LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7 covers the last three books and four films of the series, and it does it in plastic bricks. Traveller’s Tales developed the game, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment published it, and it arrived on 11 November 2011 in North America, with Europe following on November 18.
The sequel to LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1–4 (2010) is not a retread. The open world was overhauled, London and Platform 9 3/4 are explorable, and several new areas of Hogwarts open up in free roam.
Trailer, via GameSpot.
Grimmauld Place, the Ministry and Godric’s Hollow
The game pulls locations straight from Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and both parts of The Deathly Hallows. Grimmauld Place, the Ministry of Magic and Godric’s Hollow all show up, and the levels cover a wide range of new characters, locations and items drawn from the source material.
The structure is the same as the first game. You break things, build things, solve puzzles and move through a story told with mime and slapstick rather than dialogue. Third person, platforming, puzzles, adventure.
The humor is the part that lands. Reviews singled it out, and it is easy to see why: the game commits to the joke in every cutscene, and the final three books are the darkest material in the series, which makes the contrast work harder.
What the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions lose
Here is the trade-off. The online play feature that appeared in LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1–4 is absent from the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7. If you played the first game online, you are losing that.
Some quality of life changes did arrive. Wingardium Leviosa no longer needs the spell to be selected for building and moving certain objects, which cuts a lot of menu fiddling out of the puzzle loop. There is also no level creator.
The feature set, as released:
- PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Microsoft Windows at launch
- OS X version released by Feral Interactive on 22 March 2012
- Mobile version in May 2012 for iOS and September 2016 for Android
- PlayStation 4 on 21 October 2016 as part of the LEGO Harry Potter Collection, bundling it with Years 1–4
- Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on 30 October 2018
- PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in October 2024, and Nintendo Switch 2 in October 2026
The release schedule, in order
The schedule matters more than it looks:
| Date | Platform or release |
|---|---|
| 6 October 2011 | First of three trailers |
| 1 November 2011 | Demo |
| 11 November 2011 | North America launch |
| November 18, 2011 | Europe launch |
| 22 March 2012 | OS X version by Feral Interactive |
| May 2012 | iOS mobile version |
| September 2016 | Android mobile version |
| 21 October 2016 | PlayStation 4, in the LEGO Harry Potter Collection |
| 30 October 2018 | Nintendo Switch and Xbox One |
| October 2024 | PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S |
| October 2026 | Nintendo Switch 2 |
A sequel that knows what it is
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7 is a licensed game that understands its own limits. It is not trying to be a serious adaptation of the books. It is trying to be a toy, and the design follows from that decision.
The free roam overhaul is the real improvement over Years 1–4. London, Platform 9 3/4 and the new Hogwarts areas give the game somewhere to breathe between levels, and the puzzle design benefits from having a world instead of a corridor.
The missing online play on PS3 and Xbox 360 is the one genuine loss. Co-operative and split screen remain, so the game is still built for two players in the same room, but the online option that existed in the previous game is gone from two of the biggest platforms.
The Wingardium Leviosa change
The Wingardium Leviosa change is small and it is the right kind of small. Removing a selection step from a spell you cast constantly is the difference between a puzzle that flows and a puzzle that stutters.
The absence of a level creator is a smaller loss than it sounds. The first game’s creator was a nice idea that most players never touched. Losing it here costs the game very little.
The online play removal costs more. It is the one place where the sequel is objectively smaller than the game it follows, and no amount of added Hogwarts square footage fully covers for it.
The verdict on LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7 is a good sequel with one clear step back. The open world is bigger and better, the spell system is smoother, and the humor does the heavy lifting on material that could have crushed a lighter game. The missing online play on PS3 and Xbox 360 is a real subtraction, and the absent level creator is a minor one.
What matters is that the game knows what it is for. It is a comedy built out of bricks, and it commits to that. The locations from the final three books get the treatment they need, and the result is a game that is easy to recommend to anyone who liked the first one.
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