Hogwarts Legacy update makes controversial change to Unforgivable Curses

Hogwarts Legacy is now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which means we only have the Nintendo Switch launch left to go on 25 July. To coincide with the previous-gen launch, devs at Avalanche released a new update available to all players, but fans aren’t impressed with one change to the game’s Unforgivable Curses.

The main purpose of Hogwarts Legacy’s latest patch is to provide general graphical improvements, plus there’s a brand new mode if you struggle with the game’s spider enemies - and let’s face it, they’re the most terrifying in-game enemy. Walking into a spider den and seeing them all suddenly scurry across the walls sends a shudder straight through me. Now that the update is a few days old though, fans are noticing more subtle changes - including one adjustment to the game’s Unforgivable Curses which hasn’t gone down very well at all.

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

As reported by Gameranx, the change specifically affects PlayStation players as the alteration concerns the PlayStation-exclusive quest ‘The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop’. Reddit user CrimeBeMyJam pointed out that you can no longer use Unforgivable Curses on Cassandra Mason who you fight at the end of this quest. It’s not a majorly hard boss fight, so you should be just fine with the rest of your spells but still, it seems an oddly specific change.

User upupandawaywegoooooo wrote, “But using Crucio on her was SO SATISFYING,” while buymyownflowers added, “What the f**k lol, patching something that wasn’t a problem? Just give us companions.” Carchewlio wrote, “I’m confused why they even did this,” plus Daxoss commented, “I’m not sure I like this. I get the devs thought in hindsight, that letting you one shot bosses was a bad idea, but we’ve committed now and this feels artificially limiting.”

Cassandra Mason does have specific voice lines if you previously used an Unforgivable against her, which makes this change extra baffling. You do fight her with a magical police officer in the nearby vicinity so I suppose lore-wise, it’s not great to Avada Kedavra someone in that specific situation. For you PC and Xbox players, ‘The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop’ has a 12-month PlayStation exclusivity window.