Ubisoft’s third-quarter financial report heralded an announcement that many had already assumed to be common knowledge: Watch Dogs 2 is coming. Sandwiched into the same release window as Ghost Recon Wildlands, For Honor and South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the mega-publisher is now primed to release each title by March 31, 2017, leading to rampant online speculation as to how those pieces will fall into place.
Assassin’s Creed will miss the opportunity to dovetail with its cinematic brethren later in 2016, while one would assume Ghost Recon Wildlands will be pegged for a similar November/December window to that of Rainbow Siege Siege. That still leaves a late October slot ripe for the taking in AC’s absence. In 2014, South Park: The Stick of Truth benefited from releasing during the relatively quiet March window, indicating that its riotous sequel could follow a similar path in its journey back to the Rocky Mountains.
Conjecture though that may be, it’s a line of thinking that would have For Honor and Watch Dogs 2 emerging as the two main frontrunners to join Wildlands in late 2016 — Hell, we could see the release of all three over the next ten months. But judging by the upcoming one-two punch of Far Cry Primal and The Division, Ubisoft looks to be more inclined to reserve at least one of the two until the turn of the year.
Reading Between the Lines
In fact, when news first leaked that Assassin’s Creed had been ordered on a one year hiatus, early reports claimed that Ubisoft Montreal’s Watch Dogs 2 would swoop in to take its place later this year. But what does that mean for the future of the company’s new franchise? And has the sequel been left facing an uphill battle to win over those burned by poor marketing and a weak end product?
Two years ago, Watch Dogs emerged from a prolonged stint in development shackled with those scathing downgrade allegations. Indeed early trailers had marketed a product that was notably grander in scope, not to mention how they drew attention to gameplay features that were left on the cutting room floor.
Second Album Syndrome
Visions change, of course, and Aiden Pearce’s origins story is one that grew, or at the very least changed, during development. But if Watch Dogs 2 is to make a lasting first impression, Ubisoft Montreal has to bring its A-game from the get-go, which may explain the studio’s current radio silence. That, and the fact that announcing the original title too soon proved detrimental; there’s only so many times you can watch a gravel-voiced protagonist shoot up the Windy City.
Speaking of which, one of the pressing questions lingering over Ubisoft’s tech-savvy sequel is whether players will reprise the role of Aiden Pearce. The fact that Watch Dogs 2 will reportedly take place in San Francisco leads us to believe that Chicago’s Dark Knight will be left wallowing in his own self-pity. Riding explodable RC cars into the sunset with his old partner-in-cyber-crime, T-Bone Grady.
Besides, it wasn’t as though Pearce, the gruff vigilante sleuth that he was, will be remembered as a compelling lead. Undermined by a script that fast descended into a tonal mess, Pearce was little more than a delusional criminal, thrusting the citizens of Chicago into peril without batting an eyelid. Need an exit? How about initiating a blackout on an entire stadium of people just to avoid the cops? Watch Dogs’ cinematic opening and subsequent introduction of Aiden Pearce may have looked cool, but it didn’t really make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things, particularly when the game’s finale back-pedalled on a campaign of brutal firefights to try and redeem its lead protagonist.
Before the credits rolled, players were left facing the ultimate moral conundrum — one that placed the fate of Maurice Vega in their hands — that ultimately felt shoehorned in, a last-ditch effort to salvage some fleeting shard of redemption from a plot that really had you playing an unforgivable sad sack. Watch Dogs may have been fun at times, but seeing Chicago through the lens of Pearce was not.
Sweep aside a forgettable protagonist and an uninspired story, that kernel of an idea for a technological empire where crime isn’t always solved with a bullet between the eyes is a setting that’s simply brimming with narrative potential. Yes, Watch Dogs dabbled with the technology of our time, peeking behind the curtain of a technocratic society in a way that would do Mr. Robot proud, but its oncoming sequel needs to drastically expand the hacking gameplay underpinning Ubisoft’s Orwellian cityscape.
Worst. Uncle. Ever.
Forget falling back into the relative safe haven of open-world tropes, Watch Dogs 2 is now tasked with defining what Watch Dogs really is — how it plays, how it feels, and the kind of gameplay mechanics needed to drive the series forward. In fusing Ubisoft’s de facto exploration mechanics — those ctOS beacons proved awful similar to Far Cry’s tower system — and GTA-like gameplay, Ubisoft’s budding new IP was lacking an identity, struggling to create a world as unique as its hacking mechanics. Jack of all trades, master of none. Or something to that effect.
Among its compilation of genre conventions, open world stealth is the one category where Watch Dogs truly excelled, lending the publisher’s franchise-starter a sense of personality. Even still, for all of the hustle and bustle surrounding those novel mechanics — “hacking is your weapon” — your ability to interact with the city’s electronics fast became an abstract backdrop in the face of explosive action sequences and cover-based shootouts.
Watch Dogs 2, then, represents a relatively clean palette. If San Francisco really is to play host to Ubisoft’s sequel, the publisher could experiment with a near-future setting. Not cyberpunk, mind, but imagine the possibilities of manipulating autonomous cars or hacking into the virtual reality of other citizens. I want to see a compelling protagonist that can peer into the cyber infrastructure coursing through the veins of San Francisco and toy with the one percent from the shadows. One that’s served by a well-written script and believable dialogue, too, not a character that grumbles through a cliché monologue every other cutscene.
