Now here’s an interesting little detail about Ubisoft’s upcoming open world hacking game, Watch Dogs 2. Unlike most Ubisoft games you’ve played – think Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry – Watch Dogs 2 will gradually unlock its story missions according to the number of virtual followers you amass as protagonist Marcus Holloway. If you recall, the first game played out a lot like most Ubisoft titles: you had to unlock ‘towers’ to open up one section of the world map, and then look for your mission icons from there. Watch Dogs 2 wants to implement story progression into the game in a more organic manner.
Progression in Watch Dogs 2 is not tied to story beats or to set locations (like towers) which you must take over/climb/hack/scan/set on fire/delete as Ubisoft game appropriate. It’s tied to your count of virtual followers, which you collect like a kind of XP as you complete activities and make discoveries in San Francisco.
“Players start with a few followers in [hacker group] DedSec but pretty soon you realise you’re going to need more if you want to pull off big operations. So you start free-roaming,” Morin continues.
“Every time you get followers, it’s like you’re unlocking the DedSec hivemind. You’re also unlocking new knowledge, new operations, new co-op missions. And then organically you hit those end-game milestones.”
Speaking with Eurogamer, creative director Jonathan Morin mentioned that the idea for this implementation came with the intent to make the city of San Francisco feel more free, and less constrained. Players will have to actively take on the role of a hacker as they gather manpower and resources to tackle tougher challenges in the city. We don’t know that much about the progression system yet, but this is already sounding a lot more promising than its predecessor.
Watch Dogs 2 is set to be released for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 15.
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