Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions

I find that comparing games to one another can be a conflicting process. These days, video games are such a monumental collaborative effort of coding, artwork, sound design, creative vision, and so forth that stacking one up against the other can quickly lose its purpose. However, there has been a trend as of late, a trend that has really come to the forefront this week when Sony and Firewalk put a bullet into the back of the head of Concord, and that trend is that consumers really aren't flocking to new live-service or GAAS games. This isn't a new development as we've seen this in full effect in the past few years with various smaller and less high-profile projects, be it Knockout City, Roller Champions, Rocket Arena, even a few different battle royale projects too like Hyper Scape. The reason I'm bringing this up is because Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is now here, and as much as there are a bunch of reasons to highlight and be excited about this game, it's also already locked in a battle that much better positioned titles have already lost.

Now that might seem like a very negative way to start a review, and it is. But after just two evenings with Quidditch Champions, the warning claxons are already sounding in my head. Yes, I've had fun so far (and I'll explain all about the positive and exciting elements in a moment), but I've also faced issues with finding matches populated with players and, as was the case with XDefiant, I'm already asking the question of what more Quidditch Champions has in store to make me want to keep coming back. So, let me stop beating around the bush and save you all some time and state that while Quidditch Champions is an excellent Harry Potter experience and a pretty fun take on the fantasy sport, I also wouldn't be surprised if come six months time this game finds itself in the same troublesome or conclusive position as the other "fun" titles that I listed above.

But anyway, with this big old elephant now swiftly shuffled out of the room, let's move onto the positive parts about Quidditch Champions. Quidditch has always been a beloved and popular idea but it has never really been offered in a compelling interactive format. Unbroken Studios has well... broken this trend. Without a doubt, this is the best Quidditch experience you can find today. It's built on a solo or 3v3 format where players take on multiple roles in their Quidditch teams. For a solo player, this means you can effortlessly switch between the duties of a Chaser hunting the Quaffle and attempting to score goals and secure points, a Beater designed to use Bludgers and violently knock opposing players off their game or their brooms entirely, a Keeper to defend the three goal posts from opposing Chasers' efforts, or when the Snitch enters the equation, that of the Seeker to hunt and snatch up this iconic and elusive ball. For multiplayer and the 3v3 action, players take on the dual-duties of a Chaser and one of the three other roles at the same time, in a format where you can seamlessly switch between these roles whenever you so need to. For example, you could spend the opening two minutes as a Chaser and then swap to the Seeker when the Snitch arrives, or if goalkeeping duties are your task at hand, jump into the Keeper's shoes when the opposing Chaser makes an attempt at your goal.

While this may seem like a strange decision to have players taking on multiple roles at once, it actually works really well in practice. The roles bounce off one another and the game has been balanced in such a way that the Chaser is the meat on the bones and the other roles are more additional niche extras that can be activated and used when necessary. The one issue I do have with this system is that a Quidditch team is made up of seven players, and because of this, over half of the inactive roles are handled and operated by AI (or six of the seven roles if you're playing solo). As is the case in any sports title, the AI is usually mediocre at the best of times, and because of this, I would have liked to see how 7v7 multiplayer action played out instead. Unfortunately though, Quidditch Champions has one online mode, the 3v3, and there's no deviation from this at all.

As per the broomstick flight mechanics, this is brilliantly and fluidly designed. There's a degree of parity with this game and Hogwarts Legacy, as you can see with the visual and artistic style too, and I bring this up because the Quidditch Champions broomstick flying mechanics are effectively a more responsive and tighter version of the system that Avalanche designed for its single-player title. Despite Quidditch being an omnidirectional sport, you never feel hampered or frustrated by the flying systems, even when chasing a Snitch and having to dip and dive and twist to meet the ball's challenging movement. This logic also applies to the various other roles and their unique elements, like Bludger beating and protecting three goals at once as the Keeper, and also in the tackling and passing mechanics too. You could argue that the game is a little too rudimentary at times, but I think it actually works in favour of the fast-pacing and the easy-to-learn action.

The core structure and design of Quidditch Champions is spot on. It nails all the main elements for Quidditch to feel great in an interactive gaming format, but Unbroken has clearly faced a few issues with bolstering the experience. For some strange reason, as you level up by simply playing the game and earning reputation, you will occasionally earn Skill Points that can be used to unlock new attributes and abilities for the respective four roles. This could be more efficient passing for Chasers, more vicious tackles for Beaters, a faster time to fill up the Snitch bar and grab the ball as a Seeker, or ways to more quickly move between the three goals as a Keeper. It's a system that isn't complex but one that makes you wonder why it needs to be there at all and why it applies to all modes and not just the single-player Campaign section. Essentially, the Skill Point system will ultimately lead to a huge divide between newer and more experienced players, which only will become more apparent when you add upgradable brooms to the equation, allowing some brooms to be faster and more agile than others.

Granted, both of these progression and upgrading suites use purely in-game currency and systems, but it does feel like a very hollow way to introduce progression into a game that doesn't need this kind of progression in the first place. A ranked or a multiplayer leaderboard would be infinitely more interesting and befitting. Before moving on let me add that there are cosmetics to buy using both purely in-game and some premium-styled currency, but these elements strictly impact appearance and have no gameplay effect.

So, Quidditch Champions has a fun interpretation of the fantasy sport, great feeling broomstick movement, and also might I add, a brilliant Wizarding World aesthetic that nails the task at hand with flying colours thanks to upbeat and charming sound design and music and intricate and varied levels that take place all over the world, from humble beginnings at the Weasley's Burrow to the premier Quidditch World Cup tournament. All of these are areas to highlight and become excited about Quidditch Champions, but there's a glowing and ever apparent issue that I can't get past. It's that... that's it. There's nothing else to harp on about.

There's a Campaign mode that features four cups of action, one of which is the tutorial. Each of the others simply see you facing player-versus-AI action either against the Hogwarts Houses, the rival schools in the Triwizard Cup, or representing your country at the World Cup, and that's all there is for the single-player "Career" element. The difficulty options attempt to make things a bit more complex, but they never really achieve the task at hand here as the AI, as mentioned earlier, is never a threat. As for the multiplayer, there's one game mode. The only parts that are left is a practice area and an Exhibition match where you can pit different teams against one another for the fun of it. So, a very limited gameplay offering matched up with pointless and frankly uninteresting progression means that Quidditch Champions has all of its eggs in one basket: pure Quidditch action. After four maybe five hours, believe me, that begins to lose its charm very fast.

It's for this reason that I'm concerned about Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Sure, it's not a hugely pricey game, retailing at around £25, and doesn't have overwhelming monetisation efforts (even if it does have a seasonal structure and a battle pass-type mechanic...) but the lack of content is worrying and desperate at times, and I'm unsure how or even if Unbroken can shake up the formula and introduce something fresh to keep people returning to this game hour-after-hour. It's a fantastic Wizarding World adaptation and a brilliant take on Quidditch, but that's all it is and I can't see a future where in even two weeks time I'm still routinely hopping into Quidditch action here.