Alas, when it comes to marinating on the possibilities for Watch Dogs 2, people often cite the technical and indeed quality leap from Assassin’s Creed and its sequel in the hope that WD will follow a similar trajectory to success. And while it’s difficult to imagine Ubisoft will annualize the series, after the original raced to nine million sales Watch Dogs’ status as a franchise is secured, even if Ubisoft still has plenty left to do before its crime caper descends on the tech capital of America.
Indie-Mainstream Feature Feb. 2016
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Digging Deeper Than the Mainstream - February, 2016
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Layers of Fear
Release Date: February 16
Platforms: PS4
In 2014, Bloober Team launched the much-maligned Basement Crawl for PlayStation 4. A broken mishmash of unfinished gameplay and technical mishaps, it ultimately spurred the studio on to completely overhaul the horror title from the ground up. Imagine our relief, then, that Bloober’s next creative venture is shaping up overly well. It’s called Layers of Fear, and it all revolves around one painter’s plight to add the finishing touches to an incomplete masterpiece.
But The Unfinished Swan this is not. Taking place in a single house, Layers of Fear has evoked comparisons to P.T. — the domestic setting, the haunted protagonist — for all the right reasons. Billed as a psychedelic first-person experience, Bloober’s title has already gained a fair amount of traction through its launch on Steam Early Access, and it’s poised to loom onto PS4 very soon indeed.
Last year, SOMA toyed with the concept of placing you in control of a protagonist spiralling into the depths of insanity, and if Layers of Fear can capture even a fragment of that vulnerability, then consider us on board.
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We Are Doomed
Release Date: February 9
Platforms: PS Vita
Originally released on PlayStation 4 early last year, Vertex Pop’s lucid twin-stick shooter We Are Doomed recently made a beeline to PlayStation Vita, where it’s available to pick up for $9.99.
Its minimalist style is matched only by its accessibility, and those on the hunt for a simple and relaxing experience in the shoot ‘em up genre need look no further. There’s an endless mode included as well, and even from the visual style alone you can identify Vertex’s chief inspirations — TxK, Geometry Wars et al. Less a reinvention of the wheel and more a satisfying addition to the arcade formula, We Are Doomed is a bright and breezy downloadable experience.
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Pixel Piracy
Release Date: February 16
Platforms: PS4
Avast, matey! Quadro Delta’s cutesy pirate simulator Pixel Piracy is plotting course for a PlayStation 4 release early next week. Taking up the mantle of a captain, the logline for Quadro’s maritime adventure pitches the game as a “side-scrolling, two-dimensional real-time strategy/sandbox/simulation game.” That may read as a shotgun blast of marketing buzzwords, but with a striking art style and intriguing management systems — not to mention the reworked control scheme and interface for consoles — Pixel Piracy has our curiosity for its recruitment system and ship customization.
It may not feature the depth of, say, FTL, but who doesn’t love the idea of assembling your own crew to chase the horizon? Pixel Piracy will hit the high seas (read: PS4) on February 16.
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Tron Run/r
Release Date: February 16
Platforms: PS4
Disney may have pulled the plug on Tron 3, effectively sentencing its futuristic film franchise to the shelf for the time being, but the IP still lives on through upcoming third-person running game, Tron Run/r.
Retaining the neon-drenched aesthetic of its cinematic forebear, Tron Run/r is essentially a stylish twist on the runner formula, thrusting players into the shoes of an avatar tasked with leaping, gliding and wall-running across various obstacle courses. If nothing else, the upcoming release is a stylish rendition of Disney’s cyberspace, though time will tell whether those “action-adventure elements” and character customization can justify the $20 price tag.
Tron Run/r makes a beeline for PlayStation 4 on February 16.
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Runner 2
Release Date: February 23
Platforms: PS4
Sticking with the theme of running for the time being, the next candidate brings us to long-awaited sequel, Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. Already available across PS3 and PS Vita, the PS4 version will come packing the Good Friends Character Pack, one which bundles together a series of iconic personas from the indie scene — Machinarium’s Josef and Raz of Psychonauts fame and Spelunker to name a few.
Opening up the rhythm-platformer gameplay across five worlds and 120 levels, Runner 2 presents a ton of content all the while maintaining the rat-a-tat pace that made its predecessor so damn addicting in the first place. Besides, where else would you be able to play a drunk pickle and a guy with a cheeseburger for a head?
Featuring cross-buy with PS Vita, Runner 2 makes a dash for PlayStation 4 on February 23.
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The Walking Dead: Michonne
Release Date: February 23
Platforms: PS3, PS4
With so many licensed properities in the works at once, coupled with the studio’s tendency to keep release details under lock and key, Telltale fans often find themselves chomping at the bit for the next content rollout, be it The Wolf Among Us, Tales From the Borderlands or The Walking Dead.
As the studio revealed only yesterday, it’s the latter franchise that’s set to take the spotlight in 2016, with Telltale seemingly plotting “a very big year” for The Walking Dead series. That means season 3 is currently deep in development, though before the next chapter in Clementine's journey comes the three-part miniseries focusing on Michonne.
Having crafted its own adjacent universe independent of the TV series, this is the first time that Telltale has directly dabbled with a character from The Walking Dead canon, with the Michonne spinoff rooted between issues #126 and #139 of the comic. Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black) is voicing the katana-wielding badass, a protagonist cut off from her group who is “deeply haunted by the decisions of her past.”
Entitled In Too Deep, the premiere episode will make its bow on February 23, before the remaining two chapters follow in quick succession in March and April.