Watch Dogs 2's campaign is secondary to the experience of roaming around its simulated Bay Area, getting into impromptu adventures, and interacting with its people. IMO that's a good thing, its story is centrist pop-culture snark roleplaying as leftist hacktivism; in my experience it doesn't diminish from the fun of moving around and finding new things. It's also greatly helped by the personality of its main character, which shines through even if you treat the story as background noise.

It's been years and the game still hasn't exhausted its mechanical value for me. Sometimes I'll fire it up with the goal of seeing some new scenery, racing through the wilderness, taking some selfies, finding a nice outfit, or inconspicuously ruining the day of some demonstrably awful person. Whether by accident or not, this game is great at supporting the generation of these stories, and it seems like it'll be a while before anything comes out that does a better job.

Reviewed on Feb 13, 2021


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