Watch_Dogs™

Watch dogs is the best Ubisoft Crime game
Reasons:
-FPS game
-Hacking
-and the best missions

i played this game for 25 hours,
and just drove around did some hacking shooting and i found that the concept of the game was weird.
shooting was not so nice available cars and unlocking stuff is terrible.
for me is just a game i don't recommend

super fun i got for 5$ best game i could of gotten no regrets.

Great game story wise but gameplay is meh...

Pros_:

- Great story
- Soundtrack_ ( Kid Cudi, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Nas )

Cons_:
- Lightning often glitches and everything starts flickering
- Missions can glitch causing you to evade the police for like 20 minutes
- Online not working ( Only on Steam version )

This game would probably be the best ever IF_ it was made by another studio.

UBISOFT SUCKS 🗣️

É um bom jogo, porém tem 2 ressalvas principais: é mal otimizado e pode travar do nada e as conquistas são muito arrastadas, provavelmente feitas pra aumentar o tempo de game artificialmente. No mais recomendo e acho melhor que o 2. 8.5/10

The best Watch Dogs game ever. Aiden is pretty badass, but also a great character and I like him lol. And its score is amazing. Sadly no more Online Hacking or Tailing, idk

Bought this game 3x times over, first on the Wii U, 100%´ed it twice, next on Ubisoft, completed it again and now on Steam where I have fully gone backwards, doing everything I can before showing up to the birthday party and doing as much as possible before continuing and completing the story, all and everything, now that I am done, I can finally try T-bone's story which I have never tried.

whole idea of being a vigilante immensely differentiates this game from the other games in the watchdogs series bravo

There are no dogs in this game. There are dogs in the second game. Buy the second game if you actually want to watch dogs. 🐶

In this game, you’re a full-blown hackerman. LIKE IMAGINE IF YOU CAN HACK IRL. You control the city like it’s your personal toy; cameras, traffic lights, bridges, ATMs, even other people’s phones. You can drain bank accounts, intercept calls, cause car pileups, or black out an entire block with a tap on your phone and a lot more with your OP hacking skillz!

You yourself are the watch dog. 😎

Its a good game. Sorto like GTA with a mix of Hacking abilities. With hacking that at times just seem like magic. And an additional reputation system so you can't go on a rampage without lasting consequences.
The story is really interesting and grime and keeps you playing. the side missions are also interesting.
I've heard people had issue with the uplay but it worked fine for me and even allowed me to play on two different devices and sync the saved games.
The gun gameplay is somewhat limited in guns but still pretty good. With the gun action being pretty good and nice use of cover in the game (though without the indirect hand sticking out unrealistically accurate fire like GTA).
The hacking itself is a mix of triggering random environmental effects and the actual computer hacking minigame which can be fun though can get a bit tedious.
Driving in the game is a bit weird but otherwise quite fun. Every car seems like it can go really fast so possibly its just realism.
For vehicle combat you can't shoot as you drive like GTA. your reliant on hacking environmental features and ramming to get rid of opponents.
And the police are vicious but fun and you can hack things around them to escape them and hide from them. The annoying CT scans can be a bit of cheat. There probably the most annoying feature of the game as they start randomly following you as you drive away at record speed.
The Bads. None of the online features really worked for me and i believe that part of the server no longer works.
Some of the side missions can sometimes overwhelm the map a bit.

The DLC opens a new story arc and is also quite interesting but much shorter then the main game.

Overall not a bad game and would very much recommend.

To be perfectly honest, this is the reason I study game design. I love everything about this game. Yeah it has bugs and problems like the "bedbug" mission where you have to shoot the surrounding area in order to progress. This is a game I had on the Xbox 360 and I loved every moment. Child me would of loved to work at Ubisoft. Honestly if anyone is thinking about playing this game, you will enjoy every moment of it.

Love this game! Great story and gameplay that covers important topics of monopolized mass surveillance in a growing digital world. I wish Ubisoft could have kept the more serious tone, and carried on with Aiden Pierce's story or be more faithful to the theme with their future installments. If you buy it on steam you will not have access to multiplayer missions unless you buy it directly from Ubisoft though. Very fun revenge, hacker fantasy story with a decent soundtrack. Watch Dogs 1 is a great game with topics and gameplay that should and could be expanded upon if Ubisoft would stop giving us slop and show more love to their IPs they make soulless.

