E3 2019 Impressions — Watch Dogs: Legion

Watch Dogs: Legion

While at E3, I was able to see Watch Dogs: Legion in a more intimate setting than just a trailer. Here is my take on Watch Dogs: Legion.

It had to be one of the worst kept secrets leading up to E3 this year, but it was still nice to see the full announcement of Watch Dogs: Legion during the main event that Ubisoft held and then the various videos around the show floor. It is an interesting take they are going with for the game, as we will be able to play as anyone in Watch Dogs: Legion, but it could be a little difficult to get behind without having a look at it before it launches on March 6^th of next year. I guess it is a good thing that I had a chance to do just that while on the show floor this year to give you all a better idea on what to expect on your PS4, Xbox One, and PC at launch.

The demo I had a chance to see for Watch Dogs: Legion did not seem to highlight much of the overarching story in the game, but it did highlight some of the aspects. Things like the authoritarian rule going on in London and how all of the citizens of the area are handling it. Also, why any and all of them may want to join DedSec in their goal to bring it all down and free the populace from what is going on. Outside of that, there was not much in the way of the game’s story detailed. Something that I was fine with as we did get to dig further into the “play as anyone” mechanic they are pushing for this Watch Dogs outing. Given that it is the core of it all, it makes complete sense.

The demo I was able to see focused on the old lady character that, for some reason, made the internet lose their minds when shown for Watch Dogs: Legion. Even though she could be any random character in the game’s world, she was a former Mi6 operative that has been brought back into the fight by DedSec to do what she was once good at. In this instance, it was stealth and trying to recruit more operatives to the cause. All of which flowed with the same style of gameplay when profiling NPCs in the past titles, but this time we could see a bit more information and a few extra traits they could have. All of which to make our selection of characters a bit easier as it lists out what they will be good at and have bonuses to when you play as them.

Yes, we really will get to play as any of them but will need to do some extra recruiting for those who are not fully onboard with the organization currently. This is where the next step of the demo went as we found our potential candidate, but she did not have any good feelings toward DedSec to start but also had some financial troubles we could fix to help sway. From there, we move into a bit of tried and true gameplay from Watch Dogs to clear the “debt” and raise relations with this new character. In the core game it could take more than one mission, but in the demo that is all it took. Then we were able to take full control of the character and go about the rest of this part of Watch Dogs: Legion as her.

Thankfully too. Each of the characters we recruit in Watch Dogs: Legion will be fully animated and have their own voice in the game. Something that was highlighted with the slow and clumsy movements of the old lady but quickly changed to something a bit more fluid once we took over the new recruit. This would have to be one of the bigger feats in Watch Dogs: Legion as Ubisoft is stating that there will be upwards of nine million characters filling the world and ready for us to bring in. I am sure that not every one of them will have full V/O work, but I never heard one sound the same during the demo I was shown. My guess is that they have a large variety already and are just going to use some kind of tuning to change things up on the fly.

Moving right along, the next part of the demo I was able to see took us through a new stealth and hacking mission. Something similar to the above gameplay video, but in this instance, there was more of a highlight on stealth. Something the character that was taken over had bonuses to while also mixing in a few new things to help make their way through it all. We can use the spider drone for a bit more than we could in the past, at least in this demo. These could have been some kind of upgrades along the way but were unlocked to make sure things were more exciting for us all. It was able to stun enemies and allowed for full hacking instead of just remote hacking as we saw in the past for Watch Dogs. All of which moving towards being able to even hack drones that we can fly around on in the full game.

At the end of it all, Watch Dogs: Legion felt just like another title in the franchise but with some innovating upgrades for us to enjoy. At least they looked that way as I never saw a character repeated and all had truly unique stats from the look of it all. Something that will make it all stand out when you mix in the permadeath mechanic mixed in. I am still extremely curious as to the main story we will follow in the game as there would need to be a primary recruiter somewhere, but I will save that for later. I have no doubt that fans of Watch Dogs, in general, will be excited to get to play this game as the core of it all is still here. We will just have to wait and see if this new A.P.C. mechanic will truly pan out as described.

Watch Dogs: Legion — Collector’s Edition

Collector’s Edition

• Pre-order Offer:
  • Golden King Pack
• Base Game
• 3 Day Early Access
• Season Pass
• Ultimate pack
  • Urban Jungle Pack
  • 4-Week VIP Status
• Collector’s Bundle
  • Lighting Ded Coronet Mask (38 CM)
  • Exclusive Steelbook
  • Double-sided Propaganda Poster
  • 3 Stickers