Latest Watch Dogs Info and Gameplay

For those who don’t already know about Watch Dogs (hopefully the vast minority), allow me to explain it briefly. Based in Ubisoft’s near-futuristic rendition of Chicago, it places you in the shoes of Aiden Pearce, a hacker who is on a quest for vengeance following the death of his niece. The city is controlled by the ctOS (Chicago’s Central Operating System). As a hacker, you have full access to the ctOS and can manipulate it to allow you to control traffic lights, trains, gates, bollards, and all manner of automatrons. In addition, you can see the personal information of civilians while free-roaming in order to uncover their individual secrets and even unlock side missions based on their predicaments.

Sound intriguing? Then read on to find out the answers to all your most pressing Watch Dogs questions!


The observation has been made that Watch Dogs heavily resembles Grand Theft Auto, albeit with the added bells and whistles that hacking affords the player. While on the surface this may appear to bear some truth, I think it’s worth noting that there are some considerable differences that make Watch Dogs gameplay very much a Ubisoft experience.

The first notable difference is the layout and structure of the city. As in Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, the Watch Dogs map features certain zones that are heavily fortified with ctOS agents, and it’s your job to take them out and hack the ctOS towers in order to liberate them and unlock those areas of the city. There are various way to do this depending on your personal preference: you can burst in all guns blazing, hack the building from the outside, or combine both tactics to locate the guard with the security key, which is what you need to enter the server room and take control of the area.

In Watch Dogs hacking is one of the unique elements of the game that sets it apart from anything else before it. Not only is hacking your primary ‘superpower’ in the game, it also doubles as a sort of stealth mode option. Take the example above: in GTA if you needed to take over an area, the two options available to you are to shoot everyone point blank, or shoot everyone from a distance. In Watch Dogs, you can use your hacking wiles to dominate your enemies while barely lifting a finger. The ability to jump between infiltrating different devices is key here: you can hack a CCTV camera, for example, locate a guard, and then access his phone. You can move between multiple nearby cameras, locate the guard with the security key, and access his phone to download the key. If you flit over to the phone of another guard who is entering the server room, you can then jump over to the computer and hack it remotely, without any of the guards being alerted to your digital presence.


Skill trees in Watch Dogs also play a vital role, and are just one part of the freedom of choice you will experience in the game. As opposed to GTA, where driving a lot would increase your driving skill, in Watch Dogs notoriety provides your with skill points to improve either your driving, hacking, combat, or item crafting skills. You can also choose your approach to the game as being either a good or an evil character, and according to Watch Dogs Creative Director Jonathan Morin, the game will take on a different feel depending on the moral decisions you make.

“It will definitely play differently and feel different ... but we’re not going into one of those split narrative story[s]”.

What other features will be in the Watch Dogs game?

The first interesting feature in Watch Dogs is Aiden’s focus ability, which acts in the same sort of way as bullet time. This element of the game is reminiscent of GTA V and Max Payne, and provides the player with an additional edge over enemies in the game.

Crime Detection is also present, and vaguely reflects that of Arkham City and Origins, where there are dynamic and unique crimes for you to discover and solve as you roam throughout the city.

One of our favourite bits of gameplay thus far, however, is undoubtedly the Spider Tank, which you can pilot throughout the city causing destruction and mayhem in a giant mechanical spider!

Take a look at this Watch Dogs hands on gameplay video to see all of this in action!

Our verdict so far is that while Watch Dogs undeniably bears certain similarities to other games out there, the full experience will go far beyond those previous experiences. In particular, the ability to interact and manipulate the city itself to your advantage is one that should produce endless hours of possibility and entertainment, and allow for various different approaches to the game, which ultimately is what truly makes an open-world game such as this.

To find out even more, visit our Watch Dogs hints, tips and cheats page! 

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