Watch Dogs - Goated (Steam: no online - Ubisoft only)
Watch Dogs 2 - Cringe Terrible Dialogue (Spit in the face to fans), somewhat educational
Watch Dogs Legion - Haven't played heard it was unoptimised

Honestly, I didn't like the game after playing it for few days. I was getting tired for the Ubisoft open world formula...
I stopped, uninstalled, and re-installed for a couple of times in the span of 2-3 years LOL!
I think it was because I tried to complete some of the optional side quests even before entering into Act II (or III?). And after I did so, I felt like I already played everything...

Luckily I gave the game the 2nd chance (actually like 4th or 5th chance lol). I was quite invested into the story after entering the Act III.

If you're looking for a 3rd person open world fps game, I think Watch Dogs is quite Ok. Just maybe don't finish up all the side quests from the start, it gets boring really quick lol

This game is awsome af please dont let this shit company deture you from this game, the story is awsome 10/10, gameplay 10/10, and theres so much extra stuff to do like fun challenges, ive beaten this game 3 times 2 times on xbox
my only dislike is the newer games dont do much justice for the main character aiden perice and i wish there more guns but thats just me

After 11 hours of playing, the game decided to update Ubisoft Connect app and after that all my saves just disappeared and I lost all progress. Before that all saves were on my PC and everything was fine. Thanks Ubi for that and thanks for your stupid and useless Ubisoft Connect

However the game itself is good, everything except shooting and driving still looks decent to this day, but keep in mind the problem with Ubisoft's app, thanks to which you can lose all your progress at any time

I was very excited for this game back in 2014, I played it on the Xbone but I always wanted to play Watch Dogs with the super polished graphics shown off in the trailers. Recently I bought the game again on a sale just so I could mod it and play with all the benefits of PC gaming. I'm using the Nextgen Graphics Overhaul 2 from Nexus Mods, and it is such a visual boost from unmodded graphics.
The game itself has good and bad qualities, I like the driving and on foot chases. The story and characters are good. not amazing, just good. Hacking is the core of the game, but the hacking puzzles and side quests get old quick. Hacking the world elements is where its fun, like causing a huge car crash by triggering the traffic lights, or road blocks just to name a few. The gun play is also just ok, some heavy mobs simply take too many bullets to kill. You're better off just killing some mobs with explosives and stealth takedowns if possible.
I wish I didn't have OCD because I always feel the urge to do EVERY side objective in games like this and let me tell ya, I hate the side objectives in this game! BUT I MUST PUSH ON!

I give the game 7/10 add a graphics mod or two and its a 7.5/10

Can't play this game without ubisoft account. Multibilion dolar company is not able to do registration form correctly and firstly I couldn't click "create account button" and then I was waiting 30 minutes for verification code to appear on my email (still hasn't received it). Thanks ubisoft

cannot get the online achievements just because i bought this game on steam ?? seriously ubisoft......although the game is fire

I bought this game as a teenager when it first released. Me and my family never gave much of a shit about marketing or media, we'd skip ads whenever possible and ignore them, so I didn't know about the ads or media response to Watch Dogs. Overall, I'd say time has been very kind to this game. It's aged quite well, and the story is quite compelling.
Spoilers ahead.
As a kid, I want to make sure you know, I did not give a singular fuck about the story of a game. My primary complaint which my parents threatened to take my Xbox away for was that I couldn't skip the cutscenes of most of my games. So when I tell you that this games story had me in its grip, that it kept me interested and obsessed, then it should hopefully mean something. The game follows Aiden Pearce who lost his sister to a hit placed on him meant to scare him. This was done by Maurice. Unfortunately, this injured his nephew (also in the car) and killed his niece. Aiden hunts down the guy responsible and then the rest of the game is hunting down the guy who did the hit. The ending is my favorite part, where you're given the choice to release Maurice, or to execute him. My singular most vivid memory of this game was sitting on my couch for a solid minute debating over what choice to take. Would Aiden do that? Would I do that in Aiden's situation? Maybe it's not the most in depth game, and god knows there's plot holes and bugs and there's going to be problems and glitches. But it's a good game.

old but gold also cool that they added achievments years later

with the LIVING_CITY mod, this game becomes a really fantastic sandbox that i just keep coming back to. having a 3 way shootout between gangers and police emerge while youre doing a hideout (because you made too much noise and some bozo called the cops) only to get chased into another part of town by the cops is a blast.

There are so many things I want to say about this game, but noone would read 15k words.

You know how a lot of games have a somewhat interesting story but the open world is just empty? Yeah this game has the opposite problem. The open world is great, its everything that is filled into it that is garbage. And not the kind of garbage like fast food, no, like dripping human excrements. All of the activites are terrible, some are just there to pad the runtime others are all about fiddling with the controlls cuz Aiden cant just climb a building.

