Few months ago, Niantic Labs has released a trial version of its new game in Australia and New Zealand. On June 21, the company has finally officially release the game globally starting in the United States and the UK as the game slowly being rollout to other regions.
What is Harry Potter: Wizards Unite?
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is an iPhone and Android game created by Niantic Labs — the same developers behind Pokémon GO fame — in conjunction with Warner Bros. It will be an augmented reality (AR) game that will take place in the Harry Potter universe. You may have also heard it called Harry Potter GO, because of the relation to popular Pokémon game, but the actual title is Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Casting spells, collecting potions, encountering magical beasts, and even defeating dark wizards or witches, is all part of the Harry Potter universe, and you can do all those things in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite! You'll even need to get up and walk around the world to find points of interest to complete all the tasks set before you and help keep the Wizarding World separate from the muggle world.
For Android users, you can download the game here: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Foundables
Foundables are one of the main ways to collect experience and items for your character and are the backbone of the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite universe. There are a ton of different Foundables that you need to find and send back to the magical world in order to complete your various registries; however, its not as simple as just finding them.
Similar to Pokemon GO, instead of spawning wild Pokemon for you to catch, foundables can appear at anytime around you. To collect them, you will have to click on it. Some Foundables can only be found in certain weather conditions, time of day, or moon phases in the game. For example, you'll only be able to find a werewolf during or around the time of a full moon. Interesting right?
Casting Spells
Casting spells is another huge part of the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite gameplay. Spells are represented by blueish glowing lines (known as glyphs) that appear on your screen when you can cast a spell to interact with something. You'll see these glyphs in various places in the game including, at inns, in fortresses, and when confronting Foundables.
To cast a spell, you need to trace the glyph on the screen with your finger. The more accurate you trace the glyph, the better result you'll get. In another way, speed also plays an important role in casting spells. The faster and accurate you trace the glyph, the stronger spell you'll cast.
Inns
If you've played Pokémon GO, you'll likely think of Inns as Pokéstops. They are places on the map — indicated by small buildings — that a player can enter by tapping on them and once inside receive Spell Energy which is the primary resources you need in the game to cast spells. These small buildings correspond to real-world locations, parks, statues, and other landmarks.
Once inside an Inn, you'll be required to trace a Glyph on your screen to activate the Inn, which will then spin five dishes and award you one randomly. The meal you end up with will award you Spell Energy, which allows you to cast spells in the game. You can only hold 75 Spell Energy at a time in the beginning, so its best to keep it stocked as much as possible.
Fortresses
You can say a Fortress as Pokemon Gym in Pokemon GO. Fortresses are found out in the world and are filled with AI controlled foes that players can either take on alone or team up with other players. Each Fortress appears to have 20 floors (or chambers) and each floor is harder than the last, and some even have a level requirements, meaning you have to have someone in your party at least be the minimum level.
Up to five players can join together to help battle the enemies in a Fortress, and for the higher level chambers, it will likely be necessary. Just remember that more players will increase the difficulty of the enemies in the fortress.
In order to beat chambers in a Fortress, you need to defeat all the enemies on that level before the timer runs out. If you run out of time, or you run out of health during a battle, you and your team will lose.
Greenhouses
Greenhouses are found all around the world of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. They exist with only one purpose, growing and collecting ingredients to brew potions.
Greenhouses look like glass buildings on the map (see the left picture up above for an example), and you can enter them to find pots of different magical plants and roots. Once you get into a greenhouse, you'll be able to pick one plant. You can revisit greenhouses after a certain amount of time to pick up more ingredients. You'll need many different ingredients to brew potions.