In a world ruled by corporate oligarchies that transform technologies of the future into dystopian systems of oppression, one can’t help but want to take a page out of the 1995 classic film Hackers and hack the planet. But since Angelina Jolie seems awfully busy these days and roller blading has and always will be categorically uncool, we need to find a more realistic way of living out our dreams of being a countercultural cyberwarrior. Enter the world of Watch Dogs 2, a third-person, open-world, action-adventure game that takes place in a painstakingly rendered version of San Francisco and puts you in the shoes of Marcus Holloway, a hacker working with the underground hacking collective DedSec to topple the city’s Big Brother-like surveillance system.
A follow-up to 2014’s Watch Dogs, the sequel manages to surpass its predecessor in every way, putting you in a sprawling sandbox where you can fly drones, hijack cars, break into security cameras, drain bank accounts, remotely detonate grenades, control traffic lights, and so much more just with the touch of your cell phone. You basically feel like a one-man army taking on an evil, sprawling corporate empire with little more than your wits, your wiles, and some well-timed hacking diversions. But rather than spend my days drooling over trailers, I got the chance to go hands on with the game. Ubisoft flew me to their San Francisco offices to sit down with a new build of the game that showed off some brand new campaign missions.
As someone who played the original Watch Dogs and had a fair amount of issues with it, I have to say that Watch Dogs 2 was an absolute blast. Plus, the protagonist looks almost identical to my friend and colleague, former Nerdist gaming editor Malik Forté. That’s just icing on this hacktivist cake. But don’t just take my word for it; watch the video above to see what’s lying in store for you in Watch Dogs 2. Then add two-step verification to all your mobile devices. You’ll thank me later.
Watch Dogs 2 is available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on November 15, 2016. It comes to Windows on November 29, 2016.
Editor’s note: This video is sponsored by Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs 2.
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).
