Development on the game began in 2009. As part of their research for the open world, the developers conducted field research around Chicago throughout development and captured footage for the design team. Development duties were shared between many of Ubisoft's studios worldwide.
Following its announcement in June 2012,
Watch Dogs was widely anticipated. At release, it received generally positive feedback, with praise particularly directed at the game's hacking elements and mission variety. The game also received criticism concerning the gameplay, technical issues and graphical quality.
Watch Dogs was a commercial success, breaking the record for the biggest first day sales of a Ubisoft game, and becoming the biggest launch of a new
IP ever in the United Kingdom at the time. Within a week, the game sold over 4 million copies.
Gameplay
Watch Dogs is an
action-adventure game played from a
third-person perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of missions, players can
freely roam the
open world of
Chicago. The world may be fully explored from the beginning of the game without restrictions, although story progress unlocks more gameplay content.
Using the in-game smartphone, players have the ability to view if a
civilian is about to be involved in a crime.
In the game, players take control of Aiden Pearce, a
vigilante who can
hack into various electronic devices tied to the city's central operating system (ctOS), allowing various methods for the player to solve numerous objectives.
[9] The hacking mechanic in the game is performed directly from Aiden's in-game
smartphone, which is equipped with multiple
applications, namely the "profiler" and the "crime prevention system"; the former allows the player to access information on any citizen in the city, while the latter notifies the player when a crime is likely to occur in the vicinity. The phone is also equipped with applications that interact directly with the environment around the player; for example, players can hack into
NPC's phones to retrieve bank data and steal funds as well as unlock new cars, weapons, and in-game music, or they can hack into traffic lights to cause collisions.
[10] Players can also receive information on civilians via
augmented reality feeds, providing them with information on demographics, health and potential behaviour. Equipment is also provided by smartphone apps, which can be used to summon cars and weaponry. Players can stop trains, raise security barriers, and black out the entire city and can slow down time to shoot.
The game's combat utilises a combination of
stealth components and limited
parkour (there is no jumping up or across), along with the mechanics of a cover-based third-person shooter.
[11] The hacking element of the game can also be used in combat situations to eliminate opponents, create diversions, or create cover. It can also be used as a stealth tool to sneak past guards. In combat,
auto-aim and a
cover system are available as assistance against enemies. Should players take damage, their health meter will gradually regenerate. If players commit crimes while playing, the police may respond, as indicated by a meter in the
head-up display. On the meter, the displayed levels indicates the amount of attention the crime demands; if the player reaches the maximum fifth level, efforts by law enforcement to incapacitate players become very aggressive and increasingly difficult. When players have escaped the officers' line of sight, the level enters a cooldown mode, which recedes when players escape the search area (as displayed on the mini-map).
As the game proceeds, the player can improve Aiden's skills either by expending skill points or earning skills and perks by completing side missions and collecting various items from the in game world, such as finding
QR codes on the sides of buildings or finding ctOS servers collecting information on the citizens of Chicago.
Alongside the single-player mode,
Watch Dogs features an asynchronous
online multiplayer mode. One element to the multiplayer mode is a one-on-one interaction, in which one player secretly joins the single-player experience of another player and attempts to install a "
back-door virus" onto their smartphone.
[12] In addition, the game features an eight-player free roam mode
[13] Other multiplayer modes include car races, competitive decryption combat, and a ctOS mobile challenge.
[b] A mobile application is also available for smartphones and tablets that allows players to challenge another player in-game and use hacks that triggers traps, in an attempt to stop them from succeeding.
[15]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
In
Watch Dogs, players take control of Aiden Pearce (
Noam Jenkins), a
grey hat hacker and
vigilante. After a tragic accident kills his niece Lena, Aiden seeks to bring his own kind of justice to the people responsible, all while protecting his sister Nicole (Anne Hopkins) and nephew Jackson (Nicholas Bode). Aiden meets a host of allies over the course of the game: Jordi Chin (
Aaron Douglas), a "
fixer" and Aiden's hired partner; Clara Lille (
Isabelle Blais), a
tattoo artist and member of the "DedSec" hacker group (under the alias 'BadBoy17'); and Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney (John Trench), a former ctOS
engineer. Aiden also encounters many enemies, including Delford "Iraq" Wade (Jerod Hayes),
[16] a gang leader with a military background; and Dermot "Lucky" Quinn (Myron Natwick), owner of the Merlaut Hotel and
crime boss of Chicago's crime underground. Other characters include Damien Brenks (
Daniel Kash), Aiden's former mentor and partner-in-crime; and Maurice Vega (
Christopher Jacot), the triggerman who caused the accident that claimed Lena's life.
