Watch Dogs 1 (stylized as WATCH_DOGS) is a series of action-adventure games developed and published by Ubisoft. It spans three games: Watch Dogs (2014), Watch Dogs 2 (2016) and Watch Dogs: Legion (2020). Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story, as well as engage in various side activities. Most of the gameplay revolves around driving, shooting, and stealth, with occasional role-playing and puzzle elements. The games in the Watch Dogs series are set in fictionalized versions of real-life cities: Chicago, San Francisco, and London.
The series centers on different hacker protagonists who, while having different goals to achieve, find themselves involved with the criminal underworld of their respective cities. The antagonists are usually corrupt companies, crime bosses, and rival hackers who take advantage of ctOS (central Operating System), a fictional computing network that connects every electronic device in a city together into a single system and stores personal information on most citizens. The player also has access to ctOS, which can be used to control various devices to assist them in combat or sovling puzzles.
The games in the Watch Dogs series have performed well both financially and critically. Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2 sold over 10 million units each.
Set within Chicago in 2013, the first installment in the series follows the story of Aiden Pearce, an expert hacker who embarks on a quest for revenge after his niece’s murder. The game’s development began in 2009, with a budget of $68 million.[2][3]Ubisoft Montreal was the game’s lead developer, with additional support provided by Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Quebec, and Ubisoft Bucharest.[4] The game was heavily anticipated following its gameplay reveal at E3 2012, though the final game, which was accused of graphical downgrading, triggered controversy.[5] The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in May 2014, and a Wii U version was released in November 2014.[6] The game received generally positive reviews and it sold more than 10 million copies by the end of 2014.[7][8]
A downloadable content pack for the game, titled Watch Dogs: Bad Blood, was released in September 2014, starring Raymond “T-Bone” Kenney as the playable protagonist. The story, set one year after the events of Watch Dogs, centers around Kenney’s conflict with another hacker who seeks revenge for the deaths Kenney inadvertently caused through the Northeast blackout of 2003.[9]
Set within the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016, Watch Dogs 2 follows the story of hacker Marcus Holloway, who is punished for a crime he did not commit through ctOS 2.0, and joins the hacker group DedSec in their efforts to raise social awareness about the dangers posed by ctOS 2.0. and expose the corruption of its creators, the Blume company. This installment expanded upon the multiplayer options from the first game and introduced new weapons and gadgets. Unlike Watch Dogs, the game features a much more vibrant and optimistic tone.[10] The game was released in November 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[11] Ubisoft Montreal was the lead developer, with Ubisoft’s studios in Toronto, Paris, Bucharest, Kiev and Newcastle assisting the development.[12] The game received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics generally regarding it as an improvement over the original game.[13] While the game struggled at launch commercially, more than 10 million units were sold by 2020.[14]
Five downloadable content packs have been released: the “T-Bone Content Bundle”, “Human Conditions”, “No Compromise”, “Root Access Bundle”, and “Psychedelic Pack”.[15][16] As per an exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, all DLCs for Watch Dogs 2 were timed exclusives for PlayStation 4.[17]
Root Access Bundle (available in December 2016)[18] and Psychedelic Pack (available on launch day) feature a Zodiac Killer mission as well as new outfits, cars, skins, and weapons.[15][16]
The T-Bone Content Bundle was released for PlayStation 4 on December 22, 2016,[19] and includes a new co-op difficulty setting, “Mayhem”, plus the clothes and truck of Raymond “T-Bone” Kenney.[15][16]
Human Conditions was released on February 21, 2017 for the PlayStation 4 and on March 23 for the Xbox One and PC,[20] and includes three new stories set in San Francisco’s science and medicine industries. The pack also includes new co-op missions featuring a new enemy class called “the Jammer”, a technologically savvy enemy capable of jamming all of a player’s hacker equipment, making them vulnerable to head-on attacks.[15][16]
No Compromise was released on April 18, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and was launched on 18 May for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows, featuring a new story mission, outfits and weapons.[21]
Set in a near future London, Watch Dogs: Legion follows the local branch DedSec attempts to clear their names after being framed for a series of bombings that has impacted the city, as well as liberate its citizens from the oppressive private military company Albion, which has taken control of London’s ctOS system to transform it into a surveillance state.[22] Unlike previous installments, the game does not feature a single protagonist, instead having multiple playable characters and recruitment of all NPC characters. There is also the option of Permadeath, forcing the player to select a new character each time their current one is killed; new player characters can and are encouraged to be recruited throughout the game.[23] The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia on October 29, 2020; PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions were made available once the consoles released.[24]Ubisoft Toronto led the game’s development, with Clint Hocking serving as its creative director.
