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Start with Watch Dogs, continue to Watch Dogs 2, and finish with Watch Dogs: Legion. That is the series’ release order and the clearest route for a first playthrough: Chicago and Aiden Pearce first, the San Francisco Bay Area and Marcus Holloway’s DedSec next, then near-future London and Legion’s recruit-and-play-as-anyone system. Ubisoft identifies Legion as the third entry. Release order is a practical newcomer recommendation, not a stated Ubisoft requirement.
The recommended Watch Dogs play order
Play the main games in the order they were released:
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Watch Dogs Legion - PlayStation 4 Standard Edition | $9.40 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Watch Dogs | $28.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Watch Dogs xbox one | $9.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Watch Dogs 2 - PlayStation 4 | $23.11 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Watch Dogs Legion (PS5) | $22.75 | Buy on Amazon |
- Watch Dogs — May 27, 2014
- Watch Dogs 2 — November 13, 2016
- Watch Dogs: Legion — October 28, 2020
This sequence lets you see the series’ design evolve from one named hacker manipulating a city’s connected infrastructure, through a broader DedSec-focused hacking sandbox, to a London resistance built from recruitable civilians. It also avoids asking a first-time player to understand the franchise’s later changes before seeing the foundations established by the first two games.
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Why release order is the safest first playthrough
- Each installment introduces a different lead or playable-character structure, city and tone.
- The order follows the dates on Ubisoft’s official product pages and the franchise page’s description of Legion as the third entry.
- You can compare the hacking systems as they develop instead of starting with the most structurally unusual game.
- It gives you a consistent way to evaluate the series: named protagonist in the first game, named protagonist plus DedSec in the second, and a roster of operatives in the third.
Ubisoft does not state that release order is mandatory. If you own only one game, starting with that game is reasonable; the order above is simply the most informative default for someone who wants to experience the series as a series.
#1 Best Overall
- Recruit and play as anyone from London. Everyone you see has a unique backstory, personality, and skill set for unique situations
- Hack armed drones, deploy spider-bots, and take down enemies using an Augmented Reality Cloak
- Explore a massive urban open world featuring London’s many iconic landmarks and fun side activities
- Team up with your friends as you complete co-op missions and unique game modes
- Upgrade to the Gold Edition or Ultimate Edition for access to the season pass and more
How the three games relate
The official descriptions emphasize different protagonists, locations and play structures. Watch Dogs foregrounds Aiden Pearce, Watch Dogs 2 foregrounds Marcus Holloway and DedSec, and Legion foregrounds a resistance assembled from people encountered in London. Those descriptions establish a shared thematic interest in connected technology and hacking, but they do not by themselves prove that every character, event or story consequence carries from one game into the next.
For a first playthrough, treat the games as separate entries in one franchise rather than assuming that you must memorize a complete chain of returning characters. The practical continuity is the series’ focus on connected urban systems and the way each sequel reworks who you control and how you approach those systems.
Watch Dogs (2014): the foundational Chicago story
Lead and setting
The first game follows Aiden Pearce in Chicago. Ubisoft’s product description presents the city itself as a weapon: Aiden uses a smartphone to interact with connected infrastructure throughout the urban environment.
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Defining hook
The central idea is direct control over a connected city. Traffic-related infrastructure and other networked systems are framed as tools that Aiden can manipulate while moving through Chicago. The appeal is the relationship between one determined protagonist and a city whose technology can be turned to his advantage.
Who should begin here
- Players who want a single, clearly identified protagonist rather than a rotating cast.
- Anyone interested in the original version of the franchise’s city-as-a-system concept.
- Newcomers who prefer to see the premise established before comparing later interpretations.
Do not choose the first game because you expect it to contain every feature that appears later. Its importance is that it establishes the series’ basic fantasy: a person with a phone can exploit a highly connected city.
Watch Dogs 2 (2016): DedSec and broader device hacking
Lead and setting
Marcus Holloway is the named lead, and the game takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus works with DedSec, giving the story a group-centered framing rather than the first game’s focus on Aiden alone.
Rank #2
- HACK THE CITY: Control the city's infrastructure, in real time, with Aiden's cell phone; Trap your enemy in a 30 car pileup by manipulating the traffic lights; Stop a train, and then board it to evade the authorities; Narrowly escape capture by quickly raising a drawbridge; Anything connected to the city's CTOS can become your weapon
- SEAMLESS MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE: Discover a new level of interaction, cooperation and confrontation between players thanks to a brand new multiplayer game system that links the single and multiplayer modes into one seamless experience; That means no menus, no loading screens, just instant open world multiplayer action
- DYNAMIC NAVIGATION: Watch Dogs gives you the ability to not only use the city's ctOS to your advantage, but the streets as well; In real world Chicago, cut through one of the buildings or climb to the rooftops to catch your target
- HIGH OCTANE DRIVING: Get behind the wheel of more than 65 vehicles bursting with horsepower to explore the massive city while completing missions; Ubisoft Montreal partnered with Ubisoft Reflections, the acclaimed studio behind the award winning Driver series to develop each vehicle with state of art physics and handling
Defining hook
Ubisoft highlights the ability to hack a wide range of connected devices and systems, including drones, cars, cranes and security robots. The important distinction is breadth: the game presents hacking as interaction with many kinds of networked equipment, not only with fixed city infrastructure.
