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Watch Dogs is Ubisoft’s action-adventure series about hackers exploiting connected technology and city infrastructure. Its three main games move from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area and then to near-future London, with DedSec and resistance to surveillance recurring throughout. For a first playthrough, follow release order: Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, then Watch Dogs: Legion. Legion – Bloodline is an optional story expansion set before Legion.
What is Watch Dogs about?
Across the series, hackers use networked systems to uncover information, disrupt powerful institutions, and shape events in cities where technology is woven into everyday life. DedSec, a hacker collective opposing surveillance and abuse of connected systems, links the games, though each main entry has its own lead character, setting, and central conflict.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Watch Dogs Legion - PlayStation 4 Standard Edition | $9.40 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Watch Dogs | $28.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Watch Dogs xbox one | $9.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Watch Dogs 2 - PlayStation 4 | $23.11 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Watch Dogs Legion (PS5) | $22.75 | Buy on Amazon |
The series combines story-driven action-adventure with hacking mechanics. Depending on the game, players can manipulate connected devices and city systems as part of missions and exploration. Ubisoft’s franchise page describes the first game as having gathered more than 40 million players worldwide; it does not date that figure, so it should not be read as a current player count.
What order should you play the Watch Dogs games in?
For a first playthrough, play the main games in release order. It introduces the series’ core ideas before moving through its changing characters and settings.
#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
- Watch Dogs (2014): Start with Aiden Pearce in Chicago.
- Watch Dogs 2 (2016): Continue with Marcus Holloway and DedSec in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Watch Dogs: Legion (2020): Move to a near-future London and a resistance made up of recruited characters.
These are distinct stories rather than a three-part campaign that requires finishing each earlier game to understand the next. Ubisoft’s official descriptions give each entry a different protagonist or playable-character structure, location, and central premise. Release order is therefore a useful way to experience the series’ progression, not a prerequisite imposed by Legion.
What is different about each main game?
| Game | Lead and story | Setting and distinguishing feature | Platforms listed by Ubisoft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watch Dogs (May 27, 2014) | Aiden Pearce, a hacker and former thug, pursues revenge after a family tragedy. | Chicago; Aiden hacks and manipulates connected city systems. | PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. |
| Watch Dogs 2 (November 13, 2016) | Marcus Holloway joins DedSec to target ctOS 2.0, which Ubisoft describes as a system used to monitor and manipulate citizens. | San Francisco Bay Area; DedSec’s operation is at the center of the story. | PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. |
| Watch Dogs: Legion (October 28, 2020, on Ubisoft’s product page) | Rebuild DedSec after a catastrophic attack and resist the forces controlling London. | Near-future London; the “Play as Anyone” mechanic lets players recruit and play as people encountered in the city. | PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. |
The platform lists above are the ones on Ubisoft’s cited product pages; a listed platform does not guarantee that a particular edition is currently sold in every region or storefront. Ubisoft’s launch-era Legion article also mentions Stadia and Amazon Luna, but those references describe launch-period platform information, not a guarantee of current service availability.
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
Choose by the kind of story you want
- For a focused personal story: Watch Dogs follows Aiden’s revenge-driven pursuit.
- For a DedSec-centered operation: Watch Dogs 2 puts Marcus and the collective’s effort against ctOS 2.0 at the forefront.
- For a rotating cast: Legion lets you recruit and play as characters across London instead of relying on one fixed protagonist.
Legion’s structure changes how its story is told. Ubisoft narrative designer Brendan Hennessy described its writing as a “dynamic script with 20 different variations.” That is the designer’s explanation of the writing approach, not a measure of how much story any one player will encounter.
Do you need to play Watch Dogs 1 and 2 before Legion?
No. Legion has a new London setting and a central premise that can be followed without completing the earlier campaigns. Playing the first two games first adds context for returning characters and the series’ recurring DedSec themes, but it is not necessary to understand the basic setup of Legion.
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.
Where does Bloodline fit in the Watch Dogs timeline?
Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline is an optional story expansion set before the events of Legion. Ubisoft’s announcement describes Aiden visiting London to steal a robot-controlling device from Broca Tech. Wrench becomes involved, and the conflict puts Aiden’s nephew Jackson at risk. Both Aiden and Wrench are playable in the expansion.
For a first playthrough, finish Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2 before Bloodline, since they introduce Aiden and Wrench in their original games. After that, choose either placement:
Rank #4
- PLAYSTATION EXCLUSIVE Play future Mission Packs 30 days early on the PlayStation4
- 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
- Story chronology: Play Bloodline before the Legion main campaign.
- Release-oriented sequence: Finish Legion, then play Bloodline.
The expansion is separate from the three main games. Ubisoft’s materials describe it as part of the Season Pass, but bundle contents and availability can vary by platform, region, and edition; check the current store listing for the version you intend to buy.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhich Watch Dogs game should you start with?
Start with Watch Dogs if you want the clearest introduction to the original premise and Aiden’s story. Choose Watch Dogs 2 if Marcus, DedSec, and a collective-led operation sound more appealing. Start with Legion if the recruit-and-play-as-anyone system and near-future London are your main interest; you do not have to complete the earlier games first.
Best Value
- 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
Ubisoft lists Watch Dogs: Legion for PS5 as well as several other platforms. Its launch article said a physical PS5 edition would be available, but that historical announcement does not establish current stock, region availability, or edition details. Check the relevant retailer or platform store before buying.
Quick Recap
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