Watch Dogs 2 (stylized as WATCH DOGS 2) is a 2016 action-adventure game developed and published by Ubisoft Montreal. It is the sequel to Watch Dogs, released in 2014, and the second instalment in the Watch Dogs series. It was released in November 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, and Stadia in December 2020. The game is played from a third-person perspective in a fictionalised version of the San Francisco Bay Area, and its open world can be explored on foot or by vehicle. Players take control of Marcus Holloway, a hacker who collaborates with the hacking collective DedSec to bring down the city's advanced surveillance system, ctOS. There are several ways to complete missions, and each successful assignment increases DedSec's follower count. Cooperative multiplayer enables competitive one-on-one combat as well as connecting with other players to neutralise a player who is wreaking havoc.
Ubisoft Montreal analysed player feedback from the first game to determine what could be improved in Watch Dogs 2, and the setting was researched through frequent trips to California. The driving mechanic was overhauled by Ubisoft Reflections. Real hackers were consulted to validate scripts and game mechanics for authenticity, and references to real-life hacktivism, such as the Project Chanology protest, were fictionalised. Hudson Mohawke composed the original soundtrack. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised it for improving on the original Watch Dogs in areas such as hacking, setting, characters, and driving. Character inconsistencies, firearms, and frequent technical issues — which were later patched — were cited as flaws. By March 2020, Watch Dogs 2 had sold over 10 million copies. Watch Dogs: Legion, the sequel, was released on October 29, 2020.
Gameplay
Watch Dogs 2 is an action-adventure game with stealth elements, similar to its predecessor. [2] and took on the role of Marcus Holloway, a young hacker, in third person. The game has an open world set in a fictionalised version of the San Francisco Bay Area,[3][4] which is more than twice the size of Watch Dogs' Chicagoland setting. [5] It is divided into four sections: San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, and Silicon Valley. [6] Players can explore the game's world on foot or by using the game's various vehicles, which include cars, trucks, buses, cable cars, motorcycles, quad bikes, and boats. [7] The driving mechanic was redesigned to be more user-friendly. [8] While driving, the player can fire their weapons. [9] Marcus has improved acrobatic abilities as well as the ability to parkour around the city. [10] The player can approach the game's missions in a variety of ways, including the aggressive approach, in which they defeat enemies with guns made with a 3D printer; explosives such as mines; or Marcus' own melee weapon, a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. Alternatively, the player can take the stealth route, evading enemies or temporarily paralysing them with Marcus' taser. [4] [10] Watch Dogs 2, like its predecessor, emphasises Marcus' ability to use environmental apparatus and the terrain to his advantage. A player, for example, could hack an A/C unit to produce an electric shock when an enemy approaches it. Marcus may also use his own modular taser devices and explosives against enemies in a tactical manner. [11] Police officers will attempt to arrest the player if they witness the player committing a crime or are alerted by a non-player character (NPC). [12] The game's upgrade system is back, with items divided into three categories: Ghost, Aggressor, and Trickster. Upgrades can be tailored to individual playstyles. [9]
Multiplayer
Watch Dogs 2 brings back multiplayer. The game includes a cooperative multiplayer mode in which players can meet and interact with random players. They can explore the open world together and complete missions, which will help players gain followers. The game includes an emote system that allows players' characters to communicate with one another using simple gestures. The game can be played entirely online or completely offline. [17] There are also six competitive multiplayer modes:
- Hacking Invasion: A one-versus-one competitive multiplayer mode introduced in the first game in which a player infiltrates another player's single-player session and steals virtual data. While stealing the data, the invading player must remain hidden, while the defending player must identify and kill the invading player. [18]
- Bounty Hunter: A mode that was introduced in the game. The mode will be activated if an online player causes too much chaos in the world. A player can also manually initiate this game mode. Police officers, along with one to three other players, will join the player's game in the hopes of killing the hunted and claiming the bounty, which earns them experience points. The hunted could either retaliate against the hunters by killing them, which increases their rewards, or they could flee until the bounty expired. [4] [19] Meanwhile, the hunted can be assisted by another player if that player chooses to join the hunted. Using the in-game smartphone, players can manually place a bounty on themselves. [20]
- Showd0wn: An update included a new mode. In this mode, two teams of two players compete in short missions. Missions range from the first team stealing hard drives to the offensive team hacking the servers that the defensive team is protecting in a short period of time. [21]
- Racing: An update included a new mode. Up to four players compete in head-to-head races with drones, ekarts, boats, and bikes to reach the finish line. [22]
- Man vs Machine: An update included a new mode. Up to four players collaborate to take down a machine in a limited amount of time. [23]
- Loot Trucks: An update included a new mode. Up to four players compete head-to-head to steal a valuable box from a truck while avoiding the cops and other players. This event can occur at random while a player is free-roaming, but it can also be manually triggered. [21]
Plot
In 2016, three years after the events of Chicago, San Francisco becomes the first city to install the next generation of ctOS (central Operating System) – a computing network developed by technology company Blume that connects every device into a single system. Hacker Marcus Holloway decides to join the hacking group DedSec (composed of hackers Sitara Dhawan, Josh Sauchak, Horatio Carlin, and "Wrench") after being punished for a crime he did not commit via ctOS 2.0, and conducts an initiation test by hacking a Blume server farm to wipe his profile from the system. DedSec determines that the new ctOS has the potential to covertly harm innocent citizens throughout the city, and thus decides to raise awareness of their goals by conducting a social media campaign to recruit, as well as by exposing corruption and crimes perpetrated through the system, before bringing down Blume.
