Harry Potter: Wizards Unite: Difference between revisions

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|Constance Pickering}}
|Constance Pickering}}


''[[Harry Potter: Wizards Unite]]'' is an [[Augmented Reality Game]] for [[iOS]] and [[Android Games|Android]] devices set in the Wizarding World of ''[[Harry Potter]]'', created by [[Niantic]], in collaboration with WB Games and Portkey Games. Like its predecessor from the same company, ''[[Pokémon Go]]'', it combines GPS location and a game world map along with the ability to set game events against a background image taken with the camera in the player's handheld device to provide an immersive experience overlaid on the real world.
''[[Harry Potter: Wizards Unite]]'' was an [[Augmented Reality Game]] for [[iOS]] and [[Android Games|Android]] devices set in the Wizarding World of ''[[Harry Potter]]'', created by [[Niantic]], in collaboration with WB Games and Portkey Games. Like its predecessor from the same company, ''[[Pokémon Go]]'', it combined GPS location and a game world map along with the ability to set game events against a background image taken with the camera in the player's handheld device to provide an immersive experience overlaid on the real world.


The story is deceptively simple: a great Calamity has struck the Wizarding World -- a spell has been cast that has scattered evidence for magic and wizards throughout the Muggle world, complete with guards and protections to make sure that evidence is not removed. Dramatically understaffed, the Ministry of Magic recruits a massive team of volunteers they call the "Statue of Secrecy Task Force", whose job is to track down all traces of the Wizarding world and break them free of their protections, then return them to their proper places. Your primary contact at the Ministry (and the leader of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force) is an official named Constance Pickering, but you frequently discuss your progress and discoveries with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and a host of wizards and witches original to the game.
The story was deceptively simple: a great Calamity struck the Wizarding World -- a spell was cast that scattered evidence for magic and wizards throughout the Muggle world, complete with guards and protections to make sure that evidence was not removed. Dramatically understaffed, the Ministry of Magic recruited a massive team of volunteers they called the "Statue of Secrecy Task Force", whose job was to track down all traces of the Wizarding world and break them free of their protections, then return them to their proper places. Your primary contact at the Ministry (and the leader of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force) was an official named Constance Pickering, but you frequently discussed your progress and discoveries with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and a host of wizards and witches original to the game.


And as you progress what seemed like a simple, if vast, attempt to undermine the Statute of Secrecy is not as simple as it initially appeared, and the suspected culprit just might be the victim of a frame job. But if that's so, who's really behind the Calamity, and why did they do it?
And as you progressed, what seemed like a simple if vast attempt to undermine the Statute of Secrecy turned out to be not as simple as it initially appeared, and the suspected culprit just might have been the victim of a frame job. But if that's so, who was really behind the Calamity, and why did they do it?


''[[Harry Potter: Wizards Unite]]'' is free to play; it uses a [[Freemium]] business model and supports [[Microtransactions]] for the purchase of in-game items. More information about the game is available at [https://www.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/ its website].
''[[Harry Potter: Wizards Unite]]'' was free to play; it used a [[Freemium]] business model and supports [[Microtransactions]] for the purchase of in-game items. Unfortunately, Niantic announced its shutdown in November 2021, removed the game from the app stores on December 6, 2021, and on January 31, 2022 the game was terminated with no resolution of the overall plot (and new features still appearing in the final weeks).


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* [[Big Bad]]: Grim Fawley... or so it initially appears.
* [[Big Bad]]: Grim Fawley... or so it initially appears.
* [[Character Class System]]: An odd one. Once you level up a couple of times you can choose one of three Professions: Auror (strong against Dark forces, weak against Beasts), Magizoologist (strong against Beasts, weak against Curiosities) or Professor (strong against Curiosities, weak against Dark forces). Each Profession also has a "lesson tree" in which to spend scrolls, spellbooks and restricted section books to improve statistics like [[Hit Points]] and various percentages like the chance to make a critical hit. Curiously, you are free to swap between them at will with little or nothing in the way of penalties.
* [[Character Class System]]: An odd one. Once you level up a couple of times you can choose one of three Professions: Auror (strong against Dark forces, weak against Beasts), Magizoologist (strong against Beasts, weak against Curiosities) or Professor (strong against Curiosities, weak against Dark forces). Each Profession also has a "lesson tree" in which to spend scrolls, spellbooks and restricted section books to improve statistics like [[Hit Points]] and various percentages like the chance to make a critical hit. Curiously, you are free to swap between them at will with little or nothing in the way of penalties.
* [[Character Customization]]: To a limited degree at game start, including among other things you may choose the specifications of your wand and your house at Hogwarts.
* [[Character Customization]]: To a limited degree at game start, including among other things you may choose the specifications of your wand and your house at Hogwarts. You could also choose a Profession and later skill trees were added that allowed you to specialize or generalize as much as you liked during play.
* [[Character Level]]: You have a primary Wizarding level, but you also have separate ranks in the various Families of Foundables you're pursuing, and for certain special events -- all of which are independent of your Profession.
* [[Character Level]]: You have a primary Wizarding level, but you also have separate ranks in the various Families of Foundables you're pursuing, and for certain special events -- all of which are independent of your Profession.
* [[Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: The color of your spell effect can reveal the results of your spellcasting early on -- the spiraling clouds that appear often start with black and red elements amidst their colors, and if the black and red persist beyond the first second or so, your spell has failed.
* [[Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: The color of your spell effect can reveal the results of your spellcasting early on -- the spiraling clouds that appear often start with black and red elements amidst their colors, and if the black and red persist beyond the first second or so, your spell has failed.
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* [[Harmless Freezing]]: Several Foundables feature one or more persons embedded in a mass of ice, which you must destroy to free them. Other than the occasional burst of frosty breath, after they are released they are unharmed.
* [[Harmless Freezing]]: Several Foundables feature one or more persons embedded in a mass of ice, which you must destroy to free them. Other than the occasional burst of frosty breath, after they are released they are unharmed.
* [[Hero of Another Story]]: ''You'', if you miss too many of the story developments that are only revealed by completing the tasks assigned during special events. Miss enough and you'll have no idea what your contacts are talking about.
* [[Hero of Another Story]]: ''You'', if you miss too many of the story developments that are only revealed by completing the tasks assigned during special events. Miss enough and you'll have no idea what your contacts are talking about.
* [[Hidden Object Game|Fragmented Hidden Object Game]]: Sortakinda. Some of the Foundables scattered around the world, while appearing to be complete objects, are actually magically-created fragments. You have to find all their parts -- anywhere from 3 to ''120'' -- before you have officially "recovered" them.
* [[Hidden Object Game|Fragmented Hidden Object Game]]: Sortakinda. Most of the Foundables scattered around the world, while appearing to be complete objects or beings, are actually magically-created fragments. You have to find all their parts -- anywhere from three to ''120'' -- before you have officially "recovered" them.
* [[Hide Your Children]]: Averted, interestingly enough. Some of the Foundables are Hogwarts students; others are time-shifted versions of the ''Harry Potter'' characters (from the period of the books) -- even as you speak with their adult selves on a regular basis. Lampshaded at least once when the late-thirties Harry confides in you how disconcerting seeing his teenaged self is.
* [[Hide Your Children]]: Averted, interestingly enough. Some of the Foundables are Hogwarts students; others are time-shifted versions of the ''Harry Potter'' characters (from the period of the books) -- even as you speak with their adult selves on a regular basis. Lampshaded at least once when the late-thirties Harry confides in you how disconcerting seeing his teenaged self is.
* [[Hit Points]]: Called "Endurance".
* [[Hit Points]]: Called "Endurance".
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