Watch Dogs 2 is a mixed bag: a colorful, playful open world that's fun to mess around in, undercut by missions and story beats that just don't land and some baffling design choices.
Let's start with the writing. The story veers away from the revenge-driven plot of the first installment in favor of a more casual "down with the corporation" narrative, which admittedly fits the "hacker group" trope better. The problem is that most missions have you hacking a discount Google, then a discount Facebook, and so on, never sticking with one corporation long enough to build something meaningful, and it feels half-baked. This isn't helped by Ubisoft's decision to use an episodic mission structure that, while on the surface gives you freedom to choose whichever mission comes next, actually smothers the strong stories and great writing of the early games that the company was known for. The humor was also hit and miss, more often than not a miss, with characters frequently coming across as cringey and unfunny. The gangs were also introduced haphazardly, suddenly becoming a threat around the halfway point before fading back into irrelevance.
The characters weren't great either. While I'll admit Aiden doesn't reach the level of great, iconic video game protagonists, his motives were at least clear in his pursuit of vengeance. In contrast, I didn't get the same clarity from Marcus, who joins DedSec because Blume flags his profile as dangerous, a detail mentioned, I think, once in the entire game and never built upon or expanded further. The side characters weren't much better. Almost all of the work is dumped on Marcus, with none of them actually working in the field except during the very final mission. None of them were charismatic enough to make me like them, and we simply don't spend enough time with them to connect with them. That said, I did enjoy the banter between Marcus and Wrench, but that was the extent of it. The game also introduces a pretty pointless conflict between two members of the group, which later resolves on its own with neither character developing nor gaining anything from it. And honestly, the villains were really bad. My god, Lenni was insufferable and probably the worst character in the entire game. Followed closely by Dusan, a generic corpo type with no charisma, no presence, and nothing to make him memorable. Compare this to Lucky Quinn, who had few scenes but captured every one he was in.
The gameplay in Watch Dogs 2 sadly took one step forward and two steps back in terms of design and content. It leans more into stealth, with the addition of a stun gun and the omission of the heavy arsenal Aiden used to have, limiting Marcus to only two other weapons, along with the removal of focus mode. The addition of the quadcopter and RC car were genuinely fun, and I enjoyed being able to complete some missions without even setting foot in the area. The expanded hacking system was also a great idea — being able to set ambushes by placing a trigger that activates when an enemy walks over it, remotely controlling cars during chases, and calling in gang members or cops to create a distraction were all fun additions, the ambushes were also one of the best additions in the entire game. That said, there are some strange design choices. The lure was removed in favor of attracting enemies to either an object or your RC, but if the lure is gone, why can't Marcus just whistle? Instead, to do a melee takedown, you either have to go to a specific object or bring out your RC and call the enemy over, which feels needlessly convoluted. On top of that, if you're spotted, the entire area instantly knows you're there, even if it's just a dog that sees you. I also hated how the game heavily discourages aggressive play; Marcus is very squishy, enemies take several shots to the head to kill, oh and good luck making it out alive after a melee takedown, since you're locked into the animation and completely vulnerable.
The side content is also very lackluster. Gone are the various gang hideouts and convoys from the first game, replaced with side missions, and I wouldn't mind that if those missions were actually good. I'm not asking for Cyberpunk 2077-level writing, just something decent, but sadly that's not the case here. The digital trips and mini-games — chess, poker, drinking, and more — are also gone, replaced with bike races, boat races, and drone races. How fun.
Presenation-wise, San Francisco was very pretty to look at, and while at times I felt it was a bit bland or boring compared to gritty Chicago, it still had its moments, and I enjoyed vising the iconic landmarks there. the voice acting was also pretty good for the most part, and the song choices and soundtrack was also solid enough.
Overall, my time with Watch Dogs 2 was both enjoyable and disappointing in equal measure, and while I believe there's something here for anyone who wants more of what the first game offered in terms of hacking, they'll likely be disappointed by a story that falls flat, some questionable gameplay choices, and a serious lack of good side content.
