From the moment I saw Watch Dogs: Legion during my Ubisoft appointment at E3 2019, I knew that this wildly ambitious game was something special. Described by Ubisoft Montreal as an open-world action-adventure game set within a futuristic London on the brink of collapse, Legion openly promotes the idea of starting a resistance group to take down the corrupt individuals in charge.
Having had the opportunity to spend hands-on time with an updated build of the game recently, I found myself walking away from the experience with a few lingering questions about what players can expect from the final product when it launches later this month. Luckily, Game Director Kent Hudson graciously set aside some time to answer a few of my questions. Feel free to check out our full detailed discussion below.
In Watch Dogs: Legion, recruiting is the key to building up your successful resistance team. How many people will players be able to recruit to their team?
Kent Hudson: Currently the team size cap limit allows up to 40 operatives. All of the characters in our open-world fictionalized representation of London are procedurally generated meaning that one player’s gameplay experience will be different from another. The number of combinations depends on how thinly you slice the data and we have an impressive amount of characters and content that will keep you engaged and playing for a very long time.
Are recruits with the same profession type different in any way or do they all have the same weapons and skillsets?
Kent Hudson: As I mentioned previously, all of the characters in the world are procedurally generated so there is a healthy balance between similarities and differences. For example, a spy operative will always have a watch, a pistol, and a car but could also be of a different race and have a different backstory. Every character can unlock additional properties and weapons as you progress through the game. If you recruit another character who has different weapons and is a part of a certain class level, then you’ll be able to use those same weapons across your entire roster of characters.
In Watch Dogs: Legion, you can play as anyone including the elderly retired assassin that we saw in an earlier trailer. However, I have noticed that you can’t recruit any kids or teenagers. Why is that?
Kent Hudson: You can’t recruit any children or young adults in the game because we didn’t want to promote the idea of kids using guns to engage in violent activities. There are several non-lethal weapons and approaches that you can utilize within your own gameplay experience as well. I’m currently replaying through the game right now this way and I definitely would recommend players using the AR cloak abilities to limit their chances of getting easily detected by enemies.
In an earlier build of Watch Dogs: Legion, Permadeath was a part of the overall experience. While the option wasn’t available in the recent demo, will players still be able to access this feature in the final build of the game?
Kent Hudson: Yes, Permadeath is still available. The option can be turned on within your gameplay settings. If you plan to pick up the game on PC, there is an Iron Man Mode that makes the feature permanent. Even if you choose not to turn on Permadetah, the overall concept of death is a significant part of Watch Dogs: Legion and you will encounter characters who can die at any given time.
If a player is arrested or critically injured in the game, will the relationship change with that culprit when he or she returns to active duty?
Kent Hudson: Whenever a player is critically injured or arrested, he or she is made unavailable to play for roughly 30 minutes. Once that person returns, they are granted a fresh start. The system does however keep track of who initially took you down and that person is highlighted with an adversary badge. If you choose to seek revenge on that person then you’ll be granted a crypto bonus for your efforts. In addition to this, using the deep profiler on the culprit reveals more vulnerable information about this person too and you can choose to go after the people closest to them in order to get their undivided attention. That level of methodical obsession isn’t something I would endorse doing personally but the option is there for those who want to do it lol.
What are some of the key differences in both the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Watch Dogs: Legion?
Kent Hudson: Higher resolution and raytracing are two key features that you’ll definitely get from both next-gen versions of the game. Both consoles will have faster load times due to the SSD and there are some 3D Audio capability features specific to PlayStation 5. Lastly, there will also be free next-gen upgrades available for both versions regardless of if you choose to buy the game on PS4 or Xbox One.
Watch Dogs: Legion launches on October 29th for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. The Xbox Series X and S versions will arrive on November 10th while the PlayStation 5 edition debuts on November 12th. Are any of you looking forward to the game and if so which version do you plan on picking up? Please feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
