Watch Dogs 2 Multiplayer, Rivals, and More Explained

Published: August 19, 2016 3:42 PM /

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Watch Dogs 2 Bounty Cafe Header

With Gamescom 2016 ongoing, we've been getting some new information on a variety of titles , as well as announcements of new games coming out. Just like they did for For Honor, Ubisoft has given out some new information on their upcoming title Watch Dogs 2, the hacker filled sequel to Watch Dogs.

The focus in much of the information they posted today was on Multiplayer, where they are going for an experience similar to the Dark Souls series, as well as returning Hacking Invasion from the first Watch Dogs. Including Hacking Invasion, there are three modes of online play in Watch Dogs 2.

The first is the aforementioned Hacking Invasion. This will work like the previous game, in that you are attempting to download information from another player while remaining undetected. The downloading functions like a time bar and you are trying to complete it before being found, or if you're the invaded one, find the person as quickly as possible.

Bounty Hunter is the new PvP mode being added to the game. This functions a bit like a mixture of Sin from Dark Souls and Heat from the Grand Theft Auto series. When you create a lot of chaos and mayhem, your wanted level goes up like it would in a GTA game. At a certain point, the police will request additional assistance and place a bounty on you, which will allow other players to join and invade your game hunting you. Up to three bounty hunters can join a session and work on hunting the player down through the city of San Francisco. It is also possible for a target to have a co-op partner who's job it will be to protect the target, although this limits the session to having only 2 bounty hunters as there is a maximum of 4 players in the mode. Additionally, you can use your phone to place a bounty on yourself in free-roam or use it to find locations where you can join in a hunt. Bounty Hunter doesn't take place when doing missions.

Watch Dogs 2 Bounty Nudle Campus

In Bounty Hunter, targets are rewarded for each of the hunters downed and for escaping. Hunters are rewarded for neutralizing their target. The reward comes in the form of followers, which are also gained by doing missions. Basically, followers provide the player with more botnets, as following hackers on social media in the Watch Dogs universe lets them put a botnet on your device apparently. These can be used to unlock more hacking abilities, and as you gain followers, more story missions are unlocked meaning that the online play complements and works alongside the story progression. 

The final way to play multiplayer is Online Co-Op. You can team up with one other player and play the game with some differences. Some missions and activities are not possible to do in co-op, so you can't beat the whole game with your friend, although many of them can be done with co-op. There are also special co-op activities you can do and run into as you explore that have short collaborative events to join. Once it is completed, the game will encourage you to continue playing together with co-op missions. When in co-op, you can also work on online hacking activities that are around the world. As for your avatar in co-op, you can choose to design your face for it, although only other players will see it. You still see yourself as Marcus and you wear whatever clothes you've chosen to give Marcus.

Watch Dogs 2 Mass Comm Hack

Also in online stuff, there is a "Leaderboards app," which is an app in-game that tracks your performance in online play. This gives you a score and rank, and they will function on a season cycle like many things with rewards to be earned each season before it resets.

Finally, you will be able to tune which modes the game will tell you about and if you want to participate in them or not. Thus you can tell the game to never tell you about all or some of the events for online play. We are asking if it is possible to turn off Bounty when you're connected, but we haven't received a response from Ubisoft yet, who are probably busy right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlva1OkLvRc&feature=youtu.be

However, there is more to what has been shared than just Multiplayer. Ubisoft also revealed some about the rival hacker groups you'll be facing in the game. In particular, they focused on your primary hacking rival Prime_Eight. While DedSec tends to focus on hacktivism and its own form of vigilantism, Prime_Eight hacks for profit and personal power. An example Ubisoft provides is that while DedSec may hack a company and leak its secrets to expose them for their activities, Prime_Eight would blackmail that company.

Watch Dogs 2 Gang War

Prime_Eight is essentially the foil to DedSec. While the corporations are the big villains, Prime_Eight serves to show the other areas DedSec could have gone and the darker sides of the hacking community. An example is that DedSec's allies tend to be activists and whistleblowers, while Prime_Eight's tend to be criminal gangs that can assist and provide muscle that they co-operate with. Lenni is the leader of Prime_Eight and Ethan Petty, one of the writers on the game, described her as follows, " ... an egotiscal, abrasive troll" and that she is willing to cross every line to provoke maximum reaction.

A few other things that have been explained

  • You can play Watch Dogs 2 missions in almost any order
  • You cannot lose followers
  • You will have two remote-control devices, the Jumper and the Drone
  • Your base weapon will be the Thunderball, a weapon Marcus made himself
  • You have access to a 3D Printer you can use to print and wield a variety of weapons.
  • You will be able to customize all your clothing parts in the game

Watch Dogs 2 releases November 15th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. PlayStation owners will have 30-day exclusive access to post-launch DLC.

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Don Parsons
| Senior Writer

A longtime lover of speculative fiction, in almost all its forms, Don joined TechRaptor in 2014 on a whim sending in an application as he was looking for… More about Don

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Watch Dogs 2
Game Page Watch Dogs 2
Developer
Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher
Ubisoft
Platforms
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date
November 15, 2016 (Calendar)
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