DedSec eventually discovers information about Kenney's data manipulation programme, "Bellwether," and learns that with both this and a new satellite network designed to bypass undersea data cables, Duan intends to manipulate world finances and politics, thereby gaining a monopoly on the entire world's electronic data. DedSec coordinates a massive operation to allow Marcus to infiltrate Blume's San Francisco headquarters, hack their servers, and feed information about Duan's crimes to the police in order to expose this and his corruption. While Duan is arrested for fraud and Blume is under investigation, DedSec vows to keep fighting the company.
Two unidentified individuals note in an extended ending scene added in a post-release patch that more DedSec cells and hacktivist groups have emerged worldwide in response to the San Francisco Blume scandal, and that it is time to put their own plans into action. The filename of the recording seen at the end is a set of coordinates in Brixton, London, hinting at future events.
Development
At E3, Ubisoft executive Tony Key stated that they were pleased with the first game's sales and that the brand would be developed into a long-running franchise. [24] The primary goal of the first game, according to creative director Jonathan Morin, was to establish the Watch Dogs brand. Instead of creating a more polished version of the previous game, it was intended that they take risks with the sequel. [25] Morin and his team read the first game's reviews and visited NeoGAF and various forums to study player feedback in order to improve the game. Their top priorities were to create a "believable" environment, give players more freedom, and introduce a new leading character whose personality would be vastly different from that of the first game's protagonist, Aiden Pearce. [16] Ubisoft Montreal, the primary developer, collaborated with other subsidiaries Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kyiv, and Ubisoft Reflections to complete the project. [1]
Ubisoft Reflections, the developer of Ubisoft's own Driver series, completely overhauled the driving mechanic to make it more accessible to players. [26] In response to complaints about a graphical downgrade in Watch Dogs compared to what was seen at E3, Ubisoft assured that Watch Dogs 2 would not suffer the same fate because, unlike the first instalment, it was developed from the start for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [27] Another improvement over the first game was a stronger thematic link to the narrative. [28] The main operations are organised in the form of story arcs that can last up to ninety minutes and advance the plot with each completion. [29]
The developer collaborated with consultant hackers who validated their scripts, including the use of jargon and gameplay mechanics, to ensure the subject matter's authenticity. The game's hacker group DedSec's propaganda was influenced by animated GIF culture, glitch art, and comic books from the late 1940s. [30] David Maynor worked as a hacking consultant. [31] Content director Thomas Geffroyd, who had twenty years of experience in the hacking community, was tasked with gathering information from hacktivists like author Violet Blue and relaying it to the team. The game also contains real-world references, such as Project Chanology, which was fictionalised in the mission "False Profits." [32]
A sequel to Watch Dogs has been rumoured since its release, but it was first confirmed by publisher Ubisoft via financial reports in February[38] and May 2016,[39] before being confirmed as part of the 2016 E3 lineup. A 20-minute online reveal followed a few days later. [40] On October 27, 2016, it was announced that Watch Dogs 2 had been released to manufacturing. [41]
Disrupt has been upgraded to power the game engine.
Reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, critics gave Watch Dogs 2 "generally favourable" reviews. [63][64][65] The Update 1.04 patch resolved technical issues on consoles. [73] Destructoid's Zack Furniss praised the sequel's tone shift to a lack of seriousness in his review, and stated that its protagonist Marcus Holloway possessed a similar charm and wit. He liked the hacking component because it could be applied to a variety of fields and was compatible with a non-lethal approach; in fact, Furniss believed that firearms could have been eliminated entirely for this reason. Although the driving was praised as an improvement over the first game, technical issues such as glitches and low frame rates were cited as flaws.According to review aggregator Metacritic, critics gave Watch Dogs 2 "generally favourable" reviews. [63][64][65] The Update 1.04 patch resolved technical issues on consoles. [73] Destructoid's Zack Furniss praised the sequel's tone shift to a lack of seriousness in his review, and stated that its protagonist Marcus Holloway possessed a similar charm and wit. He liked the hacking component because it could be applied to a variety of fields and was compatible with a non-lethal approach; in fact, Furniss believed that firearms could have been eliminated entirely for this reason. Although the driving was praised as an improvement over the first game, technical issues such as glitches and low frame rates were cited as flaws.[66] According to Matt Buchholtz of EGM, the game was "less of a hacktivist tale and more of a beautiful immersion into the San Francisco Bay." The setting, characters, and story were cited as significant improvements over its predecessor. Buchholtz observed that the tasks required to gain followers were effective in encouraging global exploration. He did notice, however, that murder made little sense in the context of the main character, which led to increased use of stealth. [67] In comparison to Watch Dogs, Elise Favis at Game Informer both criticised and praised elements. She liked how hacking was prioritised in the gameplay and the new "smoother" driving mechanic, but she saw inconsistencies between the protagonist's actions and personality, and she thought supporting characters were "too obnoxious and petty to be meaningful companions." Favis also had low frame rate capabilities on the PlayStation 4. [68]
Sales
Ubisoft revealed in November 2016 that the game's pre-orders were disappointing for the company. As a result, Ubisoft took a more conservative approach and reduced its sales forecast for the second half of its fiscal year 2017. CEO Yves Guillemot, on the other hand, was confident that the game would not be a commercial flop, comparing it to Far Cry 3, a commercially successful game with low pre-order sales. Because of consumers' "wait-and-see" attitude, he believed that reviews would have a significant impact on game sales. [75] [76] According to Chart-Track, Watch Dogs 2 was the second-best-selling retail video game in the United Kingdom in its first week of release, representing an 80% decrease from the original's sales. [77] [78] In January 2017, the game ranked eighth in sales in the United States. [79] In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version sold 68,796 copies. [80] Ubisoft announced in their earnings report in May 2020 that Watch Dogs 2 had sold more than 10 million copies by the end of the 2019–20 fiscal year, which ended in March 2020. [81]
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