Hogwarts Legacy isn’t just set within the titular magical school. The game offers an expansive slice of the Scottish Highlands to explore beyond the walls, together with various villages and hamlets (most of which are hiding magical secrets). But by far the most fully featured secondary location is the nearby town of Hogsmeade.
Hogsmeade is the only all-wizarding village in Britain and allows Hogwarts students a place to relax outside the school. In Hogwarts Legacy, it fulfills much the same function, though is crammed full of useful stores, cool NPCs and a bunch of hidden secrets.
Very early in the game, you’ll be sent to Hogsmeade to collect some supplies, so here’s your guide to getting the most of out of your visit.
Let’s spend some galleons
Your first stop should be Ollivander’s wand shop, where you’ll get to live out your own Harry Potter and the Sorceror‘s stone scene as you’re given your wand. We have a full wand customization guide here, though it’s worth underlining that your choices on your first visit are locked in for your character. However, as your wand is a cosmetic rather than gameplay item, you shouldn’t worry that you’re missing out on anything.
One of the most important is Tomes and Scrolls, where you can pick up stations for the Room of Requirements that let you grow plants, brew potions, and wrangle your collection of magical beasties. These stations each have upgrades, for example, letting you pot more plants, brew multiple potions simultaneously, or provide your pets with fun toys to keep them amused.
You will also need to visit The Magic Neep early on. Herbology isn’t exactly the most flashy class, but having a collection of magical plants to use for potions and items is key to success. You should keep a stock of Fluxweed, Knotgrass, Mallowsweet and Shrivelfig seeds at all times to keep your pots full. Beyond that, you’ll soon need as many healing Wiggenweld potions as you can, so be sure to stock up on Dittany Leaves. It’s also smart to buy fertiliser here to increase the yield from each pot.
J. Pippin’s Potions will let you fulfil Professor Sharp’s assignments and serves up the recipes for the Eduras, Focus, Invisibility, Maxima, and Thunderbrew potions. These affect your offense and defense in battle and your spell cooldowns (‘Invisibility’ does what you’d expect). You can also buy the ingredients to make these here, though many can also be found out in the world if you want to save money.
Sadly, there is no Quidditch in the game (maybe it’ll come as a DLC), though Spintwitches Sporting Needs is still open and sells all you need in the world of flying brooms. Here you can buy the Ember Dash, Hogwarts House, Moon Trimmer, Wind Whip, and Yew Weaver brooms, together with some pricey upgrades. To max out your broom, you’ll need a whopping 12,500 galleons, so keep an eye on your spending elsewhere.
Gladrags Wizardwear will sell gear for you to wear, with their collection changing as you progress through the game. However, in our experience, you’ll discover many new items of clothing throughout your adventure, so maybe avoid this until you’ve unlocked almost everything else.
Later in the game you’ll begin to delve into the world of Fantastic Beasts and Brood and Peck has those needs covered. Here, you buy items to upgrade your gear and sell off any magical creatures you no longer have a need for (we’re sure they’re going to a good home). It’s worth mentioning that this shop will be shut when you first visit Hogsmeade and only opens after the quest ‘The Elf, the Nab-sack, and the Loom.’
Dogweed and Deathcap sell the more aggressive Wizarding World plant life, letting you buy seed packets for Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Mandrake Seed, and Venomous Tentacula. We haven’t needed to rely on these items too much in combat, though throwing a furious cabbage at your enemies is undeniably fun.
Finally, there’s Madam Snelling’s Tress Emporium, where for a small fee you can edit your character’s appearance. Snelling can change your hairstyle and color, eyebrow style and color, add freckles and moles, alter your complexion and give you some fresh facial scars (uh, thanks Madam Snelling). Sadly your face and body type can’t be changed here, so you’re stuck with what you chose at the start of the game.
Other places of interest
The main quest will soon take you to The Three Broomsticks, where you’ll meet the affable (but controversial) Sirona Ryan. Other places you should absolutely visit include Zonko’s Joke Shop, the Hog’s Head, Bingle & Blatch, Flutes & Lutes, Steepley & Sons, and Honeydukes. These aren’t shops, though most will contain a collectable item or Field Guide Page to add to your collection. Flutes & Lutes and Honeydukes also contain a Legendary Chest, so we’d prioritize those.
Setting up shop
Sadly for Xbox and PC gamers, there’s a big part of Hogsmeade that’s currently exclusive to PlayStation 5 (and maybe PlayStation 4 when that version releases). The ‘Haunted Hogsmeade’ mission ‘Minding Your Own Business’ will become available in the winter and begins by finding Penny and House Elf on the east side of town. She’ll offer you the chance of running your very own store and will send you over to Cassandra Moon to purchase it (though this doesn’t actually require you to spend any gold).
Getting the shop in working order requires you to clear a fairly extensive but cool dungeon filled with killer mannequins. For a console-exclusive bonus, this dungeon is surprisingly lengthy and ends with a fun boss battle.
Once that’s complete, you can name your shop and then get the perk of being able to sell your unwanted gear for 10% more than anywhere else — which is perhaps the best way to quickly make the necessary cash for those hefty broom upgrades.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for players on other consoles. ‘Haunted Hogsmeade’ will become available on Xbox and PC in one year’s time on February 10, 2024. Though let’s face it, locking off such a cool part of the village for a full year isn’t very nice.
More to be found
Explaining much more about what happens in Hogsmeade over the course of Hogwarts Legacy would spoil the story, though you’ll repeatedly return to the town and see it change as the seasons pass. Several key story missions will take place in the town, so we urge you to familiarize yourself with its winding streets and dark alleys. Just about every obscure corner has something fun in it, so you won’t walk away empty-handed.
Hogwarts Legacy is released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC today, with PS4 and Xbox One releases on April 4, and the Nintendo Switch on July 25.