On a technical side this game's audio designer should probably be fired and barred from working in the games industry for life. They absolutely owe me an apology. Excuse me, was this supposed to be the music for a high stakes car chase, cuz it sounds like the background music of a mental hospital on a rainy tuesday. The game routinely crashes when you try to enter the main menu from ingame.

The game's story has only a few holes but those are big. Its not a fullfilling story - not the gameplay nor the Narrative. You will not play this game because its relaxing. The storys end is very unrewarding, as if it spit in youre face for having played it. You dont get to make any choices until after the credits have rolled when it means absolutely nothing anymore.

For a story about hackerman, this game spends an uncomfortably long time driving, chasing cars - which would be ok if NPCs didnt drive like tanks while you seemingly always drive a bobbycar. The sections where the gameplay doesnt try to immitate Racing games, or Hitman, or GTA are pretty good. However there are few of them.

After having played through this entire game Im really puzzled how this game could ever get a sequel. This game is terrible. You know how you buy a game for its quality not task quatity? I bought this game on discount for 5 backs and that is exactly the quality I got. I think this is the worst game I have played in my life. 3/10

great game, loved it as a kid. only reason i am leaving a thumbs down is because you can't access online services if you purchased the complete edition on steam without purchasing the game again on ubisoft's launcher.

Rating: 1/10

I really don’t understand how Ubisoft thought this game was a finished product. The story is the only thing that saves it, but everything else is a mess.

First off, the driving. Oh my god, the driving. It’s absolutely dreadful. Cars handle like they’re made of wet cardboard, and any slight bump sends you flying into a wall or another car. If you thought that was bad, wait until you get into a police or enemy chase. It's an absolute nightmare. You get stuck in random traffic, the AI somehow always knows where you are, and you're forced to make sharp turns with zero precision. It’s frustrating, and the game never lets you forget it. I honestly don’t know what Ubisoft was thinking here—maybe they were drunk while making it, or just didn’t care about the players.

The final mission? Hell on Earth. The difficulty spike is insane, and it feels like the game is actively trying to make you quit. By the time I got to it, I was already over the whole experience, but I had to push through just to see how it ended. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t worth it.

I only played this game for the story, and honestly, that’s the only part that doesn’t completely suck. Everything else? Garbage. Driving, combat, mission design—it's all clunky and broken. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless you just want to watch the story unfold and don't mind dealing with the headache of everything else.

Avoid at all costs. Ubisoft really dropped the ball on this one.

Played it really late as I was not sure about the entire vigilante hacking universe thing. I tried watch dogs 2 before this, it felt very weird. But, finally when I got courage to try the og Watchdogs, damn I was blown away! Overall, love the gameplay, storyline, environment specifically. 100% receommended.

What game comes to your mind when the keywords hacking, open world, and sneaky puzzle solving are mentioned? Today's game, Watchdogs, is an open-world sci-fi hacking adventure game that has all of these attributes and deserves to be experienced by all of you.
A unique hacking experience that gives you the technological mastery to turn the world upside down.
I believe that all of you here, more or less had a science fiction dream, in this dream, as the protagonist, he or she can subvert the world's technology, do whatever you want, many American superhero films, the kind of technology manipulation and sense of mastery makes us very longing, and Watchdog can achieve this dream, in this game, you will really have to subvert the world's technology: modification of traffic signals, set up barricades, manipulate pipelines and bridges, interfere with communications, and so on. Manipulate pipes and bridges, interfere with communications and electricity, hack into cameras and other people's mobile phones, in a game world where information recognition technology is extremely advanced, you can do whatever you want with your hacking skills, and even tease your enemies and the police through hacking. The first time you enter the middle of the game, you will soon be attracted by the hacking gameplay.
In the world of the game, including cranes, lifts, electrical control facilities and other types of technically hackable parts, you can freely manipulate to change the world in both mission and non-mission sessions. This advanced gameplay and concept was very hot when the game was just released, and still exudes a unique sci-fi charm to this day in 2022. Even if a newcomer enters the game now, he or she will surely be attracted and convinced by the sci-fi gameplay.
Ingenious puzzle adventure, sci-fi sneaking journey -
The mainstream combat gameplay in this game is a bit similar to the classic IP Assassin's Creed - sneak adventure of the open-source company. Yes, when the player enters the game quickly experience the game's sneaking tendency - when you are found by the enemy want to fight hard, you will find that your weak chicken attributes, take a few shots and then directly game reboot, a few times after a bloody lesson can only be obedient to choose to sneak. In addition, many of the main and side missions in the mission objective is to put down rather than kill a specific target, and when you are found by the enemy is very difficult to complete the mission objective, so that the mainstream gameplay must be sneaking. Sneaking process can be combined with the use of hacking techniques, such as hacking into the enemy mobile phone to distract his attention, or even direct detonation to blow up the enemy. Of course, the game's unique circuitry puzzle gameplay, also very interesting, you can experience from time to time (late also really quite difficult). In the process of the game to experience the enemy even your face did not see, but you play in the palm of your hand, one by one like mowing the lawn to knock down, that unique sense of achievement really makes people can not stop, stay in love.

