Is Watch Dogs: Legion Worth It Yet?

In October of 2020, my hype for Watch Dogs: Legion was immeasurable. I hold Watch Dogs 2 in high regard as one of my favorite titles of the last console generation, so to hear the series would continue was a thrill. Despite its delay from a Spring 2020 launch, I was ready to be wow-ed with its “recruit anyone” gimmick and exceptional combat trailers preceding to launch. It’s rare that I get excited about games due to regular post-launch disappointment, but I held out hope for this game.

Watch Dogs: Legion came, and I shelled out for a month of Ubisoft Connect in the event that I wouldn’t like the game. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. The charm and jovial nature of Watch Dogs 2 were long-gone in this dystopian post-Brexit London, as the lack of a distinct main character became a point of contention for me. Plus, the combat wasn’t as smooth and free-flowing as 2, so I moved on to other things and waited for the game to receive more TLC and a price drop.

Ubisoft graciously offered a free weekend for Legion, and I saw this as an ample opportunity to see how the game would be after some time in the oven. Returning with an open mind, a better setup, and free of expectations from the previous iteration, I was pleasantly surprised with how much more I enjoyed Legion than in October. Sometimes you need to give games another try to get into them. It took me 3 tries each for Skyrim and The Witcher III.

While Watch Dogs: Legion is much more serious in tone, this adds to the intensity of combat situations. Takedowns are brutal, with heavy blunt weapons to the face that feel full of malice. Inversely, one immersion-breaker from Watch Dogs 2‘s silly tone was the regular use of lethal weapons. Legion decks your Dedsec operative out with non-lethal weapons so that the player won’t feel guilt/remorse for gunning down policemen just doing their job.

Other improvements in the series include the driving. Wow, does it feel good in Legion. Drifting turns with high-speed vehicles is a welcome change from the initial Watch Dogs‘ janky cars. In addition, the previously-braindead AI managed to flank and pressure me in some spots, demanding the best of my third-person shooter abilities whenever I slipped up in stealth. My preconceptions towards how the combat should have been are subverted thanks to different, polished rules of engagement.

My initial gripe of not having a concrete protagonist remains, as the voice acting rarely fits the model and is a bit on the stiff side. As the game was marketed as controlling a granny, I was expecting this level of wackiness, but Legion forces you to go out of your own way to create that experience. Nevertheless, I think Watch Dogs: Legion is slowly-but-surely coming together as a competent TPS.

It’s regularly hit 50% off sales at $30 and is as low as $20 for consoles at GameStop as of this week, but I don’t foresee it having the staying power after this free weekend to warrant a purchase at $30 just yet. At the very least, progress is saved until I choose to bite the bullet and pick it up.