Ubisoft Forward — New Watch Dogs: Legion highlights

With Ubisoft Forward taking the lead as the company’s main promotion wing during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Ubisoft has revealed some rather interesting information about their upcoming title – Watch Dogs: Legion. As one of their most ambitious projects, the third instalment of Watch Dogs, set in a post-Brexit dystopian London, was pushed into limelight in the backdrop of actual political developments transpiring in present-day Britain.

Ubisoft has dropped a brand new trailer pertaining to the aforementioned game titled Tipping Point, granting us a glimpse into the general theme of the game and what it is about.

Story highlights: In the wake of rising protests and terrorism across the country, the government of the United Kingdom has hired a private military organisation called Albion to put the tumult to rest. However, Albion CEO, Nigel Cass seems more interested in grabbing power than bringing the unrest to heel. In one of the scenes, Nigel is seen murdering a government official, who apparently disagrees with this handling of the situation, in order to frame the protestors and carry on his mission. Criminal syndicates have risen as a consequence of the ongoing political turbulence to dominate the black market with narcotics and illegally harvested organs. It seems that the player (here the proponent of DedSec) is going to be in a pitched battle against both these groups.

Gameplay highlights: The new gameplay trailer has revealed critical information pertaining to new gameplay elements, some of them are noted below:

• In the world of Watch Dogs: Legion, the player has a vast catalogue of options. Players can profile anyone in the world.
• Players can recruit anyone in the world, help them with their problems and play their ‘origin missions’. Even insiders into gangs and Albion can be hired. Insiders can gain access into restricted zones without triggering alarm (for example, Albion soldiers can walk into their headquarters to gather intel without alerting the enemy). However, they are not immune. Any suspicious behaviour would be noticed, thereby compromising the mission.
• Characters have different specializations which be used by the player to use specific actions, tools and abilities (for example, construction workers have special drones and tools, drone specialists can use powerful drones of their own or hack into and disable enemy drones).
• Characters have negative traits (certain habits like drinking severely impairs the character’s mobility).

New characters revealed: [Note all these characters have different weapons and gadgets that not mentioned in this article. Watch the video for more information.]

1. Nigel Cass — CEO of Albion (antagonist)
2. Mary Kelley — Mafia boss (antagonist)
3. Viorel Petrescu (playable character):
   • • Character description: Football Hooligan | Regularly places bids on collector football jerseys
     • Special abilities:
       • • Rally Cry (Calls friends to fights)
         • Tough Drunkard (Take less damage)
4. Penelope Bonvoust (playable character):
   • • Character description: Street Artist | Contributes frequently to art forum “Kawaii Anime Cat Girls”
     • Special abilities:
       • • Paintball Gun (Unique weapon)
         • Paint Bomb (Disorient enemies)
         • Street Art (Create ‘paste ups’)
5. Thaworn Lim (playable character):
   • • Character description: Spy | On active duty
     • Special abilities:
       • • Silenced P9 (Unique weapon)
         • Spy Watch (Jam enemy weapons)
         • Spy Car (Missiles and cloak)
6. Shaun Hussein (playable character):
   • • Character description: Anarchist | Posted a selfie while being arrested
     • Special abilities:
       • • Smoke Grenade (Obscures enemy vision)
         • Studden Truncheon (Light melee weapon)
         • Bandana (Gas immunity)
7. Elizabeth Doshi (playable character | insider):
   • • Character description: Paramedic | Treating patients at Hosfield Medical Centre until 8:00
     • Special abilities:
       • • Uniform Access (Medical facilities)
         • Ambulance (Personal utility vehicle)
         • Triage (Team injury release)
8. Nathan Khan (playable character):
   • • Character description: Professional Hitman | Suspect in several murder charges
     • Special abilities:
       • • Desert Eagle (Weapon arsenal)
         • Gunkata (Instant gun takedowns)
         • Combat Roll (Evasive dodge)
9. Arthur Griffin (playable character | insider):
   • • Character description: Construction Worker | Purchased new tool belt
     • Special abilities:
       • • Uniform Access (Construction sites)
         • Cargo Drone (Drone summon)
         • Wrench (Heavy melee weapon)
         • Nail Gun (Unique weapon)
10. Amy Zhao (playable character):
    • • Character description: Drone Expert | Developing drone to clean oceans
      • Special abilities:
        • • Shock Drone (Drone summon)
          • Drone Betray Hack (New combat hack)
          • Drone Swarm (Homing bombs)
11. Brielle McCoy (playable character | insider):
    • • Character description: Albion Contractor | Guarding New Scotland Yard
      • Special Abilities:
        • • Uniform Access (Authorised access)
          • P9 (Semi-automatic pistol)
          • Baton (Melee weapon)
12. Mickey (playable character | stats and abilities not shown)

Watch Dogs: Legion is due for release on October 29th of 2020 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia & PC.