It’s clear now why Ubisoft moved Assassin’s Creed out of its traditional November slot this year: They needed room for Watch Dogs 2. I mean, the two properties are basically interchangeable aside from the modern-day setting and the over-the-top depiction of “hacking.”
Ubisoft was supposed to unveil all the key details during a livestream today, but news got out a bit early courtesy of a leaked IGN ad and then a full-blown rogue trailer running on Twitch. Which made this morning’s stream a bit anticlimactic, to say the least. Here’s the trailer:
And here’s the full twenty-minute reveal, which features at least one instance of the word “edgy” and a discussion of “memes.”
Awkward marketing campaign aside, here are the important details. The game is slated to launch on November 15, and it’s headed to San Francisco—probably the most obvious location for a game about technology’s hold on the world. The tone is a lot sillier-seeming than the first game’s, and San Francisco itself looks gorgeous, albeit not quite as traffic-ridden as real life.
Other than that, the trailer includes a lady in a horse mask, a guy hacking a billboard screen, and our protagonist Marcus Holloway piloting a quadcopter (one of his new “toys,” according to Ubisoft). Typical day in San Francisco, basically.
Not pictured: Delicious burritos, exorbitant rent, a man trying to sell you weed and/or get you to invest in his start-up, and a million Ubers. Also, no Full House theme. Luckily I had time to make that version last night:
Fixed Watch Dogs 2’s marketing with the Full House theme. Huge improvement. pic.twitter.com/79ISpZApoH //
— Hayden Dingman (@haydencd) June 8, 2016
We’ll have hands-on with a demo of Watch Dogs 2 at Ubisoft’s E3 booth next week. If I’m lucky, maybe they’ll let me visit my own apartment in the game.