made in Unreal Engine 4 so it stands to reason that a sequel would move on to Unreal Engine 5.