The initial reception to the new Harry Potter mobile game was positive at first, due to the game's high quality and production values for what it was. This quickly soured when the inevitable happened and the game halted its progress and opened its hand.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is essentially a fanfiction game where you get to play as a self-insert Hogwarts student during the period of time when Bill Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks were both attending the school. This isn't a criticism by any means, as there is a lot to recommend about Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. It's clear that a lot of attention and care was put into making this a fun game.

The problem with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is the method by which it intends to finance itself. The game is free to download and comes with the usual in-app purchases, such as customization options for your avatar. You can also buy energy, which is the in-game currency that allows you to continue playing, as performing acts and finishing scenes will drain your energy meter, causing you to wait until it refills again.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery will also ask you for specific amounts of energy in order to continue past certain events, most notably one where your character is being choked by Devil's Snare, meaning that you have to wait while your avatar is having the life strangled out of them.

The speed at which your energy depletes has caused a backlash against the game on social media and has soured what was otherwise a positive reception to an interesting Harry Potter experience.

It was inevitable that the Harry Potter series would be turned into a game for smart devices, considering how profitable mobile games based on big franchises are. This led to Warner Bros. forming a studio just to make Harry Potter mobile titles, called Portkey Games, who would go on to create Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.

Warner Bros. is also teaming up with Niantic (the makers of Pokémon GO) in order to make a game called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which is gearing up to be a Harry Potter clone of Pokémon GO. 

It seems that Warner Bros. is all-in on Harry Potter mobile titles, but they will need to rethink the process by which they seek to money off the games, especially when you consider that the target audience for Harry Potter merchandise is children.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery is available to download now.