Niantic’s AR Harry Potter game has a pretty cool solution to the lockdown

It’s time to board the Knight Bus!

For Wizards Unite, the team has come up with a solution that is based on a Harry Potter fiction - the Knight Bus. You were introduced to this bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the book and the movie. The Knight Bus has been added to Wizards Unite to let players enjoy magical duelling challenges that would otherwise require you to step out and head to a Fortress. (Niantic)

Niantic has been making a bunch of changes to Pokemon Go, so we were well expecting Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to follow suit. These in-game changes makes the game more playable for people over the lockdown since they cannot step out or go for a walk to explore new places - the main thing that drives these to AR-based games.

For Pokemon Go it's been the remote raids and extended periods for incense, halving distance for hatching eggs and even syncing the game to count all the walking you do inside the house, including the treadmill.

For Wizards Unite, the team has come up with a solution that is based on a Harry Potter fiction - the Knight Bus. You were introduced to this bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the book and the movie. The Knight Bus has been added to Wizards Unite to let players enjoy magical duelling challenges that would otherwise require you to step out and head to a Fortress.

A feature similar to the Remote Raids on Pokemon Go, the Knight Bus will give players stuck at home something to do. The Knight Bus, however, does not need any in-game currencies unlike the Remote Raid Pass on Pokemon Go.

Players can tap the Knight Bus button on the map which will take them to a Fortress located at Hogwarts Castle. There players can battle opponents using Runestone items like they would in any Fortress.

The addition of the Knight Bus is particularly fitting at a time like this because it is supposed to be an emergency transport for stranded witches and wizards to take them where they want to.

The better news, however, is that the Knight Bus is here to stay and it won't be going away once the Covid-19 quarantine ends. For players who do not have easy physical access to a Fortress can still use the Knight Bus to play.