Hogwarts Legacy players discover “major” castle changes on last gen hardware

Hogwarts Legacy players are showing off the changes Avalanche Software made to the iconic castle to help performance on last-gen platforms.

Warner Bros’ Hogwarts Legacy, developed by Avalanche Software, finally made its way to last-generation consoles following its release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S earlier this year.

Of course, Hogwarts Legacy is a massive game with some impressive graphics on display, so many players were curious to see how the game performed on older hardware like the PS4 and Xbox One.

While performance is stable on last-gen hardware, players are starting to discover how Avalanche Software made it possible — with some fans pointing out some “major” changes made to Hogwarts Castle to help keep things smooth.

Hogwarts Legacy PS4 players show off castle differences

A post on the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit gained traction among the community thanks to a thread titled, “Major Difference between PS4 and PS5 versions of Hogwarts Castle (Same location, different platforms).”

The post included four screenshots that compared two of the same locations on PS5 versus PS4, which showcased a pretty big difference in design.

The area in question is the iconic Suspension Bridge, which connects the Grand Staircase area to the Astronomy Wing. In the PS4 version of the game, the Suspension Bridge is now fully covered and the entrance is much smaller with less light filtering in.

Many fans were surprised that these were the same locations, thanks to the substantial changes made. “Took me a minute before realizing this really was the same location, but they’ve changed the wooden bridge to a connecting corridor so the PS4 doesn’t have to load the outside world when you’re in the castle,” noted one fan.

Many users reached the same conclusion, as the PS4 already has some significantly longer loading times compared to current generation hardware. According to a test by the OP, fast traveling from Grand Central to the Slytherin Common Room took 8 seconds on PS5, while it takes 40 seconds on PS4.

These changes led some to wonder how the Switch version will perform, considering its much weaker hardware even compared to the PS4. The Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy is set to release on July 25, 2023, so fans still have some time before more comparisons begin to pop up.