Similar to its predecessor, Watch Dogs 2 is an action-adventure game with stealth elements and played from a third-person perspective as Marcus Holloway, a young hacker. The game features an open world set in a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area, an area more than twice as large as the Chicago setting from Watch Dogs. It consists of four different areas: San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, and Silicon Valley. Players can navigate the game's world on-foot or by the various vehicles featured in the game, such as cars, trucks, buses, cable cars, motorcycles, quad bikes, and boats. The driving mechanic was overhauled and designed to be more accessible. The player can shoot their weapons while driving. Marcus also has improved acrobatic skills, and the ability to parkour around the city. The player can use different methods to approach the game's missions, choosing between the aggressive approach, in which they defeat enemies with guns which are made with a 3D printer; explosives, like mines; or Marcus' own melee weapon, a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. Alternatively, the player can use the stealth approach, in which they can evade enemies or paralyze them temporarily with Marcus' taser. Watch Dogs 2, like its predecessor, places a particular emphasis on using environmental apparatus and the terrain to Marcus' advantage. For example, a player may hack an A/C unit to produce an electric shock when an enemy nears it. Marcus may also employ his own modular taser devices and explosives to use tactically against enemies. When law enforcement witnesses the player committing a crime, or is alerted by a non-player character (NPC), police officers will attempt to arrest the player. The game upgrades system is a returning feature, with items being divided into three categories: Ghost, Aggressor, and Trickster. Upgrades can be customized according to playstyles.
Marcus can hack into various electronic devices connected to the ctOS system with his in-game smartphone. For example, Marcus can modify the personal information of NPCs to have them arrested, hack and manipulate every mobile phone featured in the game, disrupt traffic by hacking cars and traffic lights, hack into monitoring cameras, and carry out "mass hacking", which hacks the electrical equipment of a large group of people. The player can also gain multiple options while hacking the same object. For instance, if the player attempts to hack a car, they can gain direct control over them, or have the car lose control and crash in a random direction. Unlike Aiden, the protagonist of the first game, Marcus has an arsenal of advanced equipment, including a quadcopter and remote-controlled car, both of which can be used for remote hacking and scouting. Marcus' apparel can be customized with over 700 articles of clothing, available for purchase in stores that maintain fashion styles unique to what is worn by the denizens in each area. The game features several main story missions, and side-missions known as "operations". Once completed, Marcus' follower count will increase.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer returns in Watch Dogs 2. The game introduces a seamless cooperative multiplayer mode, in which players can meet and interact with other random players. They can explore the open world and complete missions together, which will also help players to gain followers. The game features an emote system, which allows players' characters to communicate with each other through basic gestures. The game can be played completely online or offline. It also features four competitive multiplayer modes:
Hacking Invasion: A one-versus-one competitive multiplayer mode, originally featured in the first game, in which a player covertly joins another player's single-player session and steals virtual data from them. The invading player must stay hidden while stealing the data, while the defending player must identify and kill the invading player.
Bounty Hunter: A mode introduced in the game. If an online player creates too much chaos in the world, the mode will be initiated. Alternatively, a player can manually initialize this game mode. Police, alongside one to three other players, will join the player's game with the hope of killing the hunted and claiming the bounty, which gives them experience points. The hunted could either strike back at the hunters by killing them, which gives them greater rewards, or escape from them until the bounty expires. The hunted, meanwhile, also can be assisted by another player if that player chooses to join the hunted. Players can manually place a bounty on themselves using the in-game smartphone.
Showd0wn: A mode added in an update. In this mode, 2 teams of 2 players battle each other in short missions. Missions vary from the first team to steal the hard drives to the offensive team having to hack the servers the defensive team is protecting in a limited amount of time.
Racing: A mode added in an update. Up to four players compete in head-to-head races to reach the finish line with drones, ekarts, boats, and bikes.
Man vs Machine: A mode added in an update. Up to four players work together to take down a machine in a narrow time frame.
Loot Trucks: A mode added in an update. Up to four players compete in a head-to-head battle to steal a valuable box from a truck, and escape the police and other players. This event has a chance to randomly occur while a player is free-roaming, but can also be manually triggered.