ahh, the old ubisoft... with a decent story, good graphics, a weird control scheme and a beautiful gameplay; the game does not bore. npcs feel alive, side missions are fun but the main missions are gorgeous. one of the rare games where i do the side missions after i finish the game just to enjoy the mission design and the gameplay even more.

While i can recommend parts of it i can't exactly say it's worth 100%ing unless you're dedicated lmao.

Has a lot of the Ubisoft content bloat for check-listing but certainly none of it's worst and as someone who played it at launch it was a decent enough title but i think you'll be happy with just T-Bones dlc, i find him to just generally be a better character than Aiden any day.

Regardless, you do you with your money if you want to see the start of a series.

I just want to pay for what I enjoyed 10 Years ago. Back then when Ubisoft dare to do sht, eventhough the initial launch scam, its still good.

I loved this game when it came out, and I love it now. Truly a game that got WAY more hate than it should have. It is a really great game at its core. Aiden is a fun character, albeit a bit basic at times, still a good story that's fun to follow. The world activities and mini games are so enjoyable to play through. Plus, we get steam achievements now. highly recommend if you have not played before

Game with great mechanics. If you like other Ubisof games you should definitely play it

A fun game that delivers on it's sales pitch. You're an edgy hacker on a revenge quest with a whole lot of GTA style mechanics when you're not sneaking or hacking things.

Stealth and gun play are fun and smooth. I'm not super into the driving mechanics but they're not bad, just not my thing.

Overall a very fun game that knows what it wants to deliver and does it well.

In Watch Dogs you play as Aiden Pearce who is a hacker in the first smart city which is completely connected to one network, in Chicago. After a failed hacking job, Aiden lose his niece in a car accident which suppose to be targeted Aiden and now he wants to take revenge and learn who put the hit on him.

The premise of the game is really unique, as you get an open world map of Chicago and able to hack basically everything in it, from traffic lights, bridges to citizens. You can still do the usual city open-world type of things as well. The graphics is pretty good for it's time, the controls seems unusual at first but after some time you can get use to it. There are lot of side content for the game, which can easily make the play time twice as long. The overall story premise is good, has it's own twists and most of the characters are well written. Multiplayer is still active and playable till this day. Soundtrack is pretty alright.

One thing which really bothered me is the driving in this game, it's hard to get used to and annoying to control the vehicle. One other problem in the single player is the protagonist character. You get characters in the story who are decently written, but Aiden is a weird one to root for throughout in the story, especially if you take account what he does throughout the game. It does not feel right to like this guy. Finally, some of the side content has too many collectibles which does not make them unique, or the side content just simply not fun to play, for example the ctOS breaches, they are inconsistent.

But there are issues with the multiplayer aswell. There is a racing and decryption mode in the multiplayer and these are pretty much dead, has barely any players and the driving physics is still not good at this game. The modes where you can be invaded or invade others are active, however the game has no anti cheat system so you could find some cheaters in the game. They are somewhat uncommon tho, but it is annoying when you have to deal with them and you are aware that you have limited ways against them. The invading games modes are fun by the way, however they are unusual PVP game modes, so you have to understand how to play them, otherwise you will quickly lose interest and the game does not help you to understand how to play these as best as possibly can. Also, if you want to enjoy the single player it can be annoying to be invaded by others in your own session, but luckily you can opt to go offline in the settings if that bothers you.

To be honest, I did not expect Watch Dogs to be this great, because even though it has it's own problems and the multiplayer is basically a niche thing which only some can enjoy, the base game is pretty good. I can definitely recommend to pick this one when it's on sale.

game is unbearably boring even w the living city mod. just go play wd2 instead

The chemical reaction between Hackers and the Open World: Ubisoft's bold move ten years ago

 8/10

 Click here for my review of the DLC: Watch Dogs: Bad Blood 

Opening

At the E3 2012, the high-spirited Ubisoft wowed everyone with its stunning gameplay trailers of Watch Dogs. The graphics and gameplay were top-notch, and countless players were fascinated by it. Though the game, which was officially released in 2014, had a lot of cuts in graphics and gameplay, causing widespread controversy and dissatisfaction among players, Watch Dogs still archived good sales thanks to its unique and novel open-world hacker role-playing gameplay that is still not outdated even today. The protagonist Aiden Pearce, wearing a baseball cap, a flowing wind coat jacket, and holding a baton, has become a classical image in the history of modern video games, attracting countless players to follow suit. However, problems such as monotonous and repetitive game content, the extremely short main storyline, poor compatibility, and optimization, etc. made it difficult for Watch Dogs to make further progress, which ultimately became a pity.

