Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Watch Dogs: Legion’s delay improved the game as it let Ubisoft “refine” its biggest elements, like the characters and the world.
In an interview with IGN, director Clint Hocking revealed that the decision was initially disheartening. “We were very close when we were ready to ship and the delay has allowed us to really look at the things that were out of reach for us back then, and how to incorporate those things and add a layer of polish and realization and clarity to the game,” affirmed Hocking. At the time, CEO Yves Guillemot stated that Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine would have been ready to release then and there. However, it was the poor performance of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 that led to the change of course.
“So the most important thing I think we’ve done is added a lot more refinement to traits and the abilities that you find on characters in the world, and better ways for aggregating those into individuals,” continued Hocking. “As a consequence of that, we have a lot of cool characters that kind of emerge out of these great traits.” Watch Dogs: Legion lets the player step into the shoes of any Londoner strolling the grimy and glitchy streets of the City. The team have different classes and different abilities, so a Football Hooligan might rush in for an all-out assault, whereas a Drone Expert might scout out patrols surreptitiously and eliminate them with their gadgets.
Hocking also mentioned “Liberation Missions,” a special happenstance which unlocks once a borough has been lifted from Albion’s influence. “Once you do all of those activities in a borough, you get a borough liberation mission, a really custom beat with unique gameplay and a really cool challenge,” he explained, and it sort of sounds like the dust-ups in the streets of Syndicate once those boroughs had been taken from the Templars. “And then that causes the people in the borough to rise up and that makes them much easier to recruit, and it gets rid of the Albion checkpoints and reduces the Albion presence in the streets. It really makes it feel like you’re actually taking the city back.”
Watch Dogs: Legion is coming to PC, Xbox One, Stadia, and PlayStation 4 on October 29.
