Honestly, it's kinda wild how well LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 holds up. You’d think a game released over a decade ago—back when we were all obsessed with the Wii and the first Avengers movie hadn't even come out—would feel like a dusty relic. It doesn't. While the newer LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga gets all the hype for its fancy camera angles and massive hub worlds, there is something incredibly tight and focused about the second half of the Harry Potter saga in brick form.
It’s darker. It’s weirder. It’s better.
The game covers the final four books/movies: Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and both parts of Deathly Hallows. If the first game (Years 1-4) was all about the "magic" of discovering Hogwarts, this one is about the world falling apart. You feel it in the lighting. You feel it in the music. It's a vibe.
The Hogwarts Problem (and Why It’s Actually Good)
One of the biggest complaints people have about LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 is that it feels "samey" if you just finished the first game. I get it. You're back in the castle. The Great Hall is still there. The Moving Stairs are still a headache. But look closer. Traveller’s Tales did something subtle here; they shifted the atmosphere. The castle in Years 5-7 is gloomier. There are Death Eaters lurking in the corners of the hub world later on.
The hub world is basically the glue. It's not just a menu. You're walking through London, visiting 12 Grimmauld Place, and then suddenly you're at the Ministry of Magic. The transition between the "safe" areas and the "dangerous" ones is handled with that classic LEGO slapstick humor that somehow doesn't ruin the tension of the source material.
Mechanically, It’s a Different Beast
Remember the spell wheel? In the first game, it felt a bit clunky. In LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, it’s refined. You’ve got Diffindo (the red spell) for cutting through red LEGO objects, which adds a layer of "cutting" puzzles that the first game lacked. Then there’s Aguamenti. Filling up water tanks shouldn't be satisfying, but it is.
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We need to talk about Weasley Boxes. These were a stroke of genius. Only a Weasley can use them, and they trigger these chaotic, colorful inventions that bypass obstacles. It’s a perfect way to make characters like Ron or Arthur Weasley feel essential rather than just "Harry’s sidekick" or "the guy who fixes things."
And then there's the Dark Magic.
Playing as Bellatrix Lestrange or Lord Voldemort and actually using Avada Kedavra—even if it just results in a "poof" of LEGO studs—feels naughty in a game rated for kids. It gives the Free Play mode a genuine sense of power. You aren't just exploring; you're dismantling the world with forbidden spells.
The Deathly Hallows Shift
The biggest risk the developers took was the final third of the game. Once you hit the Deathly Hallows content, the game abandons Hogwarts for a while. You're camping. You're in the woods. You're in Godric's Hollow. This could have been boring. I mean, nobody liked the "walking in the woods" chapters of the book that much, right?
But in the game, it works because it breaks the loop. The puzzles become more about using the environment and less about just finding the next classroom. The boss fight with the Nagini/Bathilda Bagshot hybrid? Genuinely creepy for a LEGO game. It captures that sense of isolation Harry, Ron, and Hermione felt.
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Why You’re Probably Missing Gold Bricks
If you're stuck at 98.2% and losing your mind, you aren't alone. LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 is notorious for its glitches, though "glitch" is a strong word. Often, it’s just a hidden mechanic you forgot.
- The Strength Potion: Some handles require a character who has drank a Strength Potion. If you’re playing as Hagrid, you don’t need it. People forget this and spend hours looking for a cauldron that isn't there.
- The Spectrespecs: Luna’s glasses are a nightmare. You have to find the dispenser, put them on, and then look for the invisible bricks. Half the time, the bricks are tucked behind a pillar you can't see unless you rotate the camera just right.
- The Red Bricks: They are the real game-changers. Finding the "Score x10" brick early makes the rest of the game a breeze, but finding it usually requires a Dark Wizard.
The Duel Mechanic: Love It or Hate It?
This game introduced a dedicated dueling system. A ring appears, the camera shifts to a side-on perspective, and you have to match the color of the spell your opponent is casting.
It’s polarizing.
Some fans think it slows down the action. I think it adds weight to the "boss" encounters. It’s better than just spamming the attack button until the boss’s heart containers disappear. It feels like a wizarding standoff. When you’re dueling Snape or Voldemort, the music swells, the bricks fly, and it feels... cinematic? Yeah, let's go with cinematic.
Let’s Talk About the Visuals
For a game from the PS3/Xbox 360 era, it’s surprisingly pretty. The lighting in the Pensieve sequences or the glow of a Patronus against the dark woods is actually stunning. If you’re playing the LEGO Harry Potter Collection on PS4, PS5, or Switch, the bump in resolution makes the plastic textures pop. You can see the little "LEGO" logo on top of the studs. That level of detail matters. It makes the world feel tactile.
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What Most People Get Wrong
A lot of players think they can breeze through the story and be done. You can't. That's not how this works. The story mode is maybe 25% of the actual content. The real game starts when you unlock your first Dark Wizard (usually Tom Riddle or a Death Eater) and go back into the levels.
There are entire sub-areas in the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts that you literally cannot enter without specific abilities. It’s a Metroidvania disguised as a family game. If you haven't gone back to the London streets with a character who can use the Deluminator (Ron, after a certain point), you've missed out on some of the best hidden secrets.
The Character Roster is Massive (and Bloated)
There are over 200 characters. Do you need five different versions of Harry in various sweaters? Probably not. But having the ability to play as a random Death Eater, or even Fenrir Greyback, changes how you interact with the world.
Some characters are purely for the fans. Having Neville Longbottom (Sword of Gryffindor version) is a must for that final battle. And the fact that you can play as the ghosts, like the Fat Friar or the Grey Lady, adds a weird, floaty dimension to the exploration.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Playthrough
If you're jumping back into LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, or picking it up for the first time, don't play it like a standard action game. Play it like a collector.
- Prioritize the "Collect Ghost Studs" Red Brick. It’s cheap and it helps you track where you're supposed to go when you're lost in the massive Hogwarts hub.
- Unlock a Dark Wizard ASAP. You can’t get most of the Red Bricks or Gold Bricks without one. Bellatrix is usually the easiest to grab once you hit the later levels.
- Don't ignore the Leaky Cauldron. The basement has a custom spell creator. It’s a bit janky, but you can make some truly overpowered spells that help with combat encounters if you’re struggling.
- Use the "Fall Rescue" Red Brick. It sounds boring, but the platforming in the Astronomy Tower can be finicky. This saves you from the "death loop" of falling off ledges.
- Watch the background. The animators put a ton of jokes in the background of cutscenes. While Harry is having a serious moment with Dumbledore, there’s usually a student in the background getting hit with a rogue spell or a Mandrake.
The game isn't perfect. The camera can get stuck behind a wall in split-screen mode, and some of the flying segments are a bit clunky. But in terms of capturing the feeling of the later Potter films while keeping things lighthearted, it’s a masterpiece. It respects the source material enough to be dark when it needs to be, but it never forgets that at the end of the day, it's all just plastic bricks.
Check your character tokens, make sure you've checked every corner of the Room of Requirement, and don't forget to use Hermione's bag on those pink platforms. There's always one more secret hidden behind a silver LEGO object.