It's worth checking the price on each store, because all of them run sales at different times and it can be the difference between paying $5 for a game and paying $40. Both games are also available on the PS4 and Xbox One, and Watch Dogs is also available on the PS3, 360, and WiiU.
What is it, in summary?:
Watch Dogs is a revenge story, starting with the death of Aiden Pearce's niece and culminating in the murder of one of the most powerful crime lords in Chicago. Aiden is a criminal who's hunting for answers, and the more threads he unravels about the night that changed his life, the deeper he falls into the web of crime and conspiracy that's trapping Chicago. It's dark, it doesn't have a happy ending, and it shows a man spiraling down into obsession that drives everyone else away.
Watch Dogs 2, in sharp contrast, is the story of a hacktivist group trying to make a change, fighting against the overreach of the tech companies using people's data for profit. Marcus Holloway is a hacker that was unjustly framed, taking back control of his life as he and his friends do their best to make a difference. If the first game is grim as hell, the second is bright, vibrant, and full of hope; Marcus ends up triumphant, and his connections with others are a large part of that.
Both games are open-world third person shooters, with the first taking place in Chicago and the second taking place in San Francisco. One of the core gameplay mechanics revolves around hacking and exploiting the smart city system that the Big Bad is pushing out across the globe, though it's much more nuanced and well-developed in the second game. The second game can be played 100% nonlethally, while the first one has a morality meter but basically no nonlethal options for dealing with enemies.
What do you love about it?
Jordi's an absolutely hilarious character in both games (though he's a DLC mission character in WD2) whose presence never fails to make me smile, and the gameplay is genuinely engaging (albeit really goddamn frustrating on the mandatory driving missions early in both games; those missions only happen once, but they're still hellish to deal with.)
But putting literal best character Jordi aside, the main cast of both games is super interesting on their own; Aiden's self-destructive spiral is painful to watch but still very true to the kind of person he is, to the point where the inevitable outcomes aren't a surprise to anyone, least of all him. He's an absolute wreck of a human being and I find that super compelling about him.
And Marcus is both an absolute goddamn delight - earnest, empathetic, willing to joke around but still deeply passionate about what he feels is right - and a fantastic main character to meet the rest of DedSec with. Playing the game and hearing their banter is a lot like sitting in a room full of friends for me, and sometimes I pop in to play through certain missions just to watch Marcus joke around and do things with his friends. And there was a lot of care put into the game, from the devs and the actors who did voicework and stunts for the characters. You can feel the love poured into it.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?
Shipping, definitely! For Watch Dogs, Aiden/Damien is a friends-turned-enemies ship, while Aiden/Jordi is the straight man/funny man of amoral killers bantering as they murder their way through mooks. Both ships have a lot of potential and interaction in the game itself, and I am starving to content here.
For Watch Dogs 2, Marcus/Wrench is the friends-to-lovers, ride or die, two people who meet and click and always get along ship that comes with a ton of UST and shipteasing. Marcus/Jordi is the enemies to reluctant allies ship that mostly involves Jordi still being the funny man amoral killer but now Marcus is here to be a rational human being that thinks that's PRETTY FUCKED UP ACTUALLY and also this guy is terrifying.
There's a lot of room for exploring canon, both during the game events and after, and I'm going to be requesting some of that. But the character dynamics stand up well enough on their own that I think you can have a lot of fun doing AUs with them too.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests?
There's cutscene movies for both games, along with Let's Plays if that's more appealing. The cutscene movies drop some of the between-mission chatter, but both of them have the bulk of character and plot mission information, and both come in at just under 2 hours.
Content warnings: Watch Dogs - Graphic violence (as in, some of the takedowns involve Aiden beating someone to death with a tactical baton, along with the usual gun violence of the genre), lots of violence towards and objectification of women, human trafficking including sexual slavery, nudity, major character death, and some of the side content involves Aiden spying on people with references to eating disorders, drug use, domestic abuse, and suicide.
Watch Dogs 2 - Graphic violence (though Marcus's takedowns are comparatively gentler and you can go through the game without firing a gun even once, there's some violence that can't be avoided), major character death, nudity, drug use, and some of the missions and side missions involve spying on people with references to abuse and suicide.
