Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery – a wizarding fantasy on your phone?

The first Harry Potter game in years is out today on Android and iPhone. Here's what to expect

I won't lie: on my 11th birthday, a tiny part of me hoped that I might get a letter from Hogwarts. By that age I had long accepted that my toys would not spring to life, I would not find a snowy fantasy realm in the back of a closet, and I was not a secret warrior princess - but the existence of a secret school in the Highlands of Scotland still seemed just possible. Edinburgh's Fettes College was down the road from where I grew up; I imagined Hogwarts would be much the same, but for wizards instead of extremely posh children.

The first Harry Potter game in more than five years, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, attempts to fulfil that childhood fantasy. Released today for Android and iPhone, it is a gentle narrative game that offers a pared-down Hogwarts experience, letting you pick your house, form friendships and rivalries and master spells in the famous castle. I was really hoping it would be good. On first impressions, it's not the lazy cash-in I'd feared.