Mobile games aren't always known for being the hallmark for fleshed out character customization and freedom of gameplay, but some have made real progress towards meeting that goal. The nostalgic world of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery endeavors to bring fans of the franchise to Hogwarts as students living out their own journey. Gamers are able to download the game free on mobile, where they can customize a student almost however they want before enrolling them in a house. All of this is very true to the Hogwarts lore, but there is something missing that keeps this game from feeling like a faithful Hogwarts journey.
Players spend seven years battling dark forces and studying to become the best wizards they can be. Anyone who has had to work a part-time job while also in school can tell you that kind of dual-lifestyle stresses you out. It begs the question why, even during seven years of school, the player models for the characters look as young as they did on the day they enrolled. Whatever Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery releases next, it should also consider releasing some form of update to characters over time. Adding slight but noticeable changes to the character models each year could do wonders for storytelling and reflect a player character's growth.
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Each book in the Harry Potter canon takes up around a school year's worth of events in Harry's life, and each one shows a maturing version of the character. In a way, this allowed fans to grow with Harry Potter through the series, maturing and learning lessons as he did. In the movies, this factor was evolved exponentially as Daniel Radcliffe aged through adolescence as Harry, along with his friends and the mentors aging around him. The boy had to go through what he did, and he grew up to become the hero. It would be nice to see that similar theme applied to the characters in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
In the Hogwarts Mystery story, it can take a while to progress through each year given the energy system that drains your bar after a class. Anything that Jam City can do to make the transition between the years feel more drastic would be a huge boost to the appeal to keep playing, and that means aging up the characters. This would add a little more of a unique spin to the dating mechanics, as people's personalities and looks change with their age, altering your opinion of them later on. Permanent romance options seem a lot cooler when the characters and their significant others are affected and aged by the time that they spend together.
Seeing as Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery already has a dedicated fanbase, with characters that the players have grown attached to, it would be weird to have their characters suddenly wake up one day looking seven years older than they had before. That being said, a special event or potion update of Hogwarts Mystery could be a great opportunity for Jam City to introduce characters as slightly more mature versions of themselves. Jam City could even enter players into a new character creation menu at the start of each year, and have them customize their aging character's features how they want.
There are just as many fans who would prefer to not have the characters they've grown attached to change, but change and growing is central to the Harry Potter universe. Even if it is only applied to new characters, it would still give old players a reason to replay with again. Whether Jam City immediately addresses it or not, aging up the characters in their later years at Hogwarts only serves to better benefit Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery's adventure.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is out now for iOS and Android mobile devices.