Harry Potter: Magic Awakened beta test players are disappointed with the game

Players of the NetEase mobile game complained about its repetitive gameplay and card-based dueling, but they like the art

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Players can choose which one of the four houses they want to be assigned to. (Picture: NetEase)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 7:41pm, 8 Jun 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Ever since Harry Potter: Magic Awakened was announced last October, fans have been eagerly awaiting the new game based on the franchise. But a new round of beta testing might dampen some of the early excitement, as many of the players seem disappointed with the game.

“How rigid is the gameplay?” one user said on TapTap, a game review site. “[It] built a grand magic world, but the core gameplay is playing cards with other students in a dark room.”

“I’m disappointed,” another user wrote. “It’s just a card game with a Harry Potter coat.”

To be fair, it was never any secret that Harry Potter: Magic Awakened would be a card game. Chinese developer NetEase made it clear from the beginning that it would mix cards with role-playing elements.

Gameplay videos online show that the game is set in a world after the original series ends. But it looks like the story isn’t very relevant when it comes to actually playing the game: It’s just there to lead players along as they collect cards to be used as spells, according to videos and popular user reviews online. Then they have to play card-based rounds to defeat the monsters they encounter or duel with other players to get coins and level up.

When NetEase announced the mobile game last year, the company said it was jointly developing the game with Warner Bros. Entertainment. The game is being launched under the brand Portkey Games, a Harry Potter-focused gaming label that also made the mobile games Wizards Unite (which was based on Pokémon Go) and Hogwarts Mystery.