Home Gaming Watch Dogs 2 is making major changes, with a stronger focus on hacking

Watch Dogs 2 is making major changes, with a stronger focus on hacking

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Watch Dogs 2 is changing things up in big ways

I liked the first Watch Dogs, but I certainly didn’t love it. I feel as though this was the general feeling when the game launched over two years ago. Watch Dogs was a competent open-world action title that promised far more than it delivered, often trading in its interesting “hacking” premise for mundane shootout with a lead character that was as deep as a puddle. Watch Dogs 2 is well aware of that, and is shifting things up in a big way.

First up though, the reveal trailer. It’s a little lengthier than the leaked one from yesterday morning, but doesn’t really entice as much as the new details around the game do. It does, however, show full well that Watch Dogs 2 is taking things a little lighter in terms of tone.

You’ll play as Marcus Holloway, a young black man from Oakland just over the bay in the new setting, San Francisco. Holloway isn’t a criminal by any stretch, but he has been racially profiled in the past for a bunch of crimes he didn’t commit, forming a rather strong anti-establishment sentiment within him. It’s because of this that he joins Dedsec, the hacking group from the first title that brought Chicago to its knees through CtOS. The same interconnected system that is now running San Francisco.

Holloway is a lot more agile than Aiden Pearce, bringing with him a host of parkour moves that help you get around your new unlocked from the start playground far more fluidly. But Watch Dogs isn’t about scaling building like Assassin’s Creed, so it’s good to know that Ubisoft has looked long and hard at the vehicular system that was pretty subpar from the first title. Vehicles react better to physics, they handle more uniquely between types and generally make long drives more a pleasure than pain.

Ubisoft also revealed that your hacking abilities have been bolstered significantly. Holloway is able to hack anything from cars (in a very cool Driver San Francisco type of way) to any and every NPC. He also has two tools at his disposal that help him get more hands-on jobs done. The Quadracopter from the trailer will let you hack and survey areas from up top, with a nifty little remote-controlled bot lets you call elevators and set traps from the ground.

Ubisoft is promising a lot more depth to the way you can approach situations this time, even going so far as to confirm that the entire game can be played non-lethally. Hacking is truly going to be the emphasis here, and you’ll be able to use your abilities to circumvent firing a gun at every turn. Of course if that’s not how you roll, there’s a plethora of 3D printed weapons available too.

And hey, as per Kotaku there will be actual dogs this time too. Neat.

Watch Dogs 2 actually has dogs

Watch Dogs 2 is bound to get a much closer inspection during the Ubisoft press conference on Monday, but is already slated for launch on November 15th. Considering this is taking the spot of the now not so annual Assassin’s Creed, I’d expect that date to stick.

Last Updated: June 9, 2016

38 Comments

  1. Umar

    June 9, 2016 at 07:35

    I’m a bit optimistic but the story is touching on a sensitive topic, maybe I’m just overthinking it, but I don’t know if Ubisoft can properly handle such a narrative.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      June 9, 2016 at 07:42

      I’d rather they do this and risk not getting it “perfect”, which it probably won’t be – and that’s fine – and some sulky extremist will get upset no matter what, than just more same old same old.

      Reply

      • Umar

        June 9, 2016 at 07:52

        I wouldn’t want them to shy away from it, for sure, and there is no perfect way to handle such a story either, but it can go very wrong for them…either way. It’s interesting though, keen to see how it plays out. I was worried the character is some edgy hipster, but I like the premise of the protagonist’s character so far.

