Harry Potter game by Pokémon GO dev opens pre-registration

Niantic, developer of Pokémon GO, have finally shed some light on their new game,  Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

The game’s website provides a new “first look” at the game. Set in the world of your favourite books/movies/play/more movies, you play a new member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force. A Calamity has occurred, in which various magical beings and artefacts have found their way into the Muggle world, and it’s your job to to find these “Foundables” and return them to their rightful place.

Based on the screenshots provided, gameplay seems to be very similar to Pokémon GO. You explore the real world with your actual human body until your map reveals a “Trace” of a nearby Foundable, and then you cast spells to capture and return them. How magic works is yet to be fully explained, but one of the clips features the player casting the Riddikulus spell on a giant spider* threatening Ron Weasley, implying there might be some more cameos from characters from the franchise. (My fingers are crossed for popular character Ernie Macmillan.)

Other reasons to run around looking at your phone include “Inns” to replenish your “Spell Energy”, collecting ingredients to brew potions, multiplayer battles against NPC foes in “Fortresses”, and unlocking “Portmanteaus” to reveal Portkeys, which function as fully 360-degree representations of magical locations you might recognise. Looks like Harry Potter fans will have a lot of new magical proper nouns to learn, but it’s all in the service of gameplay.

The website also announced that pre-registration for Wizards Unite is now available for Android. iPhone users will have to wait until more information is revealed. Much like the source of the Calamity, the release date still remains a mystery.

If Wizards Unite gains speed like Pokémon GO did, this could be a great way for Harry Potter fans to get out and interact with other people who share their love of this long-running series. Unless you’re not a fan, in which case, get ready to see a lot more nerds out in public wearing striped jumpers.

*Yes, I know it’s a boggart, please don’t @ me.