While the movies themselves are hit or miss, a Fantastic Beasts video game could possibly become one of the best parts of the new Wizarding World series.

A Fantastic Beasts video game that ties into either of the two movies has been noticeably absent from our consoles, meaning we’re missing out on some high-quality Wizarding World content.

It’s been a while since a movie tie-in Harry Potter video game has released — the last one was 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

There’s a lot to be said about the low quality of some of the Harry Potter video games. Some, such as most versions of Sorcerer’s Stone through Prisoner of Azkaban, were pretty fun. They followed the vibe of the given movie authentically, and presented different types of play depending on which console you used.

In the glory days of the Harry Potter video games, we were getting multiple iterations of any one movie’s tie-in. The PC, console, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance versions of Sorcerer’s Stone were all very different. The PC version was a standout, as it made tracing spells on-screen feel immersive and realistic.

The best Harry Potter video game was the console release of Prisoner of Azkaban. It presented the Hogwarts grounds in an open world environment, aided by your ability to fly anywhere you pleased on Buckbeak. Things were looking up, but then Goblet of Fire dropped the ball with a lackluster third-person dungeon crawler title.

Order of the Pheonix and Half-Blood Prince‘s console versions played like clunky Prisoner of Azkaban wannabes, and the final two Deathly Hallow games were over-the-shoulder shooters that lacked interesting content and exploration.

Straightforward and bland, it seemed as though the golden Harry Potter video games of years past were no more.

Thankfully, the LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 video game breathed new life into the Potter video game franchise. As is LEGO video game series standard, players were able to play as more characters than they ever could have imagined, ranging from Hermione Granger to Professor Dumbledore.

The next set, Years 5-7, continued to impress players with their faithful interpretations of the original books. These two titles proved that the Wizarding World series was capable of producing some truly incredible video game adventures.

The most recent Potter video game was the Pokémon GO-like title Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. It’s a far cry from the Fantastic Beasts video game that fans have been clamoring for, to say the least.

So what’s on the horizon? We’ve seen a leak of a new Harry Potter video game that looks like an open world Potter RPG. Seeing as we didn’t get any Fantastic Beasts video game movie tie-ins for the first two films, it’s possible that Warner Bros. has been instead concentrating on developing this potentially awesome Potter game.

But what if we still want Fantastic Beasts video games? The age of movie tie-in video games seems to have fallen by the wayside, save for one aforementioned series: the LEGO adaptations.

With the major disappointments that the last five Harry Potter movie tie-in video games were, it’s possible that Warner Bros. is biding their time for two major announcements: the first being the leaked Harry Potter open-world RPG, and the second, LEGO versions of at least the first three Fantastic Beasts movies.

A LEGO Fantastic Beasts video game would have a much different formula than the LEGO Harry Potter games, as the first seven books followed a four-season school year format.

The structure of a LEGO Fantastic Beasts game would feel more like the LEGO Star Wars titles. There are major events, such as Newt’s battle with the Obscurus at the end of the first movie, that the game would need to follow.

As for the dramatic scenes (there are a lot more here than there are in the Harry Potter titles), there would be a need for some embellishment. For instance, when Newt is saving Tina from the MACUSA, there would need to be some extended stealth and battle elements to make the stakes feel higher.

Some events that would be fun to play would be chasing around the Niffler in various locations, the taming of the Erumpent at the Central Park Zoo, and the battle with Grindelwald’s followers at the end of The Crimes of Grindelwald. The first two Fantastic Beasts movies are begging for a LEGO video game adaptation, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get the proper movie tie-ins for Newt’s stories that we’re craving.

This would be the best way for the Wizarding World series to progress, as neither video game titles would step on the other’s toes. A serious, more adult telling of a period of time in Harry’s universe could be played in the RPG, while a comical, yet still awesome LEGO adaptation of Fantastic Beasts could continue the time-honored tradition of family-friendly brick building adventures.

At this point, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a movie tie-in Fantastic Beasts video game for the first title or Crimes of Grindelwald. It just wouldn’t make sense for Warner Bros. to backtrack and create individual games for two movies that have already been in theaters.

If I was a betting man, I’d also hesitate to say that there will be a Fantastic Beasts video game for the delayed third cinematic adventure.

‘Fantastic Beasts’ video game release date

LEGO is likely our only hope of playing through Newt’s tales as Queenie, Jacob, Tina, Grindelwald, and Dumbledore. A LEGO Fantastic Beasts video game release date will may hit sometime in 2021, potentially releasing in time for the Fantastic Beasts 3 movie’s release.