1. The Environment Looks Amazing

It really looks like Hogwarts. The level of detail on the castle walls, courtyards, the marble floors, the animated paintings, roaming cats, flying owls, magical wallpaper, and more is just incredible. The artists did a fantastic job of recreating Hogwarts as it appears in the movies.

2. The Castle Feels like Hogwarts

There are moments when I'm playing and stumble across an area from a significant part of the movies. "That's where [no spoilers] died!" "That's where [no spoilers] was killed!" Even though the events in the films hadn't happened yet at the time the game takes place, I still felt like I was reliving scenes from the movies. The part that makes it feel like Hogwarts to me is the part where I can explore the castle on my own. I would fantasize about visiting a castle with moving staircases as a kid, and it's awesome to be playing a game that includes exploring the castle as a core mechanic of the gameplay.

3. The Gameplay is Fun, So Far

I'm enjoying the gameplay so far. I'm only 2 hours in, so I don't have a lot of information about how it will develop. The impression I'm getting is that the core gameplay is a mixture of Metroidvania, Rogue-likes, God of War-style combat, collectathons, and quest-driven open world exploration. There are classes to attend, spells to learn, and stuff to do. The metroidvania aspect was probably necessary in order to encourage learning more spells.

Conclusion

I'm enjoying the game. The music is great. The visuals are fantastic. There is finally an open world Harry Potter game where the player can choose their House and explore the castle at their leisure. I wouldn't say I have anything against the game so far. In fact, the only part that I'm finding weird about it is that combat consists entirely of magic - there are no weapons as far as I know. But what more could you ask for from a Harry Potter game?