The very core of Watch Dogs as a series centres around the idea of hacking, and how that translates to gameplay mechanics. That in particular was something that was improved upon in a major way in Watch Dogs 2, and now, it looks like the upcoming Watch Dogs: Legion is going to expand on that idea even further.
Speaking recently in a Q&A (via Reddit), Josh Cook, Art Director of Watch Dogs: Legion spoke about the same, and mentioned how hacking is something that will be taken to new heights in the upcoming title. According to Cook, the idea’s evolved from players being able to see other people’s information to now being able to hack into their lives. This way, Cook says, hacking in Watch Dogs: Legion takes on the form of “social engineering”, as players start messing with the characters’ lives.
“Hacking is one of the essential pillars of the franchise, of the brand,” said Cook. “Watch Dogs: Legion is the evolution of the foundations of the things we’ve built on in the past. The idea from the first game, of profiling people, seeing their information. Now you’re starting to hack into those people’s lives. Better social engineering, social manipulation. You’re reaching out to these people, they’re asking you for favours, you’re manipulating their circumstances within the world.”
“That’s kind of the broader evolution of what hacking means more than just playing with computer bits,” he continued. “It’s actually manipulating people and systemic systems within the world. Of course, with all the cool hacking features. I can hack cars and drive them around. We got really cool drones, all kinds of drones within our game. Military drones with rockets on them, police drones with light machine gun weaponry. Spiderbots, hacking into CCTV camera networks. All kinds of things you can manipulate within the world, but the bigger, more exciting aspect of hacking is when you start engaging in the social engineering side, messing with people’s lives and manipulating them in those ways.”
Watch Dogs: Legion is out on March 6, 2020 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia.