Gameplay in the Watch Dogs games focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story, as well as engage in various side activities.
The games have received generally positive reviews for their gameplay elements, mission structure, and world design, with criticism for frequent technical issues, while the narratives and characters have garnered mixed reactions.
[2] Set within a fictionalized version of the Chicago metropolitan area in 2013, the first installment in the series follows gray hat hacker and vigilante Aiden Pearce's quest for revenge after the killing of his niece.
[9] Set within a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016, Watch Dogs 2 follows the story of hacker Marcus Holloway, who is punished for a crime he did not commit through ctOS 2.0, and joins the hacking group DedSec in their efforts to raise social awareness about the dangers posed by ctOS 2.0. and expose the corruption of its creators, the Blume company.
[15] Set within a fictionalised representation of a futuristic, dystopian London, Watch Dogs: Legion follows the local branch of DedSec as they seek to clear their names after being framed for a series of terrorist bombings.
DedSec also attempt to liberate London's citizens from the control of Albion, an oppressive private military company which turned the city into a surveillance state following the bombings.
Each playable character has their own unique skills and backgrounds, and can be lost permanently if players enable the option of permadeath before starting a new game.
Following its release, Legion was supported with several free updates that added new missions, game modes, and characters, including a number of special operatives, such as Mina Sidhu, a former test subject who has gained mind-control powers; Aiden Pearce, returning from the original Watch Dogs; Wrench, a major supporting character from Watch Dogs 2; and Darcy Clarkson, a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, as part of a non-canonical crossover with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise.
The player can freely roam the virtual world on foot or by use of vehicles and make use of an array of weapon and melee-based combat.
In each game, the player assumes control of a hacker, who can hack into various electronic devices connected to the fictional ctOS system with their in-game smartphone.
Watch Dogs received generally positive reviews despite criticism aimed at certain technical issues, the discrepancy in graphical quality between marketing and the real game, narrative, and protagonist.
Criticism was further aimed at the game's world, driving mechanics, inconsistent difficulty, repetitive missions, online features and technical problems.
[41] A spin-off comic book series was released monthly beginning in November 2021 by Behemoth in the United States and in two collected editions in France by Glénat.
Unlike the video games, which are rated M, the series would be aimed at tweens and would follow a teenage “super hacker” protagonist who solves crimes in her high school.