A step up from its predecessor in most ways while a step down mostly in terms of story and writing.

Watch Dogs 2 improves on the original in terms of a more interesting setting of San Francisco, more varied mission design, and just better general moment to moment gameplay.

Personally, I found the story to be a step down and the cast of characters less interesting or likeable to the original. I do like the protagonist, Marcus, but found Aiden's story to be more compelling and the side characters like T-Dog or Jordi to be more interesting in the first game.

Watch Dogs 2 goes for a much more comedic and over the top tone which brings it dangerously close to the quirky "lolrandom" writing found in the likes of the recent Saints Row reboot. Luckily, I think it doesn't get to that level at any point though some characters are annoying and some writing is somewhat cringey.

All that said, I would recommend Watch Dogs 2 as a fun open world action-adventure game centered around hacking with an average story. The stakes feel lower in the sequel, but the gameplay is entertaining enough to keep you invested.

Reviewed on Mar 29, 2023


Comments