3.5/5 ★ – Lori_Pont's review of Watch Dogs 2.

The second chapter in the Watch Dogs saga takes us to San Francisco, where Marcus Holloway, a semi-professional hacker, joins the city's Dedsec group in order to expose Blume and its director Dusan Nemec. The story, at first a similar pretext for a group of young people to go against the local power, takes a more personal turn due to two moments, the first unexpected, the second brutal. From these two, the plot is enriched to arrive at a emotionally charged and heartfelt finale. There is also some reminder of the past: the return of T-Bone as a secondary character and ally of Dedsec, and a side mission that pays homage to Aiden Pierce (the main character of the original Watch Dogs). The gameplay is practically identical to the one of the first chapter in its graphical aspect, although there are many improvements in terms of dynamics: first of all the change of setting. Aiden Pierce had nothing more to tell, and the return of the city of Chicago would not have been the same with the presence of other protagonists. The change of city and protagonists is good, an excellent cue to tell new stories, new characters and new objectives; San Francisco was recreated very faithfully, and it was a good change from Chicago; furthermore, the hacking system is now more articulated but less chaotic with the addition of the L1 command to initiate hacking. The gameplay adds the use of a drone and a jumper, that are two very useful tools for speeding up and making the hacking actions more dynamic, especially indoors and outdoors, when you are looking for “search points” (points located around the city that, through hacking, allow you to instantly earn skill points). Finally, although the game does not include parkour, the latter is slightly improved over the first chapter, and there is now the possibility to climb on the roofs of houses and buildings (but only with the aid of cranes, lifts, and wherever the architecture of the space allows). While on the one hand there are bride sides added to the game, there are too many side quests, and the approach is not helped either by the graphical change of the game menu – now just a telephone display that appears to the right of the screen, and which does not pause the gameplay. I would have preferred a more organised approach to the various missions and secondary quests, as in the first chapter. Overall, Watch Dogs improves on many gameplay mechanics already present in the previous chapter, while others are added, making the experience richer and more varied. In terms of story and plot, it lacks the vengeance vibes of Aiden Pierce's actions in Chicago, especially in the first part. The player has to wait until the two moments to witness a change in the group's motivations. From there on, the narrative improves. This is undoubtedly a step forward from 2014's Watch Dogs, in terms of gameplay.