Those PS1 Harry Potter games that have been memed for the last 20 years are getting an indie spiritual successor that’s a “complete mess of a game”
Jul. 26, 2024Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate comes from the Szymanski brothers
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Remember those PS1 Harry Potter games? No? How about the endless memes they spawned off the back of their absolutely cursed character models? Either way, a new indie game looks to be reviving that same magical mayhem.
Following ‘Harry Potter and the something something’s’ naming convention, Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the Internationals Crime Syndicate was recently announced as the not-so-subtle homage (or spoof) of the old-school Hogwarts adventures. Our titular wizard child (and undercover agent) has been called in to deal with - checks notes -Fumblemort, an “evil” wizard who’s running an underground crime syndicate from beneath his school’s castle. “Learn spells, explore the castle, and be a spy in this complete mess of a game,” theSteamblurb explains, with the optional co-op to come.
Secret Agent Wizard Boy comes courtesy of indie developer brothers John and Evan Szymanski, with boomer shooter expert and Dusk director David Szymanski listed as the game’s publisher. Definitely an unexpected pivot for all three developers, but the two clips below promise “wizard baguette hijinks” and “pushing students over (gently, of course),” so I’m excited regardless.
Hogwarts Legacymight get all the attention nowadays for its full-fat rendition of the castle, but those PS1 Harry Potter games deserve to be remembered as more than an internet joke. They all had fun gimmicks, puzzles, exploration, and some school simulation, Bully-esque quirks like the way prefects would stroll the halls and punish you for roaming around at night. Secret Agent Wizard Boy hasn’t shown too much yet, though it seems to be retaining the same third-person camera and whacky action.
But the upcoming game holds on to PS1 Harry Potter’s greatest legacy - the polygonal character designs that are more cursed than any dark spell. As you’d expect from the Szymanski brothers, the game has an appropriately old-school, blocky art style that makes our hero look jagged and surreal in certain angles. Just look at the clips below to see what kind of uncanny comedy it can spawn.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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