Watch Dogs
Media: Video Game
Approx length: 17-20 hours for the main campaign in both games, 20-25 including side content
Where to find it:
Watch Dogs is on Steam, Uplay, and EGS
Watch Dogs 2 is also on Steam, Uplay, and EGS
It's worth checking the price on each store, because all of them run sales at different times and it can be the difference between paying $5 for a game and paying $40. Both games are also available on the PS4 and Xbox One, and Watch Dogs is also available on the PS3, 360, and WiiU.
What is it, in summary?:
Watch Dogs is a revenge story, starting with the death of Aiden Pearce's niece and culminating in the murder of one of the most powerful crime lords in Chicago. Aiden is a criminal who's hunting for answers, and the more threads he unravels about the night that changed his life, the deeper he falls into the web of crime and conspiracy that's trapping Chicago. It's dark, it doesn't have a happy ending, and it shows a man spiraling down into obsession that drives everyone else away.
Watch Dogs 2, in sharp contrast, is the story of a hacktivist group trying to make a change, fighting against the overreach of the tech companies using people's data for profit. Marcus Holloway is a hacker that was unjustly framed, taking back control of his life as he and his friends do their best to make a difference. If the first game is grim as hell, the second is bright, vibrant, and full of hope; Marcus ends up triumphant, and his connections with others are a large part of that.
Both games are open-world third person shooters, with the first taking place in Chicago and the second taking place in San Francisco. One of the core gameplay mechanics revolves around hacking and exploiting the smart city system that the Big Bad is pushing out across the globe, though it's much more nuanced and well-developed in the second game. The second game can be played 100% nonlethally, while the first one has a morality meter but basically no nonlethal options for dealing with enemies.
What do you love about it?
Jordi's an absolutely hilarious character in both games (though he's a DLC mission character in WD2) whose presence never fails to make me smile, and the gameplay is genuinely engaging (albeit really goddamn frustrating on the mandatory driving missions early in both games; those missions only happen once, but they're still hellish to deal with.)
But putting literal best character Jordi aside, the main cast of both games is super interesting on their own; Aiden's self-destructive spiral is painful to watch but still very true to the kind of person he is, to the point where the inevitable outcomes aren't a surprise to anyone, least of all him. He's an absolute wreck of a human being and I find that super compelling about him.
And Marcus is both an absolute goddamn delight - earnest, empathetic, willing to joke around but still deeply passionate about what he feels is right - and a fantastic main character to meet the rest of DedSec with. Playing the game and hearing their banter is a lot like sitting in a room full of friends for me, and sometimes I pop in to play through certain missions just to watch Marcus joke around and do things with his friends. And there was a lot of care put into the game, from the devs and the actors who did voicework and stunts for the characters. You can feel the love poured into it.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?
Shipping, definitely! For Watch Dogs, Aiden/Damien is a friends-turned-enemies ship, while Aiden/Jordi is the straight man/funny man of amoral killers bantering as they murder their way through mooks. Both ships have a lot of potential and interaction in the game itself, and I am starving to content here.
For Watch Dogs 2, Marcus/Wrench is the friends-to-lovers, ride or die, two people who meet and click and always get along ship that comes with a ton of UST and shipteasing. Marcus/Jordi is the enemies to reluctant allies ship that mostly involves Jordi still being the funny man amoral killer but now Marcus is here to be a rational human being that thinks that's PRETTY FUCKED UP ACTUALLY and also this guy is terrifying.
There's a lot of room for exploring canon, both during the game events and after, and I'm going to be requesting some of that. But the character dynamics stand up well enough on their own that I think you can have a lot of fun doing AUs with them too.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests?
There's cutscene movies for both games, along with Let's Plays if that's more appealing. The cutscene movies drop some of the between-mission chatter, but both of them have the bulk of character and plot mission information, and both come in at just under 2 hours.
Watch Dogs:
https://youtu.be/b2SP5qlMwUM
Watch Dogs 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoObghaZ9Y
Content warnings:
Watch Dogs - Graphic violence (as in, some of the takedowns involve Aiden beating someone to death with a tactical baton, along with the usual gun violence of the genre), lots of violence towards and objectification of women, human trafficking including sexual slavery, nudity, major character death, and some of the side content involves Aiden spying on people with references to eating disorders, drug use, domestic abuse, and suicide.
Watch Dogs 2 - Graphic violence (though Marcus's takedowns are comparatively gentler and you can go through the game without firing a gun even once, there's some violence that can't be avoided), major character death, nudity, drug use, and some of the missions and side missions involve spying on people with references to abuse and suicide.