Ubisoft has released a new Watch Dogs gameplay trailer that shows one thing has become abundantly clear: Watch Dogs could be the next Grand Theft Auto. For that matter, at this point Watch Dogs could potentially “out-GTA” the Grand Theft Auto series entirely. The elements are in place for that to happen, anyway. Only time will tell if it actually comes together like Rockstar’s franchise.
Since captivating gamers in mid 2013, Watch Dogs has become one of our most anticipated games of 2014. Missing the PS4 and Xbox One release date was painful, but the extra development time has served the game well. Our E3 demo showed Watch Dogs as a good-looking game with an intriguing, integrated mix of single- and multiplayer elements. One thing we hadn’t seen much of, though, was its open world.
With the new Watch Dogs gameplay trailer, called “Welcome to Chicago,” all that changed.
Watch Dogs takes place in Chicago, a city Ubisoft calls one of the most surveilled in America. It’s an appropriate backdrop in which Watch Dogs vigilante protagonist Aiden Pearce can use his smartphone to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) to control almost every element of the city.
Judging by this “Welcome to Chicago” Watch Dogs gameplay trailer, though, the city is much more than a backdrop. Like a Grand Theft Auto game, the Chicago as rendered in Watch Dogs is a living, breathing environment that should offer the perfect hacking playground.
As you watch the Watch Dogs gameplay trailer below, you’ll see more of Chicago and its rich, diverse universe than we’ve seen to date. The immersive experience is powered by the new Disrupt game engine. Although it’s powering an open-world game, don’t confuse Disrupt with the Snowdrop engine, which is the basis for Tom Clancy’s The Division. The Division is being developed for Ubisoft by Massive Entertainment.
Watch Dogs will be available on May 27 for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. You can pre-order Watch Dogs at Amazon
if you haven’t already.
And now, here’s the new “Welcome to Chicago” Watch Dogs gameplay trailer.