Ubisoft kicked off its E3 2019 presentation with an Assassin's Creed concert, but then it quickly got to the gameplay with the first footage of Watch Dogs Legion. The footage showed players controlling a variety of characters exploring an open world London, England, revealing a surprising new gameplay feature in the process.

It was revealed during Ubisoft's E3 2019 press conference that Watch Dogs Legion will have permadeath for player characters. In the gameplay presentation, we saw a player character attempt to save a new recruit named Jimmy, only to get killed for his efforts. Instead of a game over screen, Watch Dogs Legion showed a character select screen listing all the other playable characters that had been recruited so far.

By the end of the gameplay presentation at Ubisoft's E3 2019 press conference, we saw a new character named Jimmy Shaw recruited to the cause, giving Watch Dogs Legion players yet another new playable character to choose from. It was confirmed that Watch Dogs Legion players will be able to recruit and play as literally any of the civilian NPCs in the game.

The Londoners in Watch Dogs Legion all have their own programmed lives and origin mission. Cut-scenes will change depending on who the player has recruited, which should allow Watch Dogs Legion players to customize the experience to their liking. For example, they can make it so DedSec is full of hipsters, or they can recruit an entirely female team if they'd like. Really it's up to the player's preference.

This recruiting and permadeath system sounds pretty ambitious, and it will be interesting to see in action. It's also unclear what will happen if Watch Dogs Legion players end up killing all of the player characters in the game, as they aren't randomly generated but instead all given their own unique, specifically-designed lives.

More information on Watch Dogs Legion's permadeath and how exactly it will work should come to light in the coming days as people go hands-on with it at E3 2019.

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Watch Dogs Legion will launch on March 6, 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.