When Ubisoft first revealed Watch Dogs, few knew how to respond to the open world, tech-focused game. There was a general sense of enthusiasm there, but also a cautious optimism regarding the game’s more ambitious hacking elements. Then Watch Dogs released – after a few delays – and, well, it wasn’t exactly quite the game we hoped, but still a solid franchise-starter regardless.
And make no mistake – Watch Dogs was always meant to be the beginning of a franchise. Even before the game released, Ubisoft talked about how they planned to explore this world in future games.
That being said, Ubisoft has yet to make Watch Dogs 2 official. We all know it’s coming, Ubisoft knows it’s coming, but there hasn’t been that big reveal.
Unfortunately, it looks like whatever reveals Ubisoft had planned have been slightly spoiled, at least if a LinkedIn profile post is to be believed. According to the post, Watch Dogs 2 is very much alive and people are working on it.
While there’s no surprise there - given what we know about the project so far - this is still the first that we’ve seen someone actually mention Watch Dogs 2 development. However, we doubt the Senior Gameplay Programmer in question, Ubisoft Paris’ Julien Risse, will make it through unscathed; the game mention has already been removed from his profile.
Ultimately, fans are likely to welcome Watch Dogs 2 with the same hopeful optimism they shared for the first game. But having now played Watch Dogs, there are expectations for what Ubisoft’s sequel should deliver. Some would argue that the hacking mechanics were a little too pared down for their tastes, while others felt that Aiden Pearce wasn’t as dynamic of a protagonist as they were hoping to see.
These are all seemingly areas that Watch Dogs 2 can improve, but first we’d have to know what exactly Ubisoft plans to do with the property. An earlier rumor for the sequel suggested the game might expand beyond Chicago, which could mean Aiden Pearce is out. Not to mention, Ubisoft always fine-tunes their gameplay mechanics in the second game – just look at Assassin’s Creed 2 compared to Assassin’s Creed 1.
With only Rainbow Six: Siege, The Division, and Assassin’s Creed Victory (rumored title) on their schedule for 2015, Ubisoft is likely gearing up to prepare gamers for their next wave of releases at E3 2015. In other words, don’t be surprised to see Watch Dogs 2 revealed at their pre-E3 press conference.
What do you hope to see from Watch Dogs 2? What did you like about the first game and what would you like to see change?