The Watch Dogs franchise has gone through multiple changes throughout its franchise history. While the core of the series remains the same, a group of hackers known as DedSec working to undermine an authoritarian group, how Ubisoft has switched out the protagonists that players interact with every new game. In fact, the most recent game in the franchise, Watch Dogs Legion, opts to forego a protagonist all together, letting players be anyone they want in the game world. Each character has their own traits, letting players dictate how they approach missions around the futuristic version of London.
While most fans would probably point to Watch Dogs 2 protagonist Marcus Holloway as the best of the bunch, the most important character of the group is likely Aiden Pearce. His story not only kick started the franchise in the city of Chicago, but it continues to span across all three games, serving as the connecting tissue between them. Players found him in Watch Dogs 2 more as a side character in a mission, while he is set to once again star as the protagonist in his own DLC expansion for Watch Dogs Legion.
Being such an important character to the series as well as the original grey hat hacker, Pearce has a long history and one that newer players may not be as familiar with. While season pass players will get to experience some of his story through the included Watch Dogs Complete Edition, here is the full story of Aiden Pearce before his reappearance in the Bloodline expansion.
Prior to Watch Dogs
Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Aiden Pearce grew up with an abusive father. Things got so bad that his mother moved Pearce and his sister to the United States to escape. Even while safe from their abusive father, the neighborhood where the Pearce family ended up was rougher than normal, forcing Aiden into situations where he had to protect his family. Ultimately, this led him down a path of lawlessness, eventually causing him to join a criminal organization. It is here that Aiden began learning about combat, intimidation tactics, and social engineering techniques.
Prior to the start of Watch Dogs, Pearce came into contact with the hacker Damien Brenks and the two became fast friends, even teaching each other specific hacking tricks with the intention of getting rich.
Watch Dogs
The duo took on a job at the Merlaut Hotel with the intention of stealing money from the bank accounts of the wealthy who stayed there. Unfortunately, the hotel's owner, Dermot "Lucky" Quinn discovered the hack and believed it to be a group attempting to obtain a video he had of Chicago's mayor murdering a woman named Rose Washington. Using a reverse hack, Quinn was able to discover the identities of the friends and subsequently issued a hit on Pearce and Brenks to scare them off. Brenks was attacked first and put into a coma, though Pearce's life was about to be flipped upside down.
Attempting to protect his family, Aiden attempted to flee to the country with his sister and her kids Lena and Jackson. On the way, their car is attacked by hitmen attempting to collect on the bounty, shredding the tires and causing the car to flip and crash. While Aiden, Nicole, and Jackson survive the attack, Lena does not. Feeling immense guilt, Aiden is obsessed with revenge, discovering the identities of those responsible and making them pay. To make matters more complicated, Brenks attempts to reconnect, though he is rebuffed due to the fact that Pearce doesn't think he needs him anymore.
Brenks ups the stakes by kidnapping his sister in order to get Pearce back on board, threatening her safety if his orders were not followed. The pair attempted to use the ctOS computing network across the city to identify the other hacker during the Merlaut job that went sideways. Along with help from Raymond 'T-Bone' Kenney and Dedsec operative Clara Lille, Brenks and Pearce eventually discover that Merlaut owner Dermot "Lucky" Quinn originally issued the hit over his video tape leverage over the mayor. After killing Quinn, Pearce releases all of the blackmail material to the public, exposing the corruption throughout the city, which enrages Brenks who wanted to utilize it for other purposes.
Brenks then uses the ctOs system to cause general chaos around the city, intending to make everyone suffer the way he did following the Merlaut Job and his subsequent injury. In addition, Brenks turned the system on Aiden bringing police into the mix, who was attempting to create a blackout in the city, removing the system's control from his former partner. After locating Brenks at a nearby lighthouse, Aiden confronted his former partner in a final showdown, however, Pearce's longtime ally revealed he picked up a new contract on Pearce and Brenks and was also there waiting for the two of them. Using the ctOS system, Pearce overloads the lighthouse lamp to create a large distraction to throw the Fixer over the edge before shooting Brenks in the head.
As players later find out, the Fixer known as Jordi Chin survived the fall and later contacts Pearce to give him the location on the guy who ultimately shot out the tires, killing his niece. From that point forward, Aiden Pearce embraces the roll of vigilante, vowing to protect those who need it and to punish the corrupt when needed.
Watch Dogs 2
While the protagonist torch is then passed to Marcus Holloway and his DedSec San Francisco crew, Pearce has turned into a sort of cult hero by this point. No longer safe in Chicago due to a $100,000 bounty put on his head by the Blume Corporation due to his antics in the city, Pearce travels to the west coast to shut down a human trafficking ring run by a gang known as the Auntie Shu Boys as well as the Russian Bratva. During his mission, he's captured by the Bratva and ultimately discovered accidentally by Marcus who was also investigating the trafficking ring.
Marcus discovers the location where he's being held and hacks into Aiden's phone which is currently being held by a guard outside his cell. With the guard distracted, Pearce takes him out and reclaims his phone and baton weapon. A miniature blackout takes place to further cover his escape.
Watch Dogs: Legion
The story of Aiden Pearce isn't quite done as Ubisoft is preparing to launch the Bloodline DLC expansion which once again makes him a fully playable character. A recent teaser trailer shows Aiden back in Chicago, when he gets a phone call from Jordi Chin regarding a new fixer job in London. Pearce reluctantly agrees to go after realizing that London is where his nephew, Jackson Pearce, is currently residing.
Little is known about the story at this point except that Pearce is older but not necessarily wiser. The vigilante is presumably in London to help the resistance fight back against the private military company known as Albion. This dystopian version of London which has been turned into a surveillance state is a perfect location for the hacking skills of someone like Aiden Pearce.
Watch Dogs: Legion is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.