 Strength 

Players will be in a cold and dull Chicago, which is highly connected to the Internet of Things through the CTOS system and has no privacy at all. The various forces here are intertwined. The protagonist Aiden Pierce is a vigilante-like grey hat, who gradually uncovers the true face of the city and past events on his journey of revenge for his niece, and eventually reflects on his own behavior and revenge. Watch Dogs also has a reputation system that changes dynamically based on the player's behavior. Whether it is doing evil or punishing evil and promoting good, it will have a direct impact on the player's gaming experience. The game's tasks mainly include driving, chasing, puzzle solving, infiltration, and gunfights. Some scenes are performed with excellent effects and a strong sense of immersion.

The hacking capabilities in the game are visualized as intrusion interactions with various high-tech smart devices and mobile phones, ranging from eavesdropping on calls, manipulating traffic lights and roadblocks, lifting bridges, disrupting communications, transformer explosions, city blackouts, and hacking into bank accounts to obtain funds. Though it is far from real-life hackers, Watch Dogs still brings players the pleasure of high-tech crime in this open game world, where they can do whatever they want and be omnipotent in an unprecedented way, could be considered one of the game's biggest highlights. Watch Dogs also has many game mechanic designs that are more favorable to players, such as highlighting collectibles in the scene when scanning; using intuitive route instructions to guide players' map marketers and mission objectives; calling vehicles at will, and having a short loading time and convenient map travel function. The game itself also has a rich number of mini-games and collectible items for players to explore. The online mode emphasizes tracking and invading between players, which is extremely interesting.

Weakness 

The game uses a lot of macro-blocked glitch art effects in the main menu and at the beginning, which has no artistic sense at all in that case. It looks poor to modern netizens and seems to be counterproductive. The game at the highest quality setting is quite good in terms of long-range performance, but the modeling is extremely rough and difficult to be appreciated by players nowadays. The movement of every character in the game is full of weird stiffness, and the enemy's AI logic is also relatively weak. Although most enemies can be killed with a single headshot, the game often has weird aiming deviations, which is extremely obvious in the NVZN mini-game. Driving is an important part of Watch Dogs game content and mission design, but the overall driving feel of the game is extremely slippery, the tires often slip, making it difficult to adapt, and the experience brought to players is a disaster. In terms of plot, the main quest of the game is too short, accounting for less than 50% of the game's content, and the plot progresses very quickly. The narrative and character creation are a bit perfunctory, and there is a tendency to be clichéd and mediocre. Even at the end the game plot still leaves too much blank, which is obviously paving the way for its sequel.

Watch Dogs itself is the most typical Ubification of cookie-cutters, filled with a large number of monotonous checklist tasks, collectibles, and map markets. These seemingly rich game contents are mostly filler and test the player's tolerance. As an important part of the game's collectibles element puzzle solving is mainly carried out by switching sights between cameras and searching for specific paths. They are often extremely hidden in Watch Dogs, and can only be reached through environmental facilities in the corners like forklifts. Though some of the designs can be said to be ingenious, they require players to climb up and down and strangely use their imaginations. Coupled with the time limit, the experience brought to players is terrible, with no fun or sense of accomplishment. The excessive number of puzzles further worsens the situation. In actual combat, players often still rely mainly on infiltration and gunfights, the bloodless hacker tactics have not been well integrated into the game.

Watch Dogs is also slightly lacking in some details. For example, players cannot shoot while driving, the perspective in the game will also prevent players from getting a clear aerial view. There is no pedestrian on a motorcycle in the game at all. The uses of funds in the game are extremely limited and are too easy to grab so they will overflow in large quantities in the middle stages, which is a slightly unsuccessful design; some completely random song collection for the achievement in the game is a major failure, in the PS era it was called "one of the worst trophies" by many console players already.

