Road to E3 2016: Watch Dogs 2

Counting down E3 2016's 25 most anticipated games.

By Jon Ryan

Brace yourselves: E3 2016 is nearly upon us. From June 12-16, the entire gaming industry will converge on Los Angeles to showcase the biggest games that we’ll be playing for 2016 and beyond. We’ve been updating our Games of E3 List whenever news drops, but now we’re going to go even deeper. Every day leading up to the show, we’re going to highlight one of the biggest games that we hope to see more of at E3. Up today: Watch Dogs 2!

Never. We technically haven’t seen anything from the sequel to 2014’s Watch_Dogs - officially, we only really know two things: (A) it exists and (B) it’s supposed to release sometime between now and April of 2017.

Ubisoft has already admitted the first game wasn’t perfect (despite favorable reviews), and with all the rumors we’ve heard it looks like they’re working hard to address the issues that were raised with the first game. The possibility of a new setting (if it really is San Francisco, I can’t imagine a better choice and will eagerly hack every techie’s bank account I can) and a new protagonist could not only let it rise above its predecessor, but also expand the Watch_Dogs universe into much more interesting territory.

Despite its flaws, Watch_Dogs had some really great elements. The pseudo-sci-fi premise of “Fighting the Man” through electronic espionage was not only cool as hell, but also allowed for some really cool gameplay moments when hacking into Chicago’s infrastructure. You basically became a modern-day wizard once you’d spend enough upgrade points, and I thought the invasive nature of the multiplayer components were some of the coolest ideas I’d seen implemented in a AAA game in years. If Ubisoft manages to take the best parts of the original, and the “risks” they claim they’re taking pay off, Watch_Dogs 2 could be something very special.

9/10. While Ubisoft hasn’t officially confirmed its presence, there’s little doubt in my mind that we’ll be seeing Watch_Dogs 2 at this year’s E3. It’s practically unheard of for a massive developer/publisher to sideline one of their biggest franchises within a year of release - especially if there’s a chance it might be coming out this fall. Which I sorely hope it is.

Jon Ryan is an editor at IGN, who you can argue about Gwent cards with on Twitter.

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