Watch Dogs 2 is an action-adventure, open-world game in the third-person perspective. The game is set in a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area (including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Marin County, Oakland, etc.). The main character (protagonist) is a hacker named Marcus Holloway, who joins a hacker group named DedSec. Their aim: expose corruption and to fight against the city’s oppressive surveillance system.
Release Info, Developer, Publisher & Key Crew
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal (with assistance from other Ubisoft studios)
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Directors: Jonathan Morin, Patrick Plourde and Danny Bélanger
- Producer: Dominic Guay
- Writer: Lucien Soulban
- Composer (Soundtrack): Hudson Mohawke
- Series: It is the second main installment of the Watch Dogs franchise.
- PC Release Date: November 29, 2016
(Console versions — PlayStation 4 and Xbox One — released November 15, 2016.)
Gameplay Setting & Features
- The game world includes multiple regions: San Francisco, Oakland, Marin County (Sausalito, etc.), and Silicon Valley.
- Players can explore on foot or by various vehicles — cars, motorcycles, boats, cable cars, etc.
- Movement and traversal: parkour, freerunning, and improved driving mechanics — including shooting while driving.
- Gameplay style is flexible: stealth, hacking, non-lethal or combat-based, depending on player’s choice.
- Multiplayer & co-op: besides single-player story, there is support for multiplayer/cooperative play.
Also includes downloadable content (DLC) packs released after launch, adding extra missions, outfits, vehicles, etc.
Reviews & Ratings
- On critic review aggregator (all platforms), the game has a score around 82/100.
- On PC, the “Metascore” is listed as 75/100.
- User reviews on distribution platform show “Very Positive” as of recent counts for thousands of reviews.
- Critics praised improvements over its predecessor — especially its vibrant setting, hacking mechanics, improved driving, world design, and tone/characters.
- Some criticisms: at launch there were technical issues (especially multiplayer early on), some bugs / performance hiccups, and some felt story or characterization could have been better.
PC System Requirements
Requirement Minimum
- OS (64-bit) Windows 7 (or newer)
- Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-6120 @ 3.5 GHz (or better)
- RAM 6 GB
- Graphics (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (2 GB) or AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2 GB)
- Storage ~ 27 GB free space (some sources say ~50 GB once patches/DLC included)
Recommended system Requirement
- Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10 (or newer)
- Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3.2 GHz or AMD FX-8120 @ 3.9 GHz (or better)
- 8 GB
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 290 (or better)
- 27 GB free space (some sources say ~50 GB once patches/DLC included)
Other requirements / notes:
- Requires a valid third-party account (Ubisoft account / Uplay / Steam).
Steam Store - Game includes DRM / anti-tamper / anti-cheat protection (Denuvo + EasyAntiCheat) for PC.
Steam Store - For online/multiplayer features, a working internet connection is needed.
- After installation and activation, offline single-player should work (though some features may be limited by DRM/account system).
Story Premise / Setting (Brief)
In Watch Dogs 2, the city of San Francisco rolls out a next-generation surveillance system called ctOS 2.0 — a network connecting many devices and services across the city.
The protagonist, Marcus Holloway, is wrongly flagged by this system for a crime he didn’t commit. He joins the hacker collective DedSec to expose the abuses of ctOS 2.0 and corporate corruption (by the company behind it).
Through a mix of stealth, hacking, driving, and infiltration, players uncover conspiracies — while navigating the lively city world, interacting with characters, and deciding how to fight: with guns, hacking, tricks, non-lethal methods, or a combination.
What to Keep in Mind
- Though widely praised, like many large open-world games the experience depends on hardware: PCs meeting only minimum specs may struggle with graphics or performance.
- The PC version uses DRM (which may restrict offline activation or limit installs).
- Multiplayer — while a feature — had issues at launch (especially seamless multiplayer), though single-player is stable.
- As the game is a few years old (2016), some newer GPUs/OS may need driver/config tweaks — important if you use a newer Windows version.