After a highly disappointing launch of Watch Dogs 2, Ubisoft have come back with a vengeance with their latest open world game, Watch Dogs Legion. The story is an interesting one, where once the AI has beaten you, you can either play as a kleptomaniac hacker who can steal AI data from their tech, or the more traditional hacker you know and love, Marcus Holloway, who has been turned into a cyborg. The plot is a little weak at times, but as a standalone game, Legion does its job.
As the Legion’s forces marched to London, the whispers of a new hacker code started to circulate. The Lost Legion has infiltrated the UK power grid, and now, it’s up to Watch Dogs, its Commander and the DedSec crew to stop them… before they get to London. For a game that was originally designed to be a cohesive, open-world experience, Legion’s story is remarkably linear, eschewing the spirit of exploration and freedom in favor of a well-plotted, action-focused plot.
On Tuesday, Ubisoft announced the release date of Watch Dogs Legion’s Bloodline DLC, which is now available to download. This DLC allows you to play as Marcus Holloway, a character who has been mentioned before during the Watch Dogs 2 story. He was the hacker who created the Ghost for Watch Dogs 2, ruling the San Francisco hacking scene at the time. After being incarcerated, he was recruited to the Legion, a faction who is attempting to control the world through a digital currency.
After the release of the originalWatch Dogs , I felt like I was the only person in the world who found Aiden Pearce fascinating, but someone at Ubisoft is apparently still a fan, because he’s back for Watch Dogs:. LegionDLC,Bloodline.
The return of Aiden is a bit of an odd choice, as the choice to focus the plot on one particular character throws away the game’s main selling point, which is the ability to cast anyone and play in a dense London dystopia.
But Ubisoft didn’t ruin its comeback by taking a risk with its intimate single player chapter, even if its place in Watch Dogs’ new world seems perpetually disjointed thanks to a mix of tones.
Watch Dogs Legion Bloodline DLC Review : A key to your plans
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The world of Chicago in the first gameWatch Dogs was dead serious, and some fans took issue with that, leading to a much more comedic toneWatch Dogs 2. In many ways, the series moved closer toSaints Row and further away fromMax Payne , as a direct response to those early harsh reviews, andLegioncontinued that slight direction.
Aiden feels like a fish out of water in Neo-London. He returns with the same serious voice, without humor and as the anti-hero we saw last time. Today he goes to his last job across the ocean to talk to his cousin, 15 years after the events of the first game.
I will shamelessly admit that Aiden’s story has always interested me, and so I consider Bloodline a modest success. The story goes further than few expected, including a scene clearly borrowed from one of its more unexpected predecessors. But if Aiden’s plot isn’t all doom and gloom, it’s all in the hands of Winch, the masked thug fromWatch Dogs 2.
The key is everything Aiden isn’t, including the problems. The writers’ decision to give Wrench about the same amount of time as his original character is unfortunate. I understand that Aiden has his detractors, but I don’t know anyone who thinks Wrench deserves to be portrayed in more detail.
These conflicting tastes spoil the DLC more than anything else, but otherwise the missions offer more of a-Legion-experience that fans will no doubt enjoy. I can’t say that any particular mission stands out. It’s a largely mediocre quest log, some of which even takes players back to familiar locations they visited in the main game, but the hacking, stealth, and player independence bordering on immersive simulation as you approach the area is still as great as it was last fall.
Professional
- Bring back the heroes of the past and put them to good use.
- Various new technological gadgets continue to enable creative play
Cons
- Tonal dissonance between old school and new school worldsWatch Dogs
- Wrench.
Bloodlineabandons the signatureLegionin favor of a revival of the series’ original polar anti-hero. This seems like the most bizarre creative choice of the year, and it probably will be, but Bold always works by writing what feels authentic – when the monkey wrench isn’t there.
I may have enjoyed Aiden more than anyone else in 2015, but his transatlantic journey is still time well spent for the series’ biggest fans.
[Note: Ubisoft provided a copy of Watch Dogs Bloodline that was used for this review].
