Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Android soft launches starts

Dust off those robes and start exercising your flinging arm. The newest mobile game out of the magical world of Harry Potter is now out. At least on Android and at least in some markets. Or if you know where to get a copy in Diagon Alley. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery has soft launched on Android in some markets, giving fans of the franchise a chance to live out their fantasies as a witch or wizard in training. But like anything related to magic, looks can be deceiving.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery bills itself as an RPG (role-playing game for Muggles) that, for the first time, lets you create your own wizarding student instead of stepping into the shoes of already existing characters. You can customize your appearance, join one of the four (or three) great Houses, attend the same classes as Harry Potter once did, and work with other students to give glory, and points, to your House.

Sounds magical? It might be best, however, to temper that excitement with some reasonable expectations of the limits of mobile gaming. Based on early playthroughs, it would seem that the RPG is actually more point-and-click adventure, a rather different genre for gamers. Still, it's probably the closest you'd get to an honest to goodness Harry Potter "RPG" on mobile.

Up now on Google Play Store, it is still marked as Unreleased and unavailable for most markets. Be on the look out for APKs floating around, though. Some of them might be hiding hexes and curses for your phone instead. If Hogwarts Mystery is not your thing, you can also sit and wait for a Pokemon GO slash Ingress style Wizards Unite game, made by none other than Niantic Labs.