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Welcome to the wizarding world

I keep getting asked by people on my friend list what I think about the game, so I'll drop a pre-emptive review/thoughts about the game so far.
The world
I could gush about this forever. The world is so well crafted and there was so much love put into it, it's kind of absurd. You start off in the castle, it's bloody massive, very faithful to the template you know, it's clear they tried their best to do a 1:1 replica. Walking through the halls and rooms in ecstatic, never did I feel that exploration is in any way forced, I was encouraged to explore and I have yet to properly utilize fast travel, it just doesn't get old and I still keep bumping into corridors that eluded me, still finding new things. And that's JUST the castle, the moment you look past the castle and take in the sheer scope of the world, it is possitively jaw dropping. The world is ginormous and the developers found clever things to sprinkle everywhere you go. Every now and then you bump into a small village out there, each one is different and again, very detailed and even tho they keep the same aesthetic, it never felt like exploring more of the same. It is honestly kind of overwhelming how much there is to find and play around with, this is a real work of art that even if you do not fancy the world of Harry Potter, should give you plenty of enjoyement to travel through.
Gameplay
I jumped in on Hard difficulty as I was seeking some challenge out of this, however not much challenge is really provided. I keep being capped on my healing potions, rarely having to reach out for them. There are moments that test you certainly, large group of enemies are fun to tackle and the higher difficulty does not allow you to make many mistakes. Combat is satisfying, you generally play with a selection of 4 main spells you chose, from what you have learned, but you're not limited to them. You get up to 4 spell tabs for a total of 16 spells at the ready that you can switch between during combat at will. You'll learn combos of spells that work well together and swinging your wand around will feel really good. Enemies attack back with attacks you can protect against and ones you can only dodge, always visually apparent by a different colored circle around your head, it's a simple nuance but you'll trip up here and there, game doesn't make you feel invincible. Enemy variety could be larger, but it's not absolutely terrible, what's a bit of a shame is that you rarely battle more than 1 enemy type at the same time, maybe that's something that will be happening more later on, I can imagine that could spice up combat a bit. Every enemy type has some kind of weakness for you to discover and you'll be keeping mental notes.
Beyond your spell selection, there is not really much else you can do to build your character differently, all gear slots are basically stat sticks that you can eventually augment a bit for specific situations but I feel like it's nothing too significant. Still they made the best out of what they had, maybe gearing being more casual was the goal here.
Story and questing
The story is intriguing but nothing ground breaking, so far it stands on its own pretty well, without spoiling as this is in the opening scenes, you learn that your character can see traces of ancient magic which leads you on a path to pursue this calling, but there's a faction of goblins and their leader who are after the same thing, the knowledge of great magic that's only rumored to exist, very few people in the past knew of its existence and could wield it. The game presents sense of urgency while also intentionally slowing you down, but you can argue it is doing so for you to slowly master this magic and uncover the whole truth so I give it a pass.
As for sidequesting, you have the usual fetch quests most of the time, that are made interesting by the possibilities a world like this can present. I never felt annoyed doing a side quest that was simply "deliver" or "find and bring" as it pointed me to places to discover, this is very much carried by the setting and the amazing world.
Some side quests are more convoluted and eventually lead you to what could be described as collectible chains. The game slowly introduces collectibles and series of puzzles for you to complete through side quests and it kind of feels natural. The only time I wasn't happy with this was when the unlocking spell "alohomora" was locked behind one of those, multiple tiers of it even, as someone who wants to unlock every door, I felt forced to go on collectible hunting but in the end, again, I was happy doing so as it led me places... Did I mention exploration is fun yet?
other systems
Flying! My god, getting your first broom and taking to the skies feels surreal. You could fast travel, sure, but why would you when you can fly? Game places very few restrictions on where you can and can't fly, practically the whole world is traversable on a mount, it's amazing.
Room of Requirement. If you like creating your own space or ever found yourself lost in building a house in The Sims, this will be right up your alley, everything is customizable and by exploring you will find more items to place down,, but this feature got overshadowed for me by taking care of your own beasts. I damn nearly cried grooming and feeding the creatures, it's so adorable, I could spend hours just watching them in the space you get for them, this is my single most favorite feature.
Beast catching. You have to catch your beasts so better go out there hunting, many types of beasts to catch and bring home out there in the world. Some are easy to catch, some harder, always having to find the best approach, it's honestly fun.
Missing this
Reputation system, honestly, the game allows you to cast unforgivable curses and nobody seems to care you do so. You can fling avada kedavra next to dozens of witnesses and most you may get is a couple of comments. I wish there were some drawbacks, if not in "reputation" then at least visually, think Mass Effect 2 where Shepard would look more scarred the more evil you'd be. I'd take anything.
Points system, it's Hogwards, part of it is winning points for your house and while during some quests you get the "points to *your house here*" comment, it isn't reflected anywhere. There's virtually no rivalry between the houses as a result.
Quidditch, please... The game comes up with an excuse to not have it but man, what a shame.
And lastly, I would like to see some deeper relationship feature, building friendship with some important characters, outside of main quests. Doing things for them and maybe being able to take them with you on your exploratory adventures. When I think Harry Potter, I also think of the friendship the main group had going for them, it sometimes feels a bit lonely in this giant world.
The bad
Performance is rocky, the game drops frames unexplainably, in cutscenes and in a few areas, this is something that can be fixed with patches so hopefully it'll improve.
Voice pitch? Don't even bother, leave it on the default spot when creating your character. It makes your voice robotic, echoey and just plain weird.
And lastly... Why in the seven hells in a game with 4 houses you think it's enough to give players 3 character slots, at least give the damn 4. Been resolved, you now get 10 character slots.
Conclusion
This game makes me feel like a kid again, I don't remember the last time I was this happy and eager to explore a world, this is coming from someone who grew up on HP, this is all practically a wet dream made real. I am overjoyed the be part of all this and despite knowing this could be a much better game, both improved in what it offers and in some of the glaring issue it has, I can overlook it because so much of this game has been crafted with a lot of love. Bravo, loving every second of it.