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| Watch Dogs Legion |
Ubisoft has been facing a bit of a hard time over the last year, especially when it comes to its games. With heavy criticisms faced by Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, the feeling that every Ubisoft game is essentially the same has never been more at the forefront than it is now. But then there’s Watch Dogs: Legion, a weird game that simultaneously breaks Ubisoft’s open world formula, while at the same time staying largely close to its base blueprints. And in an interesting way, a similar dichotomy can be seen in the philosophy behind Watch Dogs: Legion.
Ubisoft loves announcing the fact that none of its games have any political messaging or meaning behind them, but then Watch Dogs as a franchise is known for having some interesting themes about police states and government surveillance behind its veneer of open-world action game. Is Watch Dogs: Legion finally the game that’s going to solidify the franchise into something worth keeping on eye on? Or will it suffer a fate similar to Watch Dogs 2; a critically-acclaimed game that was fun, but largely ignored because of its predecessor?
Watch Dogs: Legion is a great looking game. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not next-gen looking by any stretch of the imagination, but it definitely looks great. A more realised cyberpunk aesthetic for London was a great idea, and, visually speaking, the dichotomy of London’s older Victorian-looking building next to holographic road checkpoints and bright neon lights is a great look. On the other hand, this dichotomy in a way mirrors a kind of identity crisis I felt throughout my time with Watch Dogs: Legion.
So, should you buy it?
Watch Dogs: Legion is a strange departure for the franchise, but one that feels somewhat inevitable in hindsight. The idea behind Watch Dogs always felt like a strange rage against the machine rebellion against the dangerous advancement of technology and surveillance, and Legion feels like it pushes the idea to its logical extreme. Tonal inconsistencies aside, however, Legion is still definitely a fun game to play, and the ability to recruit random people on the street adds a tonne of variety to what would otherwise be yet another Ubisoft Open World Game™. Watch Dogs: Legion is a great successor to the series, and while I do wish it had better writing, it’s still a pretty great game.
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