Some background

The original Watch Dogs was perhaps one of the most hyped up games to release for the PS4 and XB1 at the start of their lifespan. It was a game to be themed around hacking and being able to manipulate the world around you. It garnered mostly mixed with a few cautiously positive responses. Most agreed it was an alright game but one that far from lived up to the expectations. This due to reasons like an uninteresting narrative and protagonist and the hacking not being as free form as many were lead to believe along among other things.

Because of the reception and it being a new IP it seemed unclear if there would be a sequel but with it receiving DLC and the ending seemingly setting up for one. Fans of the game have held out hope. Now Watch Dogs 2 has been revealed and it's set to release as soon as November 15th later this year. As someone who played the original and found it to be a very flawed game albeit one that had potential I found this interesting.

Changes from the first game and my reactions

Having watched the premiere video which if you'd like to see it for yourself can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qEYCuFxGs there seemed to be quite a lot of changes revealed. I'll be outlining what I find to be the most important differences from the original game with some of my own reactions and thoughts mixed in having played the first.

New protagonist and game location and with it a shift of tone

This time the game will be set in San Francisco as opposed to the Chicago of the original Watch Dogs. Similar to the events of the first game, San Francisco is the newest city where the ctOS has been implemented. Now in stead of the dark and brooding Aiden Pierce, you'll be playing as the younger African American hacker prodigy Marcus Holloway. Someone who was accused by the ctOS of a crime he didn't commit leading him on a path to try and shut down the ctOS working as a dedsec member. 

Right off the bat in recreating San Francisco there seems to be a big focus on making the game environment more varied as opposed to the more monotone look of the original game and in general making things feel more open. Though primarily set there you'll also be able to explore some areas outside of San Francisco like Oakland the birthplace of Marcus. With the new and younger protagonist and story focus being on a larger scale in stead of the tale of revenge that the first game was largely about the game also seems to have less serious story focus. Likely trying to address an issue many had with the first game with Aiden feeling like a rather faceless and not relatable character and most not feeling invested in story. Which I think many felt took itself a bit too seriously. This time the developers seem to want to focus more on letting you experience the game rather than feeling tied down by the story. 

It also explores Dedsec an organisation trying to liberate people from the control and supervision of ctOS. It was largely left unexplored in the first game despite Aiden working alongside it for a large part seemingly so on purpose. This game seems like it will give you a much closer look of how they operate likely answering a lot of questions player may have had in the first game.

Outside of the main storyline there seems to be a lot of chaos within the city leading to a lot of subplots. Involving underground factions, corporations and independent hackers all trying to take control and exploit the newly implemented ctOS. The missions are stated to actually tie more into the main narrative this time. Unlike the original Watch Dogs that had a lot of side objectives but little motivating you to actually try them out. This in the form of a follower count where you'll gain more from completing missions each with their own separate story lines bringing you closer to reaching the actual main story objective. This sounds somewhat similar to the power system of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Expanding and improving the gameplay mechanics of the first game

A younger protagonist also seems to be used to enable having a bigger focus on parkour and being able to perform different feats like flips and chain these together to more fluidly traverse the game environment. While also seeming to want to make Marcus more expressive than Aiden while in combat or moving around. Which is saying something because despite Aiden being an anti social middle age man who wears a trenchcoat in the middle of the summer, he sure could run fast They also seem to be making improvements to melee combat which mostly just consisted of hitting a button when close to the enemy in the original. Marcus has a real "do it yourself" kind of weapon in the form of a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. Which I'm not really sure if I should be finding it stupid or awesome but regardless it's a weapon we haven't really seen used before so it could be potentially interesting.

Getting to the main portion for many, the actual hacking! It has supposedly been expanded to the point where you'll be able to hack nearly everything electronic in the game according to one of the developers. Perhaps most notably in the form of being able to hack vehicles and take control of them while not actually in them. Later in the game you'll also be able to perform so called mass hackings which means you'll be hacking several objects at once to maybe create a distraction while in crowded areas. While the video seems to be quite vague in just how much freedom you'll have, it seems to largely be like the first in that hacking various objects makes them perform set functions. Which may feel disappointing to some. Regardless it does seem like a step up from the first game.

Something that I personally found interesting is that there seems to be a new found addition in use of gadgets. You'll have two new robots to add you a small jumper drone with an arm and a quadcopter drone that can be used to scout areas from the sky. These can aid you depending on how you approach combat. You'll also have access to 3d printed weapons which while not much was actually stated on how it would affect gameplay seems like it could indicate some degree of weapon customizability. Either in having more upgrades to choose from or being able to customize the weapon itself. The game will still let you use the three main approaches of tackling missions in the original game, hacking, stealth and walking in like a madman trying to shoot everyone down

Lastly though brief they also seem to be trying to improve the driving mechanics. This through making them more "accessible" while still giving different vehicles their own feel. Hopefully this also means addressing an issue I had with the first where the car physics didn't feel very responsive with crashes not resulting in much impact. Either way tweaks are seemingly being made to all major portions of the game.

Seamless Multiplayer

Another big thing that was talked about was making the multiplayer more seamless. Being able to group up with players you meet during your single player campaign thereby being able to tackle missions cooperatively. We will likely also be seeing the return of many older game modes. The developers also seemed to hint at some sort of postgame multiplayer content perhaps similar to that of the Division which seems like it could make for an interesting addition if they can execute it properly in the form of making it actually worthwhile and engaging. As in the original Watch Dogs once you hit the level cap (which could be done fairly fast if you engaged in the many side objectives) there was little left to be gained from doing various missions.

Closing Thoughts

It seems like Ubisoft and the developers are aware of a lot of the issues players had with the first game and are intending to try and address many of these in Watch Dogs 2. Though what was said was often times somewhat vague and like the first Watch Dogs game showed us, it's easy to be able to make a game look good before release but it's much harder to translate that into how the game actually plays.  This considered everything they mentioned should likely be taken with a grain of salt.

Some claim this could be the game the original was hyped up to be but I sincerely doubt it could live up to those expectations considering just how hyped up it was. With many thinking the original Watch Dogs would be this true next gen experience which it obviously wasn't. That's also not mentioning that there seems to be a lot of things that could potentially go wrong with the game especially if they end up rushing it. In particular with Ubisoft not having the best track record recently of releasing polished games.

All that said it does look interesting and it seems likely that the sequel will at least be a step up from the previous. Though I don't personally plan on getting it just yet I will definitely keep an eye on it as more is revealed.

For those of you reading, did you play the original Watch Dogs? If so what did you think? Regardless does this game sound interesting and is it one you may be looking into getting?

Until next time, Reporter Guy Zlinqx out!