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- Protagonist framing: Marcus is still a named lead, but DedSec is central to the story’s identity.
- Location: Chicago’s city-as-weapon presentation gives way to the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Hacking scope: The official description specifically calls out multiple controllable device categories, from drones and cars to cranes and security robots.
Play Watch Dogs 2 second if you want to recognize the original premise while seeing a more expansive interpretation of connected-device hacking. Starting here is also defensible if the San Francisco setting or DedSec-focused framing is what attracted you, but you will be encountering the series’ second major presentation first.
Watch Dogs: Legion (2020): near-future London and Play as Anyone
Setting and playable structure
Legion is set in near-future London. Its defining feature is not one permanent hero. Instead, you recruit people you encounter in the city and switch among them as members of a resistance. Ubisoft calls this system Play as Anyone.
What a recruit contributes
Each recruit can bring different abilities and weapons to the roster. Ubisoft’s July 12, 2020 launch announcement, attributed to Mikel Reparaz, described examples such as uncommon strength, a missile-equipped car, a flying drone large enough to carry a person, and a rabble-rousing megaphone. The same announcement said recruits can use a broad range of hacks to manipulate the automated world and obtain sensitive data.
“Each recruit brings unique abilities, weapons, and more to the table,” the launch announcement said, listing those examples and emphasizing that every recruit can wield a wide range of hacks.
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The quote describes Ubisoft’s intended system; it is not a claim that every recruit has every listed capability. The point for a newcomer is that your playable identity is assembled from the people you recruit, rather than selected once at the beginning as Aiden or Marcus.
Rank #3
- HACK THE CITY: Control the city's infrastructure, in real time, with Aiden's cell phone. Trap your enemy in a 30-car pileup by manipulating the traffic lights. Stop a train, and then board it to evade the authorities. Narrowly escape capture by quickly raising a drawbridge. Anything connected to the city's CTOS can become your weapon.
- SEAMLESS MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE: Discover a new level of interaction, cooperation and confrontation between players thanks to a brand new multiplayer game system that links the single and multiplayer modes into one seamless experience. That means no menus, no loading screens, just instant open world multiplayer action.
- DYNAMIC NAVIGATION: Watch_Dogs gives you the ability to not only use the city's ctOS to your advantage, but the streets as well. In real-world Chicago, cut through one of the buildings or climb to the rooftops to catch your target.
- HIGH OCTANE DRIVING: Get behind the wheel of more than 65 vehicles bursting with horsepower to explore the massive city while completing missions. Ubisoft Montreal partnered with Ubisoft Reflections, the acclaimed studio behind the award-winning Driver series to develop each vehicle with state-of-art physics and handling.
How Legion differs from the first two games
- Playable character: a team of recruited operatives replaces the single named-lead structure foregrounded by the first two product pages.
- City: the setting moves to near-future London.
- Abilities: the roster itself becomes a source of different abilities, weapons and specialist options.
- Series identity: hacking remains central, but the recruit-and-switch system is the game’s signature feature.
Legion is best saved for third place if you want to watch the franchise move from one protagonist to a roster-based resistance. It is also the natural starting point for a player whose priority is the Play as Anyone concept, provided that the change in structure is understood before beginning.
Watch Dogs games compared at a glance
| Release order | Game and date | Lead or playable structure | Setting | Defining emphasis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Watch Dogs — May 27, 2014 | Aiden Pearce | Chicago | Use a smartphone to manipulate connected city infrastructure; Ubisoft describes the city as a weapon. |
| 2 | Watch Dogs 2 — November 13, 2016 | Marcus Holloway with DedSec | San Francisco Bay Area | Hack connected devices and systems such as drones, cars, cranes and security robots. |
| 3 | Watch Dogs: Legion — October 28, 2020 | Recruitable resistance operatives; Play as Anyone | Near-future London | Recruit people encountered in the city and switch among them, with different abilities and weapons. |
Which Watch Dogs game should you start with?
Choose Watch Dogs if you want the original premise
Start with the first game when your priority is Aiden Pearce, Chicago and the most concentrated expression of the city-as-a-weapon idea. It is the right entry for understanding where the franchise’s connected-infrastructure concept begins.
Choose Watch Dogs 2 if device variety matters most
Choose the second game first if Marcus Holloway, DedSec and the San Francisco Bay Area appeal to you more than the original setting. Its official description explicitly emphasizes a wider set of hackable devices, including mobile drones, cars, cranes and security robots.
Choose Legion if Play as Anyone is the attraction
Start with Legion only when its recruit-and-switch structure is the feature you most want to try. You will be entering the series through its most distinctive playable-character system: the resistance is made from people you recruit, and their individual abilities help define how you approach situations.
