Like pretty much every other Ubisoft game ever,Watch Dogs: Legionreceived the unfortunate leak prior to its official E3 2019 reveal. The leak sourced from Amazon UK described everything from its setting to the “play as anyone” gameplay gimmick. One leak in particular that lead to some early speculation was the dystopian London setting, and the phrase “near-future” caught fans' eyes. This lead to a lot of discussion as to what a Cyberpunk-inspiredWatch Dogsmight look like.
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Emphasizing the Extremes in Cyberpunk 2077
The cyberpunk genre is all about “low-life and high tech” society, andCyberpunk 2077emphasizes that in its characters and environment.Night City has several derelict districts full of peopleand slums who’ve been beaten down by the greed of megacorporations.Cyberpunk 2077is blatantly presenting players with the juxtaposition of extreme wealth disparity, in a futuristic America untethered from checks and balances. There’s seemingly no restraint in its depiction of dystopia, and while it’s overall aesthetic is not wholly unrealistic, it does evoke a feeling in players that this is what the distant future could look like if corporate greed supplants government in society.
Watch Dogs: Legion’s Grounded Dystopia
Although the loose connection to Brexit honestly leaves much to be desired,Watch Dogs: Legion’s depiction of the near-future does seem feasible. The overreliance on drones and automated surveillance technology emulates a lot of what’s seen in today’s metropolitan areas.Legionposes an interesting and grounded approach to near-future sci-fi that emphasizes a lot of today’s current technology without dipping too far into unrealized territory like cyberware or ubiquitous flying ships.Characters don’t have any absurd or unrealistic designs inLegion, as much of the NPCs' fashion senses are still based on modern sensibilities.
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Realism vs. Futurism
In a world where increasing drone technology and advances in human convenience continue to be made,Watch Dogsis definitely closer to the world’s current reality. But in a few ways the game’s more absurd efforts, likeLegion’s villain Nigel Cass, feels like they’re ripped directly fromCyberpunkcanon. Nigel is literally the CEO of a highly militarized PMC, akin to that of Arasaka or Militech fromCyberpunk 2077. AlthoughCyberpunk 2077does enter some uncanny valley territory with its cyberwarethatWatch Dogs: Legion’s natural human characters don’t even interact with.
Though depicted in slight deviations from one another, bothWatch Dogs: LegionandCyberpunk 2077offer a flavor of dystopian society. It’s in the circumstances where the differences lie between both games. London’s militarized dystopia is fueled by a terrorist attack undermining the security and safety of citizens inWatch Dogs: Legion, based on an inciting incident in the short-term. On the other hand,Cyberpunk 2077’s dystopia is the subject of a slow-burnof rapid technological advancement and corporate greed in the face of societal weakness.
While the outcome inWatch Dogs: Legionisn’t exactly a realistic scenario on its own, the scenario presented to players represents a more grounded dystopia based on the known world only so far into the future.Cyberpunk 2077dives deep into the genre of media it’s based on, diving headfirst into the absurd dystopia that seems feasible only under the worst case scenario. Either way, both distill a disturbing dystopia that serves as the perfect opportunity for players to wreak havoc in their respective game worlds.
Watch Dogs: Legionlaunches October 29 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are in development.
