Watch Dogs 2 (San Francisco Edition)

Description

Watch Dogs 2 follows Marcus Holloway, a gifted young hacker wrongly profiled by the city’s invasive ctOS 2.0 system. Teaming up with the underground collective DedSec, Marcus sets out to take down the corporations, politicians, and criminal networks exploiting this interconnected infrastructure. The game’s San Francisco Bay Area setting spans the city itself, Oakland, Marin County, and Silicon Valley, make for a bright, satirical playground packed with missions, side activities, and secrets. Players can traverse it on foot, by parkour, or in a wide range of vehicles, with the ability to hack traffic lights, security cameras, drones, and even people’s personal devices to create chaos or solve problems creatively.

The sequel leans into a lighter, more irreverent tone than its predecessor, with DedSec portrayed as a group of charismatic misfits using viral videos and social media to rally public support. Gameplay emphasises player choice: you can approach objectives with stealth, non‑lethal gadgets, and remote‑controlled drones, or go loud with an arsenal of weapons. Seamless online features allow for co‑op missions, competitive hacking invasions, and spontaneous encounters with other players in the open world. By blending sharp social commentary with a playful hacking toolkit, Watch Dogs 2 delivered a more free‑spirited and inventive take on the series’ core themes of technology, privacy, and power.

I’d generally avoid these types of collector’s editions but at a clearance price when stores want all their floor space back, it was hard to pass up.