Watch Dogs 2 came out last year and pleasantly surprised many of us with its colorful, complex depiction of San Francisco, lovable characters and nuanced writing (well, until it dropped the ball in its third act). Why was that such a shock? Because the first Watch Dogs presented a dour world with a truly unlikeable protagonist and troubling connotations—likely, not the ones the game even set out to make—about security, rights, and justice.
In our second episode of Guide to Games, we take a real look at what made the original so oppressive—and how its Chicago remains a warning beacon for open world game design.
You can watch the video here on YouTube, no matter what region you are viewing from.
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