Use release order when you want the clearest comparison
For an undecided newcomer, the answer remains Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, then Watch Dogs: Legion. This order keeps the dates, protagonists and design changes easy to follow without requiring assumptions about unverified story carryover.
What to check before buying Legion
Edition contents are not identical
Ubisoft Help’s page, updated June 2, 2026, says Legion editions combine different versions of the base game, Ultimate Pack and Season Pass. The same page warns that included content may vary by region. A store listing’s edition name is therefore not enough by itself: verify the platform and the regional product description before paying.
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- EXPLORE THE MASSIVE AND DYNAMIC OPEN WORLD OF SAN FRANSISCO BAY Experience an incredible variety of game play possibilities in the winding streets of San Francisco, the vibrant neighborhoods of Oakland, and cutting edge Silicon Valley
- HACK EVERYTHING Every person, vehicle and connected device can be hacked. Take control of drones, cars, cranes, and more to use them as your weapon
- CONNECT WITH FRIENDS Play Co op and Player vs. Player activities in a seamless shared world
- YOU ARE IN CTRL Develop your skills and combine hacking, weapons and stealth to complete missions in ways that suit your playstyle
Season Pass contents listed by Ubisoft Help
The current support listing identifies the Season Pass content as:
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- The Not in Our Name, Guardian Protocol and Swipe Right story missions
- Four operatives for the main campaign
- DedSec vehicle paint
Those inclusions describe the support page’s listing; the exact bundle attached to a particular platform or regional edition still needs to be checked at purchase.
Historical launch labels versus current listings
Ubisoft’s July 12, 2020 launch announcement described a Gold Edition that included a Season Pass and an Ultimate Edition with additional digital content. That is useful historical context, but current purchase decisions should rely on the up-to-date support listing and the retailer’s regional product details rather than assuming every launch-era bundle remains available or unchanged.
Platform and format checks
Ubisoft’s product pages confirm the games’ existence and list supported platforms, but the available evidence here does not establish a particular retailer’s stock, physical format or compatibility for a specific SKU. Before buying, confirm all three of these items:
- The exact platform version you need.
- The edition name and every included item.
- Your region’s listing, especially for Legion bundles and Season Pass content.
A practical first-playthrough plan
Step 1: Decide whether you want a chronological design tour
If you are curious about how the series changes, commit to release order. You will move from Aiden’s smartphone-controlled Chicago, to Marcus and DedSec’s broader connected-device focus, to London’s roster of operatives.
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In the first two games, the official product pages foreground one named lead apiece. In Legion, the official framing foregrounds recruitment and switching among operatives. Knowing this in advance prevents the third game’s structure from feeling like an unexplained departure.
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- Open-world London, explore a massive urban open-world where you can visit London's many famous landmarks
- play as anyone, experience a never-seen-before gameplay Innovation. Anyone you see can join your team complete with a unique backstory, personality, and skill set
- weaponise London's Tech infrastructure. Hijack armed combat drones, deploy stealthy spider-bots, covertly take down enemies using an augmented reality cloak, and much more
- bring your team online and join forces with up to three friends and explore the world together or take on entirely new co-op missions
Step 3: Compare the games using the same questions
- Who is the player character or characters?
- What city and atmosphere does the game present?
- Which connected systems or devices does the official description emphasize?
- Is the main appeal one protagonist’s story, a group identity, or the abilities of a recruited roster?
Step 4: Verify the edition before starting Legion
Use the regional listing to establish whether you are buying the base game, Ultimate Pack, Season Pass or a combination. Do not infer Season Pass ownership from a similarly named bundle.
Series context and scale
Ubisoft’s franchise page says the first Watch Dogs gathered more than 40 million players worldwide. The page does not state the year for that figure, so it should be read as an undated franchise statistic rather than assigned to a particular launch or reporting period.
Common mistakes new players make
Starting with the newest game without accounting for its structure
Legion is the newest of the three main entries and the one most likely to surprise a newcomer because its playable characters are recruited from the city. If you want a conventional named protagonist, start earlier; if you want Play as Anyone, begin with the knowledge that the roster is the point.
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Assuming every sequel uses the same hacking model
The official descriptions use different examples: city infrastructure for the first game, a broad set of connected devices for the second, and recruits with distinct abilities and hacks for Legion. Compare them on those terms instead of expecting identical systems across all three.
Buying a bundle by name alone
Edition names and included content can differ by region. Check the current support information and the exact platform listing, particularly when a purchase includes a Season Pass or Ultimate Pack.
Bottom line for a first-time player
Play Watch Dogs (2014), then Watch Dogs 2 (2016), then Watch Dogs: Legion (2020). The sequence moves from Aiden Pearce using Chicago’s connected infrastructure, to Marcus Holloway and DedSec hacking a wider range of devices in the San Francisco Bay Area, and finally to a recruitable resistance in near-future London. Choose a different starting point only when a specific lead, setting or Play as Anyone is more important to you than seeing that progression in release order.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