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          June 9, 2016 at 07:54

          If he is an edgy hipster/hacking goddah just think of all the amusing ways in which you could kill yourself. 😀

          Reply

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            June 9, 2016 at 08:04

            I hope that you can at least set a set of skinny jeans on fire…On said hipster…

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          June 9, 2016 at 09:38

          In the gwent tournament in blood & wine there’s a very long & pointed reference about if you dont like the way someone is playing a game, you can still go play the game the way you like to somewhere else. 😀

          Reply

    • Darren Peach

      June 9, 2016 at 09:18

      Yeah, Snoop Dogg lashed out the remake of Roots. He favours celebrating the virtues and achievement of modern african culture. In a way, he has a valid point. Is the back story not a negative cliche ? It may come across as a crutch that is repeated in modern entertainment time and time again. While it may be novel in this medium, it can be seen as a cheap way to make the character more interesting. I guess it all depends on the depth of the character arc unfolding throughout the story.

      Reply

  2. Ir0nseraph

    June 9, 2016 at 07:39

    I think I will be holding out till the GOTY edition.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      June 9, 2016 at 07:42

      Yup

      Reply

      • Ir0nseraph

        June 9, 2016 at 07:45

        Damn you too, now we will both wait 😛
        But not actually a problem the month of November hardly ever has a shortage of games.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          June 9, 2016 at 07:47

          That’s the thing about Ubisoft and WB games, give it a few months and the full game pops up with all the cut content

          Reply

          • Ir0nseraph

            June 9, 2016 at 07:49

            Well Dishonored 2 releases a few days before watch dogs 2, and I think I might be leaning towards that for now.

          • Ir0nseraph

            June 9, 2016 at 08:05

            Some might say the game will have a full co-op option, if this is true it will make it more desirable.

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            June 9, 2016 at 08:38

            We should try the MP once or twice. Trying to hack someone without being spotted. Almost like hide and seek.

  3. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    June 9, 2016 at 07:45

    Marcus character introduction video….. All I saw was a NPC doing things

    Reply

    • Greylingad[He Charges!]

      June 9, 2016 at 08:04

      Exactly, Jumping and rolling is now an introduction? Wow, who knew?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        June 9, 2016 at 08:39

        They’re just pandering to the kids that want to be cool, I mean he creates a gun with a 3D printer O_o

        Reply

        • Darren Peach

          June 9, 2016 at 08:50

          Yeah, I guess it is a neat idea. But in reality, I doubt hackers print guns and parkour around cities. How about a lead character with the same depth as Rami Malek from Mr Robot ? Love that show.

          Reply

  4. wgb

    June 9, 2016 at 08:00

    Will wait as I did with Watch dogs 1, just picked that up at R200. “Oh yea, piranha gun!”

    Reply

  5. Greylingad[He Charges!]

    June 9, 2016 at 08:05

    I seriously think that there was a yard sale on rap music…

    Reply

  6. Gavin Mannion

    June 9, 2016 at 08:12

    The first trailer gotme excited… that second video made me decide to bargain bin this one

    Reply

  7. Aries

    June 9, 2016 at 08:36

    Gameplay for the first one was on point and fun, the division reminded me alot of watchdogs, though hope now they can give a epic plot the gameplay oh and leave upay out, lost my save twice trying to get the game started

    Reply

  8. Darren Peach

    June 9, 2016 at 08:38

    His jeans are too tight. But, I will definitely get this one. Just wondering if the character arc will be as interesting as the back story. And it includes two of my favorite things, Parkour and Hipsters…… Having said that, are hackers into Parkour ?

    Reply

  9. oVg

    June 9, 2016 at 08:53

    I bet if you take his Iconic hat off you will find cool spiky blue hair, as for those super cool big fake glasses.

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      June 9, 2016 at 09:25

      There’s a scary thought. We already have to put up with young adult film adaptations…… Crap, You just opened up a whole can of worms 🙁

      Reply

      • oVg

        June 9, 2016 at 09:35

        It s true tho. The new generation of gamers are todays teens. A very self entitled lot. You cant blame them. They were using social media at age 5 and are so plugged into the matrix that they will cry blue murder and issue death threats against you if you do not give them what they want.