Conclusion

Beneath the hacker surface, Watch Dogs is still the most typical Ubification core. The design of every aspect of Watch Dogs makes it difficult for players to play it again, the game's constant compatibility issues on the modern Windows operating system make it extremely difficult to have a smooth experience. Even today, Watch Dog's optimization is still average. Despite this, Watch Dogs still has its unique highlights. For many people, it has a unique sentimental blessing. It would have been absolutely amazing when it was released. Looking back, Ubisoft has produced so many creative and eye-catching games, but now they are becoming more decadent and heading towards destruction. It may be difficult for us to see a work like Watch Dogs being born again, but at least it is still here.

It is necessary to mention that due to the forced output of 5.1 surround sound, the overall volume of the game will be extremely low. The game also may be random crash without any signs. Most importantly, the Steam version of Watch Dogs cannot access the online functions, requiring players to purchase the game again on Uplay or contact Ubisoft service for one. However, the response efficiency of it is extremely low, with no substantial progress in half a month for me. Players who don't want to waste time on these could consider choosing the console version or the Uplay version of the game.

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i love the gameplay, and dont forget to buy the game with Bad Blood DLC

I first played this game in 2015 on Xbox. It was a truly legendary game but its so sad Underrated game now :(

Nice game with good graphics and story))) I really enjoyed it from the beginning till the end. Will play definitely now Watch Dogs 2!!!

This game is timeless, I played few years ago and then i play it again it feels the story still relevant. Play this game because I love strategies and the gameplay. Try this and you always have good memories in Pawnee

All time classic, will always love come back every few months and completing a run through of this amazing game

gameplay make me feel like im ina james bond movie and the story was cool too

This game is so underrated and unique with the focus on all sorts of hacking options within the game which brings refreshment,really good story and development!

Excellent story and gameplay.

Big game, sadly some a third of the features are not active anymore because of the servers not bein active anymore. I came to it too late. There is a lot in this game, mostly playing a hahcable city, viggilanty agaisnt gangs and mob bosses. Has many features, everything is driveable which is awesome, the crafthing and gunplay are really well done. Stealth is an option, which in such a largely populated game is really well done. Interesting story with a lot of warning about such a future... I do reccomend the game, however a third of in games are unavailable sadly.

A Legacy of Blackouts

Undoubtedly one of the most infamous games of the 2010s, Watch_Dogs was the start of a promising new IP for Ubisoft, revealed at a time when the company was arguably at its peak in terms of game-making quality. Its initial showcase not only presented an intriguing, pervasive computer system concept that continues to age better with time, but showcased graphics which were simply beyond comprehension within that era. It certainly got me on board, hyping up young Drill to the point of preordering the collector’s edition, which I’ve still only done a handful of times to this day. And while it may have disappointed a lot of people when it released, I remember having fond memories of it, from the character of Aiden and the world of Chicago, to the unique online modes and neat side activities. After replaying the game more than ten years since I first completed it, I have found my opinion to be largely unchanged; I still believe it is one of the better open-world experiences you can play today, and one of Ubisoft’s best games in general.

Playing as the gruff, no BS, uncle-turned-vigilante Aiden Pearce, you immediately have the goal of seeking revenge on those who harmed his family, which just so happens to tie into a Chicago-wide conspiracy involving an omnipresent computer system, a couple of well-established crime gangs, and a blackout that impacted the entirety of Northeastern America in 2003. This is a narrative that’s more driven by the strength of its characters than its various plot beats, as the mystery is largely your standard crime affair with a bit of a hacking spice mixed within.

Whilst many found Aiden to be a boring, generic revenge man, I’ve always been fond of his personality, deciding to take matters into his own hands out of perceived necessity, fully morphing into a vigilante who loves what he does as the story moves along. There’s a solid supporting cast too; Jordi’s a wise-cracking fixer who steals every scene in his limited number of appearances, T-Bone radiates experience and a drive to make up for the mistakes of his part, and the main antagonist of Damien becomes progressively more unhinged as Aiden does what is asked of him, but not in the way he was asked to. Ubisoft certainly could have gone further with thematic depth here, but this is undoubtedly one of their stronger narrative efforts.

Black Hatting

What most surprised me when comparing the gameplay of Watch_Dogs to the marketing was how similar they turned out to be. Considering this was one of Ubisoft’s first cracks at a GTA-inspired title, it’s impressive how satisfying the gunplay is. Weapons have a decent amount of recoil, and the sounds are very weighty, so not only do they feel great to use, they demand precision aiming for gunfights to be successful, especially when the challenge of this game and intelligence of the AI is above average, even on Normal difficulty. It strikes a great balance between arcadey and realistic; mindless running and gunning will only get you killed.

