One of the biggest promises made by Watch Dogs: Legion is the ability to swap and play as any NPC in the game at any time. This bold declaration was first made at Ubisoft's 2019 E3 presentation, along with the fact that they'd recorded twenty versions of Watch Dogs: Legion's script to account for the different kinds of characters players could recruit. As the game's release date draws closer, Ubisoft has begun showing off just how Watch Dogs: Legion's character swapping will work.
Releasing on October 29th, 2020, Watch Dogs: Legion is the third installment in the Watch Dogs franchise. Previous entries focused on a single player campaign with one main protagonist, but that protagonist was always working with a larger hacking collective known as DedSec. In Watch Dogs: Legion, however, gamers will be playing as the collective itself, able to swap and use any member of DedSec at any time, allowing players access to different abilities and play styles. Players will be able to recruit almost any NPC they see in the game by embarking on a series of side quests for that character.
According to Ubisoft, players will be able to swap between any NPC on their DedSec team at any time. In most cases, the swap is as simple as going to a menu and selecting a character. If users choose to do so in the middle of a mission, their objective progress will carry over. But swapping won't always be the player's choice during Watch Dogs: Legion's gameplay; if things go wrong during a mission and they "die," players will be forced to switch to a new character.
How Watch Dogs Legions' NPC Swapping Affects Gameplay
In normal gameplay, a "death" means an NPC is arrested or hospitalized, making them unavailable for a time. Players looking for more of a challenge will have the option to enable permadeath mode, meaning there is a very real chance a favorite NPC could be lost forever. In either instance, the player will have to choose a new DedSec operative from their roster and continue on the mission.
This freedom to swap NPCs at a moment's notice gives players flexibility in how they want to approach the world. Ubisoft has already shown off a number of archetypes and abilities in Watch Dogs: Legion. For instance, those wishing to walk into a building without too many questions being asked might choose a police officer, while playing as a "football hooligan" is better for situations that might turn into a brawl. The ease of switching also encourages experimentation, as players won't have to worry about being stuck with an NPC who turns out to have the wrong skills for the job. It should be noted, however, that a recent hands-on demo from The Verge showed that while switching NPCs won't reset progress, it will respawn players outside of whatever zone they were trying to infiltrate.
Watch Dogs: Legion promises to be an interesting experiment in single-player game design. Many games offer players different approaches to missions, but tend to use game mechanics like skill trees to force players to ultimately focus on one style of game play. Watch Dogs: Legion's roster of playable DedSec operatives means that different tools and ability sets are only a few clicks away. In in a matter of moments, players can go from over-the-top super spy to a beekeeper who wields a robotic bee army, adapting to whatever obstacles Watch Dogs: Legion puts in their way.
Watch Dogs: Legion releases October 29, 2020 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Google Stadia platforms.
Source: Ubisoft