Watch Dogs: Legion

There was a ton of hype behind Watch Dogs: Legion! This is a game that felt like it took forever to come out and even had a couple of notable delays! Still, when it was eventually released towards the end of 2020, even without the multiplayer component, fans of the series had a great time trying to liberate London and show off their hacking skills.

Alright Mate, You Sound Like Your From London

I thought that the setting and the whole premise of Watch Dogs: Legion was fantastic and I was in right from the start. I think that setting the game in London was a great idea. The story is about the hacker group DedSec and they are being framed for a series of terrorist bombings all around London. You need to try and clear your name and prove your innocence.

Another aspect of the story is that London is being ruled by an oppressive military force called Albion. DedSec also wants to help people in London be free from this oppressive rule. It is a pretty neat story with a lot of moving parts. It may go on just a tad too long, but for the most part, I was fully invested in what was going down.

Keeping Your Hacker Self Busy

Like most other Ubisoft open-world games, Watch Dogs: Legion is stacked with content, so much that it can feel a bit overwhelming at the time. You of course have your story missions that will take up a lot of your time. However, it is all of the side content that the game has that truly makes this a massive experience. One thing that I thought was a lot of fun was the liberating of the different boroughs in London. There are also a ton of side missions located throughout London too.

The core gameplay is pretty much the same as it was in Watch Dogs 2 and I do not mean that in a negative way. You can tackle missions in any way that you want, you can go in like a force of nature trying to muscle your way through it. Or, you can use stealth, perhaps using a character’s abilities to get through. There is driving, hacking, and other cool stuff you would expect from the series.

Welcome To The Family

The big “gimmick” of Watch Dogs: Legion was that they would allow you to take control of pretty much any NPC that is in London. Ranging from an athletic parkour dude to a little old lady. Each character has their own personality and set of skills. It is pretty amazing what they have done here and you may think that this would have it so you do not feel a connection to the characters, but that is not the case at all. I played with the permadeath setting on and it was pretty brutal when some of my characters died. Do not get me wrong, a lot of them I could not have cared less about, but a select few I did.

Playing With Friends

Ok, so it was annoying that it took like 6 months (I actually think it was more!) for the multiplayer to be added to the game, but I feel it was well worth the wait. You can just screw around in London doing whatever you want, or you can work as a team to tackle various missions. Four people can play together and me and my buddies have had a lot of laughs doing this.

Pros:

• The way you can play as tons of different characters is cool
• I thought the story the game told was fun
• It is awesome how different characters have different abilities
• Playing this online with your friends is a great time

Cons:

• It will not be for you if you did not like the previous two games
• The permadeath option can be pretty brutal

Watch Dogs: The Legion title takes place in the London, in the near future. Ubisoft Toronto went above and beyond in the detail department. London has never looked so good the muted neon pallet gives the city a mysterious beauty that will make players anxious to dive in and start revealing the cities secrets. All the cities major landmarks are recreated, and the streets of London are recreated from their real-world counterparts. The beauty of Old English architecture is intertwined with enhancements that one would expect to see in a city of the future.

Power to the People

The core theme of the game is a fight against an evil corporation. The oppressive Albion corporation is the game’s antagonist. You and your band of agents will be taking back London from the hands of the oppressor. To start the push against Albion you will be recruiting city dwellers to help you rebuild DedSec, an underground collective of hackers. In previous titles you have been able to examine personal data about any individual in the game. This feature is further enhanced to aid in recruitment. Now you will be able to see skills that each citizen might bring to the team. The most impressive part of the recruiting system is that each recruit seems to have a unique personality.

The games narrative is mature, and players should be ready for a thrill ride filled with despotic regimes overflowing with corruption and greed. The narrative gives you every reason to want to “Build the Resistance”. Ubisoft made a point to eliminate some of the bloat from previous titles. The main story line is littered with a small number of side missions but, each one ties directly in the overarching narrative. This will ensure that completionists do not have to spend pointless hours playing fetch for NPCs.

All Politics Inside

The nature of the game’s complex narrative is political. Ubisoft makes a few clear political statements in the game that some may relate to real life current events. The citizens of London in the game have come to accept Authoritarian rule due to their fear of immigrants and crime. Essentially, they have been made to fear their fellow citizens rather than cooperate with them for a better future. The future of London is in the hands of a powerful few.

Veterans of the series will feel right at home. Gameplay in the latest entry in the series has not deviated far from the original formula. It is one well established by games like GTA and Saints Row. However, Ubisoft has added a variety of new gadgets for you team members to use. The game allows and encourages players to experiment with different styles.

Pros

• Next Gen Enhancements
• Recruitment is fun and recruits are diverse
• Play your way
• Great Setting and Story

Cons

• Lack of a charismatic protagonist