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Pokemon Go developer conjures first magical look at Harry Potter: Wizard's Unite
Accio augmented reality!
Today, Niantic Inc. (developer of Pokémon GO) and Warner Bros. Games gathered around a hot cauldron to brew up the world’s first look at the upcoming AR game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Featuring characters, spells, and creatures from the live-action feature films, the title will allow players to navigate J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World as they attempt to prevent "The Calamity," an event that would expose the world of magic to the Muggles.
To help personalize their characters, players can choose a certain area of expertise like being an Auror (see: Mad-Eye Moody), Magizoologist (see: Newt Scamander), or Professor (see: Minerva McGonagall).
The "plot" of Wizards Unite will rely heavily on the International Statute of Secrecy, a wizarding law that keeps non-magical people from discovering the truth about the witches and wizards living among them. Harry himself was reprimanded for the use of magic in the Muggle world in both Chamber of Secrets and Order of the Phoenix.
"Your journey begins as a new recruit of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, established by the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards for the purpose of investigating and containing The Calamity," reads the official website.
As you roam around the real world, you'll be led to areas where magic is spiking in the form of "Foundables." More often than not, these areas will be public places such as municipal buildings, banks, zoos, museums, monuments, and more. Upon discovering a Foundable, you must send it back to the Wizarding World, an act that results in rewards.
Rounding up wayward magical creatures and the like will drain your "Spell Energy," so you must be sure stop at special inns to replenish your powers with food and drinks. In addition, you'll pick up potion ingredients along the way, although the elements of your magical brews will only be available at certain times of day or under specific weather conditions. Greenhouses — a staple of Herbology, a botanical field in the Wizarding World that yields helpful potion ingredients — are likely to crop up along the way, too.
Players can even stumble upon Portkeys, mundane objects (first introduced in Goblet of Fire) that transport a witch or wizard from one place to another. These nifty transportation tools will whisk you off to iconic places from the books and films.
"For the first time you’ll be able to step into a full 360-degree Advanced AR immersive experience in places like Ollivander’s Wand Shop," the website adds.
In order to test your spell-casting prowess, players must travel to "Fortresses," the locations of wizarding tournaments and challenges. At these locations, you'll face off against the likes of Death Eaters (Voldemort's supporters) and happiness-sucking Dementors. Friends can team up in Fortresses to take on major threats and search for incredibly rare Foundables.
You can pre-register for the game on Google Play right now.
