The Watch Dogs Legion team was surprised to learn that the game was running late, but the delay ended up working in everyone’s favor.
When Ubisoft decided to delay its entire list of games late last year, it came at a time when Watch Dogs Legion Creative director Clint Hocking was ready to finish the game.
But once he got over that, Hocking realized how the extra time could really help the game. Speaking to IGN, Hocking explained that the delay benefited the game’s core mechanics the most, playing like anyone else. Although the underlying systems had been in place before, the additional development time allowed the team to actually make each trait variation its own character.
“So the most important thing I think we’ve done is add a lot more refinement to the traits and abilities found in the world’s characters, and better ways to group them into individuals,” he explained. “As a consequence of that, we have a lot of great characters emerging from these great traits.”
Some of these changes, according to Hocking, were previously out of reach. The extra time even helped the developer update the game’s progression systems to allow for more experimentation and not over-reward players for choosing a few agents and sticking with them throughout the game.
There is another component to the fight against the Albion corporation in the Watch Dogs Legion that was also refined thanks to the delay. As you visit the different districts of London, you will be able to carry out certain activities that weaken your control over each one of them, which in turn allows people to face Albion.
“Once you do all those activities in a district, you get a district liberation mission, a really personalized beat with a unique gameplay and a really cool challenge,” said Hocking.
“And that makes people in the district stand up and that makes them much easier to recruit, and it removes Albion checkpoints and reduces Albion’s presence on the streets. It really makes it look like you’re taking the city back. ”
The ability to play like anyone remains the Watch Dogs Legion’s biggest innovation, and it’s kept under scrutiny, at least so far. Click on the link for our hands-on impressions and see the Assassin’s Creed Easter Egg that Ubisoft managed to hide in London.
Watch Dogs Legion is out October 29 on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Stadia. You can pre-order Watch Dogs Legion in the US from Amazon, giving you access to the Golden King Pack, Season Pass, and more. Amazon UK has Watch Dogs Legion as an exclusive that contains the same content.
