While some of us are still recovering from a Pokémon Go hangover, Niantic Inc has unleashed its latest: Harry Potter Wizards Unite, which pretty much had every spellbound Potter fan whipping out their imaginary wands — we mean, smartphones — to play the magical game in which you are to banish enemies, rescue friends and digitally Apparate around your city.
- Currently, the game is ranked second on Apple App Store’s list of role-playing games, and there have been 5,000,000-plus installs so far (which could also include Beta versions) via Google Play.
HPWU works along the lines of Pokémon Go; hold up your phone and you are deployed virtual images over real-world objects. The overlay works in real-time with the input received from your phone’s camera. So you can assume the dangers that may come with such a ‘distraction-cum-attraction’; safety warnings in the form of news analyses and social media posts littered the Internet, and given the PUBG mayhem with the Indian courts, the fears of AR-driven games are legitimate.
And just as predicted HPWU does make you do some outlandish things, which the quotidian version of yourself wouldn’t be caught dead doing — if the country’s existing mobile data speeds allow it.
Here are some reactions from our own MetroPlus folks, who are probably still glued to their phones:
Divya Kala Bhavani, Hyderabad
As I was about to tell the driver to make a left turn, I got distracted by two Doxies having a tug-of-war with a shrivelled Hand Of Glory, the magical world’s best friend to thieves and plunderers. I lost all sense of present, missed the turning and proceeded to casts spells to snatch the Dark Arts Foundable. That is, if your phone doesn’t overheat.
Upon inaugurating the game at my office desk, I was alerted that I was moving too fast and I shouldn’t be driving. Glitch right off the bat — or broom, rather. That’s how Harry Potter Wizards Unite (HPWU) by Niantic Inc kicked into gear. While figuring this out, I got an excitement-filled text from a friend who found an adorably soulful Mooncalf by Charminar.
In Hyderabad, there’s nothing like pulling over off the main road in pre-rain traffic to run to a mirchi-bajji stall and tell the vendor, “Don’t move!” in my trademark broken Telugu, while you overpower a curse to return a Remembrall to Neville Longbottom. I overheard some whispers of ‘this woman is a witch’, but this is so worth the screams from fussy commuters who can’t get home fast enough after a long work day.
Priyadarshini Paitandy, Chennai
Harry Potter Wizards Unite recommends you don’t drive while playing
On busy Nungambakkam High Road, amidst whizzing cars, two-wheelers and autos, there lurks an otherworldly creature: the Mooncalf. This little blue-eyed Confoundable is also the reason I spend ₹200 on a taxi, instead of driving to my next destination. Driving and AR-ing isn’t advisable.
So here I am inside a cab, looking rather undignified as I try to unchain Mooncalf and send it back to the world of wizards in Ireland.
I’m currently seated in a posture that resembles a complex yoga pose: back towards the driver, one foot on the seat and head turned in an Annabelle-like fashion, as I try to cast the Alohomora spell. The Harry Potter soundtrack blares loudly from my phone, and the driver, after 15 minutes, politely enquires, “ Adhu enna satham, ma ?” (What sound is that?)
Praveen Sudevan, Bengaluru
Harry Potter Wizards Unite’s Incendio spell in action
Disclaimer: I missed out on the Pokémon Go craze due to a terminally-ill smartphone that struggled to stay on for even two hours. By the time I switched to a new one, the people I knew had moved on. Despite knowing the basic workings of an AR game, I was mildly thrilled to see Hagrid, on my bed, tangled in an Acromantula web. I cast a Diffindo spell (swipe a diagonal ‘Z’) to free him. I expected an invitation for an evening tea in his wooden hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. But we, it seems, aren’t that close yet.
For my next mission, I had to release a Hufflepuff student trapped inside an iceberg in front of a pharmacy. Despite the pharmacist’s baffled look, I, with my phone in front of him, cast an Incendio spell (after two unsuccessful attempts) to save the boy.
“Yes, what do you want?” asked the pharmacist.
“Nothing… thanks,” I quickly exited the place.
Vangmayi Parakala, New Delhi
It’s a 42°C summer day in Delhi (the ‘feels like’ is at 46°C, in case you’re the kind that looks for nuance), but I’ve just stumbled onto a Marauder’s Map stuck in a Confoundable storm. It feels like a whole other reality has overlapped onto mine — it has, only, it’s the augmented kind. It’s also one that’s bringing much-needed magic on a dreary summer day — the precipitation aside, I mean, with the Marauder’s Map.
Right now, there’s not a single person braving this mid-morning heat, so I cast a spell, unabashed. I half-moon-zig-zag my finger across my phone screen to do a Meteolojinx Recanto. The storm ‘Counfoundable’ (a curse that basically confounds the wizard’s ability to return the magical found-object to its rightful place) lifts when I overpower it with my spell-casting skills. Great, it says. I have helped Harry Potter, by returning the map to him. I haven’t been this invested in JK Rowling’s universe for almost a decade now.
Harry Potter Wizards Unite loading screen
So, first impressions?
The Internet, in true netizen fashion, has already launched its own sub-Reddit page, complete with how-to guides, hacks and, of course, memes. We won’t go into details; if you’re a member of the Potterverse, it’s only fair you experience it and become just as spellbound!
The work space too in Chennai’s HQ is full of thrills on a working Saturday, thanks to the game. While most of us are convinced we will find Voldemort comfortably seated on the boss’s chair, for now what we did find is poor old Hagrid tangled in a web.
Excuse us, while we scurry off to rescue him while trying to distract the editor.
