Ubisoft officially revealed Watch Dogs 2 during a livestream, showing off the game’s setting characters, and world, as well as confirming its release date.
The follow-up to Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs in 2014, the new title will once again place players in the role of a hacker in an open world bristling with devices primed for hacking. The setting moves from windy Chicago to foggy San Francisco and the By Area. It is scheduled to be released on November 15th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
The title’s protagonist is Marcus Holloway, an Oakland native and an African American who witnessed lots profiling and police brutality during his youth. He fancies himself a hacktivist, using his hacking skills to right the wrongs he sees in society.
Holloway is a member of DedSec, a growing hacker group in the Bay Area. During gameplay, he teams up with other hackers. That is one of the things that this game does to depart from the previous title. There is more emphasis on teamwork in this title, as opposed to lone wolf Aiden Pierce in the original.
Marcus also has new gadgets in Watch Dogs 2, including a quadcopter drone and a remote-controlled car, as well as a few parkour moves. Overall, according to Ubisoft Montreal creative director Jonathan Morin, Marcus will be a complete departure from Aiden.
“Marcus is much more expressive, both in his behavior and in his fighting style. He’s going to feel completely different than Aiden. There’s a different flow to his approach.”
There is a big difference in the world as well. Unlike Chicago, where only certain mobile phones and machines were hackable, Ubisoft is promising a “fully hackable world” in San Francisco. Every mobile phone and car will be hackable.
“We have a world that encourages you to explore the Bay Area, and it rewards you for meeting other people in the world, playing cooperatively, and completing quests to gain followers for DedSec,” says director Danny Bélanger. “We’re encouraging the world [building] team to push all of their ingredients farther.”
Yes, cooperative play. In Watch Dogs 2, you will be able to find other players in the world and team up to handle different DedSec quests you find. The entire game can be played in multiplayer if desired.
This is all done to make San Francisco more dynamic and interesting than the cold, lonely setting of Chicago in Watch Dogs. Whether Ubisoft Montreal can pull it off remains to be seen. After the tepid response to the first game, there is little wiggle room for the sequel.
There will be more to see during E3, and Ubisoft Montreal has some more work to do before the game’s November 15th release date.
