Watch Dogs 2 vs Watch Dogs: Legion - Which is the better open world to hack and expose?

Ubisoft's Watch Dogs series is a unique breed of open-world games. The developer/publisher is known for delivering some of the most visually stunning and largest open worlds in gaming.

Ubisoft essentially pioneered the modern open-world genre with iconic games like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed. However, due to the continuous sequelization of its flagship titles, its open-world formula has grown somewhat tiresome for players in recent years.

Most of their games feel like the same experience but with a different coat of paint. Whether it is the umpteenth Assassin's Creed title or even Far Cry, they all feel fundamentally identical.

Despite the monotonous open-world design of most Ubisoft titles, the developer still has a few franchises under its umbrella that exude innovation and creativity. One example of this is the very underappreciated Watch Dogs series.

Watch Dogs games are easily one of the most ambitious and inventive takes on the tried and tested open-world formula from Ubisoft. These games are basically like Grand Theft Auto, but with the added freedom of hacking and manipulating several things in the open world.

Players are able to hack almost anything they can lay their eyes on: street cameras, NPCs phones, ATMs, and even vehicles. The hacking mechanic of the title is seamlessly integrated into side quests and the main campaign, allowing players to be super creative with how they undertake these quests.

The first game in the Watch Dogs series was very ambitious for its time, promising a massively detailed and interactive open world where players can hack just about anything electronic. While the game did deliver on its promise of hacking everything, it failed miserably due to its poor implementation of the system into its quests.

The title also received flack for its subpar visuals, which were nowhere near the quality or fidelity of what was shown in the game's marketing materials and trailers.

Ubisoft did, however, massively overhaul the quest structure and visuals with the game's sequels, Watch Dogs 2 and Legion. The two follow-up titles featured some interesting and unique ideas that are truly innovative for an open-world action-adventure title.

Both Watch Dogs 2 and Legion are excellent games in their own right. They offer players breathtakingly beautiful open worlds to explore and hack.

However, due to the former's better narrative, well-written characters, and polished open-world experience, it takes the title of the better game between the two.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author's opinions.

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A detailed look at why Watch Dogs 2 offers a better open-world experience than Watch Dogs: Legion

1) Open-world design

The open-world design of both the Watch Dogs titles follows the original game's template, featuring a modern-day city where everyone and everything is connected via the Central Operating System or CtOS.

Both Watch Dogs 2 and Legion feature a densely packed and moderately sized map that is varied and fun to explore.

The only key difference between the two titles' open worlds is their setting. Watch Dogs 2 is a direct continuation of the original title but in a different city with a new cast of characters. Legion, however, is set in a dystopian, near-futuristic setting, with drones patrolling the city's skylines and people driving around in futuristic cars and vehicles.

Watch Dogs 2 is set in a fictionalized San Francisco Bay that is closer to the current time period. Legion, on the other hand, is set in a futuristic sci-fi London where everything, from vehicles, electronics, and even people themselves, is ingrained with CtOS.

Both games offer a fun open world that allows players to interact with almost every other object or electronic system that can be hacked. This can be done to either cause some casual mayhem or disrupt the evil corporations from gaining the upper hand on the game's protagonists.

Legion's open world is slightly more fun to engage with, given the game's cyberpunk-like setting and the unique "multiple playable character system" that allows players to take control of any NPC. However, the game lacks in terms of technical polish, which can severely hamper the player's immersion in its open world.

Watch Dogs 2, on the other hand, offers a generic open world, which is pretty and fun to interact with but is derivative of most modern open-world titles. However, the game is incredibly polished and is virtually bug-free, which adds to its immersion factor, thereby making it a much more enjoyable open world to explore.

Both titles offer an excellent open world with their own positives and negatives. However, Watch Dogs 2's more polished experience gives it a slight edge over Legion.

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2) Narrative

In terms of narrative, Watch Dogs 2 easily takes the lead over Legion because it has more cohesive and well-written characters that feel organic to the plot. The sequel follows the story of Marcus Holloway and a bunch of DedSec hackers that he teams up with.

Although Watch Dogs 2's plot is quite forgettable, its characters are not. The funny and extremely talented Wrench, the cunning and witty Sitara and even the antagonist of the game, Dusan Nemec, are all well-written.

Every interaction Marcus has with any of these characters is engrossing to watch. Marcus himself is also a relatable character, something that was missing with Aiden in the original game.

While Legion's narrative starts quite strongly with a really cool and cinematic set-piece mission, the game's narrative becomes a jumbled mess by the end. This is in part due to its multiple playable NPCs, which are randomly generated and lack any of the personality traits that a fixed protagonist would possess. Players are constantly shuffling between multiple playable characters and thus rarely get the time to get attached to one.

Legion also sports some really fun characters like the AI Bagley and even antagonist(s). The game's plot tries to pick itself up with a really intriguing twist at the end, but it fails to stick its landing.

Although Legion's narrative feels interesting on the surface, the lack of a said-in-stone protagonist really hurts its overall pacing and cohesiveness. Thus, this round goes to Watch Dogs 2.

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3) Gameplay

Watch Dogs 2 offers similar gameplay to that of the original title, with improvements across the board. The original Watch Dogs had several issues, including its subpar stealth system, terrible driving and limited hacking, which were all improved in the sequel.

However, nothing in the sequel was new, as most of the game's mechanics were taken straight out of the first title. Of course, the improvements made to the game over the original are pretty substantial. However, it is still the same gameplay system that players got to experience with 2014's Watch Dogs.

Legion, on the other hand, boasts an entirely new and never-before-seen gameplay mechanic that allows players to recruit and play as any NPC. Each NPC comes with its own set of perks and abilities that drastically affect the moment-to-moment gameplay. The hacking and overall gameplay aesthetics remain the same as those of the previous titles.

The NPC recruitment system does have its shortcomings. Players might sometimes find themselves stuck with certain characters that are not suitable for a particular mission type. For instance, players might end up having to play a combat scenario with a character that is geared towards stealth and is ineffective against upfront assault or vice versa.

However, Legion's unique gameplay system heavily distinguishes itself from the series' other titles and from various games of the open-world genre itself. Although the system leaves a lot of room for improvement, it is still a really creative take on the tried-and-tested formula of the series' stale gameplay. This earns the game an edge over Watch Dogs 2 in this category.