You can now change the time of day and season in Hogwarts Legacy — but there's a catch

What you need to know

• Hogwarts Legacy's Summer Update is live now and brings several new features to the game. 
• This includes a photo mode with various filters and tools to help get the exact look you want from your screenshots. 
• Photo mode also allows players to change the time of day and season to get the perfect shot. However, time and season will revert back to where it should be once Photo mode is closed. 
• Previously PlayStation-exclusive and preorder content is also being made available on all platforms including a Haunted Hogsmeade quest, Onyx Hippogriff, and Felix Felicis potion. 

The previously announced Hogwarts Legacy Summer Update is now live, bringing with it a few new features as well as making previously PlayStation-exclusive content available within the game on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. While it's not the biggest update we could get for Hogwarts Legacy, it's enough to make me excited to replay the game once more. One of the changes is that players can now adjust the time of day and season within Hogwarts Legacy, but the catch is that it only works in the new photo mode. 

Here are all of the new features and changes made available with the Hogwarts Legacy Summer Update. 

Hogwarts Legacy Summer Update

Hogwarts Legacy - Summer Update Explainer - YouTube

Watch On

• Photo mode: This brand new photo mode brings settings options such as depth of field, field of view, zoom, tilt, filters, hide NPCs, hide your own character, change time, change season, and more. Just note that changing the time of day and season does not change the time or season within the game and it will revert back once you exit photo mode. There are also a range of poses including ones that allow you to make your character sit to get the perfect shot. 
  • Players are encouraged to share their screenshots on social media with the hashtag #CapturetheUnwritten.
• Rest Talent Points: Players can now manually reset their Talent Points from the field guide to check out different character builds or undo accidental point spending. However, it does cost 200 Gold per Talent Point reset, so you'll want to be strategic with your money spending. 
• Haunted Hogsmeade Quest: This mission was once a PlayStation exclusive, but now it's available on all other platforms. You'll need to be in the winter season of the game to start this quest off. Simply talk to Penny, the house-elf, who can be found sweeping outside a Hogsmeade shop and the quest will start. 
• Azkaban Outfit: You can now look like the crazed prison escapee that you've always wanted to be with this outfit. 
• The Glasses who Lived: Players can finally dress up in Harry Potter's iconic tapped spectacles.
• Onyx Hippogryph mount: This sweet creature was once a preorder exclusive, but now players on any platform have access to it with the update. 
• Felix Felicis: This potion "Enhances the drinker's chance of success in their endeavors - specifically, by revealing the locations of large loot chests on the Minimap for one in-game day." It requires one Lacewing Fly and one Fluxweed Steam to craft. 
• Lavender Borealis Broom: You don't even need to go to the shop in Hogsmeade to pick up this cool new ride. It sports a white-ish grey design with a purple trailing effect as you fly. 

A new Photo mode makes me want to play Hogwarts Legacy all over again

Thanks to these updates, I know I'll be diving back into the world of Hogwarts Legacy on my gaming PC. Ever since I learned about the previously PlayStation-exclusive Haunted Hogsmeade quest, I've longed to experience the mission myself, and now I'll finally be able to do so. 

As I've previously written about in another article, photo mode is something I really expected to be there at Hogwarts Legacy's launch, so it's great to see it's finally being added in. It's not just a rough patch job either, it seems. Being able to shift time, seasons, and apply various settings should help me capture the pure magic that Avalanche Software was able to create. I'm especially excited to start a new game and capture seasonal changes, like Halloween decorations in the Great Hall or silly NPC interactions between classes.