Earlier this month, Ubisoft released a sequel to its open-world hacking adventure, Watch Dogs. Gone is the city of Chicago and the dour grimace of vigilante Aiden Pearce. Watch Dogs 2 instead focuses on Marcus Holloway, a youthful hacker living in the bright and beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. As part of DedSec, players complete missions around San Francisco with the aim of destroying the city’s advanced surveillance system.
We’re down with the change of scenery and much-needed hero refresh, but Watch Dogs 2 is still building on the flawed foundation of the original. We asked ourselves if the game actually fixes those problems and how well it succeeds on its own.
In what ways does Watch Dogs 2 most improve upon the original?
Andrew: There are a number of reasons why Watch Dogs 2 is more enjoyable than the original — better missions, the controllable drone, a great soundtrack — but really the most important reason is a shift in attitude. The original Watch Dogs was a joyless game starring a miserable character. Aiden Pearce was angry, violent, and devoid of personality. He was like a low-level villain from another game turned into a lead. Watch Dogs, starring Angry Man in Baseball Hat.
But in Watch Dogs 2, the hero is Aiden’s total opposite. Marcus Holloway is charming and personable, someone you want to spend a lot of time with. And whereas Aiden seemed to care about nothing but avenging the death of his niece, Marcus is fighting for more than just himself. His goal is to expose corruption amongst the tech elite. It’s a lot more relatable than simply killing a lot of bad guys to avenge a loved one’s death.