But the star of the gameplay show is of course the contextual hacking system, which serves to maintain the unique identity of Watch_Dogs all of these years later. Various objects in the environment can be activated to give you the edge during a combat encounter; you can create cover, overload pipes to stun your foes, set off explosives, or even cause a mini-blackout to completely throw your enemies off. Stealth also benefits greatly, allowing you to survey any environment covered by security cameras and help plan your course through a tough encounter. My favourite area to use this system is actually the various car chases you’ll get into, as it gives you numerous routes to fight back against your pursuers if you know where and when to best use the city as your weapon, an especially crucial asset here as you’re not able to fire out of your vehicle. The implementation of hacking is ultimately a straightforward but highly flexible system that gives every player the freedom to express themselves game beyond the limits of your typical shooting, stealth and driving scenarios.

All of these areas are put to full use within the mission design of the main campaign, which is consistently varied and entertaining all the way through. The design of the combat spaces makes going loud or stealth equally viable options, with plenty of unique hacking opportunities to make use of and give missions a standout identity. There’s one where you have to infiltrate a prison with a limited gear set, forcing you to focus on stealth and hacks to make it to your target unseen. On the other end of the spectrum, what would be a typical ‘defend an objective’ mission is completely augmented with the hacking system, as the game throws dozens of enemies at you, forcing you to use all of your tools smartly to overcome the odds. They saved the best till last though, as the final mission is an absolutely mental chase across much of central Chicago, relying on the hacking knowledge you've gained to make it through unscathed; it’s one of my favourite missions in any game, period. Of course, there’s plenty of your typical Ubisoft open-worldy content if you can’t get enough of what’s on offer here, but it’s pleasing that so much thought was put into this quest line.

It's also worth mentioning the unique multiplayer modes, the main of which allows a random player to infiltrate your instance of Chicago to hack you, leading to a game of hide and seek in a concentrated area of the map. These don’t happen too often, but they are always tense and enjoyable, and end up being a nice diversion from your planned activities. The servers were a bit dodgy when trying to join specific people, but it still works surprisingly well after all these years.

Less Than Meets The Eye?

Where the marketing completely fell flat compared to the final product is graphics, which were certainly fine back in 2014, but have not aged as gracefully as the rest of the package. Character models are not very realistic, environments look okay but lack detail when it comes to textures, even at max settings, and the lighting in particular feels very flat during nighttime. There are various mods which bring the visuals closer to the original demo, but that doesn’t change that the execution of the base game in this area left a lot to be desired, especially when compared to other equally ambitious titles of that era.

I don’t hold this too much against the game though, as the design of the world of Chicago more than makes up for it. Each district has a distinct visual identity and story to tell; the central area is densely populated and lively, while the south is a run-down industrial district with gives off a completely different vibe, and the north-west is a mini countryside space that achieves at being intentionally disconnected from every other area on the map. This of course leads to diverse gameplay spaces, but also a world that is simply great to drive about and explore, even without a specific goal in mind. Nonetheless, there are a fair few interesting diversions which are worth dipping into during your downtime, including poker, a tricky drinking game, and some nice chess puzzles.

Verdict

I don’t have too many bad words to level at Watch_Dogs. Even more than a decade after its release, it still has elements that sets it apart from many other games on the market, including its fantastic open world, fun hacking mechanics, and unique multiplayer modes. It certainly failed to deliver on its graphical promise, but by my money, it succeeded at nearly everything else it needed to, and then some. Though I am left wondering what a remake would look like, if only to realize that original vision we saw all the way back in 2012.

9/10 - Excellent

[quote]Follow my curator Finding The Underscore for more of my game’s coverage.[/quote]

Seems like with new drivers, far-off objects flicker often and there is frequent stuttering.
Mods are also generally difficult (or broken) to install.
In my short experience the premise is pretty good -- though I have a hard time bearing it when children are victims of crime. A lot of the 'cool' factor definitely feels like it came from the time this game came out. Not a bad thing, just very slightly aged.

I refunded. Wish I could've had more fun with it but it's not worth the hassle when Legion exists which I've been enjoying quite a lot.

_Achievement-Review:

Difficulty: 3/10
Approx. time invest: 50h
MP-Achievements: Yes
Misc / Activities / Collectables: Yes - a lot
Missable Achievements: None
DLC needed: Yes - "Bad Blood"

Watch_Dogs was overall a pleasent surprise and fun to 100% - even though it overstayed its welcome with all the activities, that got repetitive real quick.

_Story
The story, aside from a few rare highlights, was rather forgettable and not particularly immersive. The protagonist, Aiden, tried too hard to be the edgy uncle—confronted with the consequences of his own choices, questioning himself—only for you to immediately return to the open world, shooting, looting, and killing.