        Just look at all the down votes on the new cod video. According to Youtube its the most down voted video in the history of youtube. They have all adapted to social gaming, DLC, micro transactions, super fast internet, season passes and weapon packs to outdo their school friends. Kind of like our trump cards back in the day.

        $60 for an on-line only shooter with no narrative is just a 2 week binge for them.

        The oldschool gamer got so used to investing into longevity after 3 decades of self immersive experiences that I just cant catch onto all this casual, quick fix gaming.

        I watched everybody going nuts over Dark Souls 3 last month. I had no idea why. I finished 1 and 2. Its nothing new. Then it clicked, the generation gap is getting breached.

        Reply

        • Darren Peach

          June 9, 2016 at 09:46

          Yep. I don’t understand people hating things as superficial as a game franchise or even a publisher. If there is a valid reason to find something intolerable, I get it. But in my mind it would be something profoundly damaging to ones health, family or self esteem. There seems to be a disproportionate amount of discourse in gaming as a rule of thumb.

          Your point about entitlement is valid. Hate is very common and it is a worrying trend.

          Reply

          • oVg

            June 9, 2016 at 10:01

            I have given up and accepted that I have outgrown this hobby, As for movies? All I see are remakes and new canons. I cant imagine anybody over 25 calling a SWAT team to invade somebody while on live stream. I had my time, it was cool, I even thought Hackers the movie was cooler than The lawnmower Man.

            Now look what happens when a mature development team are given free reign to make a videogame, you get The Witcher 3. A game made by gamers.

            Look what happens when focus testing gets involved by mega Production houses, you get Watchdogs or a splatoon type FPS called Overwatch. Its like Amibos for ADD kids 😛

            RUNS away to play Blood and Wine.

          • Darren Peach

            June 9, 2016 at 10:09

            Noooooooo. That’s right up there with all my best friends living in the UK. Hearing a gamer say they have outgrown gaming. But in all honestly, there are ever increasing instances where the thought that maybe I am too old for this pop into my head. Then………. Uncharted happens and I get sucked right back into it.

          • oVg

            June 9, 2016 at 10:15

            True, the mature titles are far and few between. Just look at the hype of U4. Lazygamer have had 2 posts since its release. You want to know why? The demographic for mature titles are minor.

            They get more hits by reposting Overwatch, Doom, Division, Cod and all other social games and trends from Disney toys to Pokemon.

            I have tried other categories to try and rekindle my gaming passion from visual novels, jrpgs to Indies. Yet I find I prefer playing Golf or UFC lol

          • Darren Peach

            June 9, 2016 at 10:36

            Well, I guess we all need to adapt in some manner. I feel that way about films. But I must say that Doom is not really a social game. It was nice to see the old style fully embraced in Doom 4. Naughty Dog seems push the boundaries of what a game can be. I watch a crap load of sports.

    • Darren Peach

      June 9, 2016 at 09:35

      To clarify, the scary thought is that the focus has shifted to a younger demographic and folks my age become increasingly irrelevant.

      Reply

  10. BakedBagel

    June 9, 2016 at 09:45

    The first one promised the same shit

    Yer a H4cKer H0rry

    We consulted with reeeel 1337 heckers

    And we all know how that turned out

    :>

    Reply

  11. iusedtobe(a)regular

    June 9, 2016 at 10:18

    “Holloway isn’t a criminal by any stretch, but he has been racially profiled”

    That is the wrong direction for games to be heading. Gonna open a new can of worms.

    Reply

  12. Yondaime

    June 9, 2016 at 10:41

    This Hype…This Feeling….oh yeah i remember it from the original Watch Poodles.

    Reply

  13. Jonah Cash

    June 9, 2016 at 12:35

    I want this game so bad. Hope they didn’t make the new character a soppy git!

    Reply

  14. Jonah Cash

    June 9, 2016 at 12:40

    Lot of people seem to have hated the first Watch Dogs game… I enjoyed it a lot for what it was. So much so that I thinking of replaying it before I get this one.

    Reply

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