Hogwarts Legacy datamine reveals scrapped morality and “House Points” system

A Hogwarts Legacy datamine uncovered evidence that showed that developer Avalanche Software may have planned to include a morality system in the final version.

Before Hogwarts Legacy was released, fans were curious as to whether or not the game’s Unforgivable Curses would have repercussions for players who chose to use them.

Avalanche Software would later go on to confirm that players could freely use Unforgivable Curses for role-play reasons, should fans want to turn their character into a dark witch or wizard.

However, a datamine has revealed that Hogwarts Legacy nearly had a morality and reputation system surrounding House Points, a key part of the movies and novels the title is based on. However, this system didn’t make it into the final game.

Hogwarts Legacy nearly had a morality system

A YouTube video posted by GrandTheftDiamond uncovered this datamined House Points and morality system on April 4, 2023.

They discovered an entirely unused metric to track House Points in the game’s files, which would track what actions would make players gain and lose house points.

For those who don’t know, House Points in the Harry Potter universe are points awarded or deducted from students at Hogwarts when they achieve something or break rules respectively. House Points contribute to the year-long competition for the Hogwarts House Cup between the four Houses.

According to the datamine, this House Points system would essentially function as a morality system, where banned or unethical spells like the Confrigo curse or the three Unforgivable Curses would deduct House Points with each use.

On the other side of things, actions like attending class, studying, and intervening in bullying would award players House Points.

Additionally, choosing positive and negative dialogue options would have awarded or deducted House Points, though they have no direct impact in the final game — aside from role-play purposes.

It seems Avalanche Software decided to scrap this morality and reputation system in favor of allowing players more freedom in the final game, as constantly having to manage one’s morality may have been a bit too restricting for some.