Plot
In October 2012, Aiden Pearce and Damien Brenks launch an electronic bank heist at the Merlaut Hotel, with Aiden transferring the funds through his smartphone.
[17] When they come across a strange file and alert another hacker, Damien tries to find the hacker, giving them both away. Unable to talk Damien out of it, Aiden stops him by leaving.
[18] Fearing for his family— sister Nicole, and her children Lena and Jackson—Aiden decides to drive his beloved family to safety under the guise of a surprise trip. However, on the way, two hitmen hired to take Aiden out intercept the car. One of them, Maurice Vega, fires the shot that crashes the car and puts Lena in a coma, and she dies two months later.
[19]
A year later, Aiden, now a vigilante known as "The Fox", finally tracks down Maurice in the Parker Square district.
[20][21] After a fruitless interrogation about Maurice's
contractor, Aiden leaves Maurice in the hands of Jordi Chin while he hacks the ctOS to help them escape unnoticed.
[20][22] As Aiden investigates further, Damien (whom he cut ties with since the Merlaut robbery) approaches him, requesting to find the other hacker from the Merlaut job.
[23] Upon Aiden's refusal, Damien kidnaps Nicole, forcing Aiden to comply with Damien's demands.
[24]
With the help of Clara Lille, a member of hacking syndicate DedSec, Aiden tracks down the second hacker: ex-military gang leader Delford "Iraq" Wade.
[25] Aiden obtains the electronic key to Iraq's server room and obtains a sample of the data from his servers.
[26] He and Clara find that Iraq has
secrets on almost every citizen of Chicago, effectively protecting his gang from the authorities.
[27] When they come across encrypted data beyond Clara's ability, she directs Aiden to seek out Raymond "T-Bone" Kenney.
[28][29] After Aiden completes some tasks for him, T-Bone agrees to help decrypt the data.
[30]
Aiden mounts an assault on Iraq's compound, making it to his server room. After Aiden downloads the server data, Iraq confronts him; Aiden kills him and leaves the compound.
[31] While browsing the server information, another hacker–JB "Defalt" Marcowicz–infiltrates their system, stealing the information before deleting it from their servers. Defalt also leaves a recording that reveals Clara helped locate Aiden and Damien eleven months prior, which ultimately led to his niece's death.
[32] Angered, Aiden demands that Clara leave. Later, when Aiden confronts Damien about the loss of the server data, Damien publicizes Aiden's vigilantism, alerting the authorities of his identity.
[33]
Eventually, Aiden and T-Bone locate and take down Defalt, and retrieve the data again.
[34] Meanwhile, Aiden discovers where Nicole is being kept, and frees her.
[35] Aiden drives Nicole and Jackson out of town to keep them safe.
[36] Examining the server data, T-Bone discovers the contractor who ordered the hit that killed Aiden's niece: Dermot "Lucky" Quinn, leader of the Chicago South Club mob, notorious human trafficker, and owner of the Merlaut Hotel.
Aiden tracks down and confronts Quinn, shutting off his
pacemaker. In his dying moments, Quinn reveals that he ordered the hit because he thought that Aiden was searching for blackmail footage of the mayor, whom Quinn is closely associated with. After Quinn finally dies, Aiden races to Clara, who is ambushed and killed by Quinn's men.
[37] During Aiden's attempts to track down Damien, he discovers that Damien has unlocked ctOS, allowing him access to the entire city. In order to find him, Aiden uploads a virus into ctOS and shuts down the entire system,
blacking out the city. By doing this, Aiden reaches Damien, but Jordi arrives, betraying Aiden, but Aiden injures Jordi and kills Damien. As he watches Chicago come back to life, Aiden accepts his role of "the Vigilante", to protect and, if necessary, to punish.
[38] After the credits, Aiden returns to Maurice, on Jordi's call, and chooses to either kill him or spare him.
[39][40] The Blume Corporation also announces that the ctOS will be adopted in several major cities across the country, using ctOS 2.0.
[41]
