Watch Dogs 2 Devs Discuss Hacker Culture in New Episode of Remote Access

The second episode of Ubisoft’s Remote Access video series is all about hacker culture in the real world and how it is shaping up the virtual setting of Watch Dogs 2. Thanks to popular TV Shows like Mr. Robot and groups like Anonymous, hacktivism has become a wildly discussed topic of conversation in recent years. However, the phenomenon goes back much farther than that. With Watch Dogs 2, the developers are drawing heavy inspiration from current events while also looking into how hacker culture has evolved over the last few decades.

While the original title attempted to depict the world itself in a pretty realistic manner, the game ultimately fell short of its full potential due to the fact that the player felt more like a highly trained marksman than a skilled hacker a lot of the time. Watch Dogs 2 is taking a different approach by making the world and characters a bit more colorful and offering compelling reasons for why the DedSec group is fighting against certain corporations. After all, actual hacktivism is about exposing the truth and not about causing mayhem just for fun.

The developers state in the video that they “wanted to treat with respect the subject matter” and that they are working together with actual hackers in order to make sure that what we see in Watch Dogs 2 is an accurate depiction of what could be possible in the real world. In terms of visuals, Ubisoft is drawing inspiration from multiple sources connected with hacker culture that range from glitch art and pop culture elements all the way to the cartoons of the late 40s.

Ultimately, what the company is trying to do with Watch Dogs 2 is build a game that talks about serious and relevant topics to our modern society but does it in a way that’s very fun and interesting, much like many real world hacktivist groups tend to do.

Watch Dogs 2 is scheduled to launch on November 15 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

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