52 MACWORLD AUGUST 2019iOSCENTRAL HARRY POTTER: WIZARDS UNITEthing. After all, I wrote a caustic piece on
last year’s Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
(go.macworld.com/hgmy) in which I all but
expressed my desire to work the Avada
Kedavra on its payment model, but for all
that, it currently commands almost a
five-star rating on the App Store after
679,000 seemingly glowing reviews. I
expect we’ll see much the same response
with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Unite,
although fortunately its approach to in-app
purchases—and there are many—feels
more benign.Right now, mere hours after Wizards
Unite’s release, I find myself thinking that
maybe it doesn’t have to be as popular as
Pokémon Go. Much as the seemingly
smaller world of wizards and witches in
J.K. Rowling’s universe exist alongside our
own, Wizards Unite can exist alongside
Pokémon Go and thrive. It’s a Pokémon
Go for those of us who want a little
more roleplay, a little more fantasy, and
a little more reason to live in one of the
best imaginary landscapes of these
troubled times. ■You can also play Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery on an iPad.