It’s taken longer than initially expected for Watch Dogs Legion to release, thanks to Ubisoft delaying it from its original March 2020 launch, but the wait is almost over. The next entry in the hacking-based open-world series is finally coming out tomorrow, and better yet, early reviews have made their way online for those eager to know if it’s worth buying.
Despite spanning only three games so far, the Watch Dogs series has shown a willingness to shake up core aspects of its formula with each game, which has culminated in the biggest shift yet with Legion’s “play as anyone” mechanic. Instead of a sole main protagonist like in previous entries, players can build a hacker crew made up of the many NPCs inhabiting the game’s sandbox version of London, which grants them access to a wide array of skills and abilities designed to encourage a larger number of playstyles than ever before.
It’s an ambitious change, and it seems to be paying off. Game Rant called Watch Dogs Legion “an easy game to recommend for fans,” and the general consensus among most of the early reviews echoes this sentiment. Rather than just being a cheap gimmick, the game’s approach to playable characters and other tweaks to the formula largely succeed in iterating upon its predecessors.
Video Games Chronicle (Andy Robinson)
In these emergent moments, Watch Dogs Legion elevates itself as a far smarter experience than the gimmicky political thriller we expected from its early reveal. While the narrative elements are enjoyable on their own – and there are some real impressive scenes – Legion is most rewarding as a sandbox for those looking to veer off course and create their own stories, with their own ludicrous crew.
Score: 10/10
Game Informer (Marcus Stewart)
Legion feels like the realization of the hacker fantasy the first Watch Dogs tried to capture. Between the fun team-building, fantastic mission design, strong narrative, and a gorgeous world, everything comes together in a largely entertaining and cohesive package. Whether you’re controlling a trained super spy or a gassy grandmother, Watch Dogs: Legion is a ton of fun.
Score: 9/10
God is a Geek (Mick Fraser)
It has its fair share of Ubisoft jank here and there, and the check-box structure will certainly cause a few eyes to roll, but the people who are likely to buy this game will already know what to expect in terms of quality and quantity, and I think even those people may be pleasantly surprised by just how good Legion is, and how much fun it is to exist in this world.
Score: 8.5/10
GameSpot (Alessandro Fillari)
One of Legion's more profound messages is about what it means to be a true Londoner, and by the game's end, you'll have a DedSec crew made of wildly diverse and disparate citizens from unique cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds--all united in their goal to restore their home. If anything, that's as powerful a message for the game as you can get.
Score: 8/10
Polygon (Owen S. Good)
Mostly, I am impressed at how Ubisoft Toronto got me to care about people more than skills, even in a game set up to prioritize the latter. Like a card trick, I’m left with the sense that the developers coaxed me to pick the person the game needed to complete this particular chapter of the story, while making it seem like it was my call all the way. For interactive entertainment, that’s outstanding storytelling, and it supports gameplay that has rewarded my own risk-taking and creativity with the urge to play it all again, with an entirely new cast.
Score: Unscored
DualShockers (Ben Bayliss)
Watch Dogs Legion is Ubisoft’s most ambitious title yet purely for the recruitment system that has been implemented on this scale alone...The recruitment system is vast and those recruitment missions and borough opportunities don’t feel like irritating side-quests and make your role in the city more prominent, although they do suffer in feeling repetitive. All of this tied up in the image of a possibly soon-to-be London makes Watch Dogs Legion an enjoyable experience, but one I felt didn’t match the quality of feeling as robust as Watch Dogs 2.
Score: 7.5/10
GamesRadar (Alex Avard)
Like that of Assassin's Creed's dual protagonists, I now can't imagine the Watch Dogs series without its Play as Anyone mechanic, which feels like a feature the franchise was always made for. Despite the deficiencies that underscore both its storytelling and gameplay, Legion thus represents an aspiring, albeit somewhat clumsy, step forward for the series at large.
Score: 7/10
Screen Rant (Leo Faierman)
Watch Dogs: Legion is an ambitious simulation which reliably fails whenever players push against its boundaries. Like the cargo drones which grant them the ability to freely fly, it hits an invisible ceiling that prevents players from soaring above London’s skyscrapers. Ubisoft’s intentions to maintain Watch Dogs: Legion in its online life come December means its complexity has room to grow and evolve over time (and through paid season passes), but earlier doubts about its actual depth seem sorely well-founded
Score: 6/10
What’s especially impressive is that for all of the content that the base game offers, it’s not all that Ubisoft has in store for Watch Dogs Legion. Of course, there’s the fact that the game will be available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X next month, but after that a free update on December 3 will add online co-op to Watch Dogs Legion along with a PVP mode. Meanwhile, subsequent updates are slated to introduce even more new features, including an enhanced version of the series’ Invasion mode.
Ubisoft even has content planned for those who miss playing as dedicated lead characters. The game’s season pass will include a DLC story expansion called Bloodlines, which will let players control original series protagonist Aiden Pearce, who will be joined by Wrench from Watch Dogs 2 and a playable member of Assassin’s Creed’s Assassin Brotherhood. Safe to say, fans won’t be wanting for content over the next few months.
Watch Dogs Legion will launch on October 29 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. The game will then come to Xbox Series X on November 10 and PS5 on November 24.