Watch Dogs 2 is a sequel to Ubisoft's first open-world hacker-vigilante simulator Watch Dogs. The player becomes Marcus Holloway, a young man living in the sunny San Francisco, allied with DedSec to take down ctOS 2.0, the successor of the invasive operating system known from the previous game. As a third person shooter, Watch Dogs 2 offers a variety of options for both non-lethal and lethal resolutions of challenges offered to the players.

New city

Watch Dogs 2 takes place in San Francisco, a sunny city bursting with life. The iconic locations of San Francisco look authentic and easily recognizable to everyone familiar with the city. Authenticity extends to recreated neighborhoods, all of which have their atmosphere faithfully captured. Apart from the city itself, the action will take you to a more rural Marin County, the Stanford campus in Silicon Valley, the technological paradise of Nudle, Oakland, and even to Alcatraz. The locations are bursting with life, from tourists, to street performers, to street vendors. Every NPC has procedurally generated flavor information to make them appear even closer to life.

Improved hacking gameplay

Watch Dogs 2 improves on the hacking systems known from the previous installment. Thanks to ctOS 2.0 installed in Chicago Marcus has more toys to play with than Aidan ever had. Even simply scanning other people on the streets gives a number of new options. Paint them as a criminal or a gang member for police or rival gang intervention, steal their money, or just recharge you phone. The available options are now easier to access, with more intuitive controls despite more complex functions. Some of the most potent options at Marcus' disposal are: the ability to hack into any car to control it to a limited degree, and transforming junction boxes into proximity mines at his leisure.

New hero

Replacing Aiden Pearce as the game's protagonist comes Marcus Holloway, a young man wrongly painted as a criminal by ctOS 2.0. He decides to join DedSec in their efforts to take this system down for its invasiveness and threat to common citizens. His energy and positive attitude making a more approachable and enjoyable protagonist, suitable to the sunny San Francisco. He has three distinct playstyles supported by his equipment choices: Aggressor, Stealth, and hacking-focused Trickster.

Creative chaos

The variety and number of tools at your disposal serve to make Watch Dogs 2 gameplay as welcoming to creatively induced chaos as possible. Traffic accidents, police interventions, gang activities and complete control over electrical systems. All of this makes Marcus a creator of chaos serving the right cause. The Trickster branch of gadgets and options focuses on causing widespread and focused distractions while keeping Marcus away from trouble, controlling the growing chaos like a puppeteer.