In the end, it's a classic revenge story. The dialogue is decent but nothing special.

_Immersion:
The game attempted several innovative mechanics (for its time), which I appreciated—especially the consequences of killing too many civilians. The more reckless you are, the more civilians recognize you, and news broadcasts launch awareness campaigns that put your face everywhere, forcing you to hide.

Unfortunately, the first mission in the stadium was the only time I truly felt the power of being the "Hacking Superman of Chicago." There was no other moment that recreated this feeling on the same scale.

_Worst Achievement:
"Social Lubricant" - It is so damn boring!


_Recommendation:
Watch_Dogs is this action movie you put on, when you don't know what to watch.
It has its moments and is quite enjoyable.

Best open world game, the city feels so alive, the environment is so detailed, story is amazing, graphics are superb, there is action, driving is good not very good but atleast there is cockpit view for car. For me it's a game that i wanted for GTA to be. So if i have to choose between this and GTA 5. I'll choose Watch Dogs. Even it takes less space. And yes NPCs are like real life people. So, this is the best modern GTA like game you can get. For me it's better than watch dogs 2 and legion.

IM SORRY WHY IS THE ONLINE BROKEN. no im not fixing ubisofts game for them. people need to stop paying for their games if they dont work im reporting this game this is unacceptable. i allrady had to fix assassin's creed revelations dlc not working im not doing your job for you UBISOFT. GOOD DAY SIR

Just tried connecting to Ubisoft Servers and the servers don't work for the steam WatchDogs copy so the online achievements can't be got unless u spend weeks real time trying to get Ubisoft Support to fix the issue for you case by case server issues even when the Online Achievements should NEVER be apart of Steam due to player numbers being to low and the servers not working.

so in order to gain access to the Online Servers you need to own a Ubisoft Connect Copy then play up to the 3rd mission then join a random lobby online leave save game then reload the steam copy and try to access online play it should work.

This means that Ubisoft has Purposely Blocked Access to Online for Steam Users unless you buy 2 copies of the game that is trash and should not be allowed.

the steam copy SHOULD NOT have Online achievements due to this seem not everyone wants to use Ubisoft Connect as a Marketplace.

so it seems that the Servers for Matchmaking are pretty much dead due to Low Player Numbers seem Matchmaking for Races and other game modes don't work so if you are a achievement hunter DON'T BUY THIS GAME.

What any Good Game Company would do in this day and age is remove all Online Achievements for old games like this just so the game is better to 100% but the Morons who work at Ubisoft seem to think having Online Achievements for a Dead Game is a good thing.

its really funny to me seem Ubisoft shut down The Crew servers when that game had over 2000 or 4000 players on it at the 10 year mark yet they have NOT SHUT DOWN THE WATCH DOGS SERVERS after 10 Years even when its player numbers are below 300.

i'm just gonna say it WATCH DOGS for STEAM is just a BIG SCAM seem Steam users can't even connect to the online servers without needing a extra copy of the game on Ubisoft Connect Marketplace and Ubisoft and the devs have the balls to put Online Achievements on the public lists of achievements when the game can't even gain access to the online with just using Steam Copy.

Ubisoft are just Scamming Steam Users whoa re Achievement Hunters just remove all Online achievements for all Watch Dogs,Assassins Creed and Far Cry games and none of this would be a issue.

you can't even use Achievement Unlocker seem Ubisoft has all achievements running off a Online Server so the achievements are Protected its so dumb seem if i could unlock the achievements for content no one plays online then all of this could be fixed

what i am planning on doing is contacting Gabe of Valve about this seem it seems like a SCAM being ran by Ubisoft here to boost Sales of the games that require Online Achievements seem i bet Assassins Creed Unity and Far Cry has the same online requirements for Steam Users and this is NOT something Gabe takes lightly when Steam Users are being mistreated by a Company regardless how big they are on Steam.

Steam Users SHOULD NOT have to Own 2 copies of the same game in order to play online and Steam Users should not be having so many issues getting Online Achievements compared to other platforms/Marketplaces this is not only stupid but unreasonable.

WatchDogs and many other Ubisoft games that have just got Achievements should all work and have Online fully working on Steam regardless of anything or the Online Achievements SHOULD BE REMOVED if Ubisoft are incapable of having the Online fully working for Steam Users.


out of almost 50 hours of active playing i have only had 5 players hack me and 1 player tail me this is how dead this game is in 2025 and there's no way to boost the Traced Achievement seem Ubisoft has stopped players from using friends to get the achievements with boosting.