WhenWatch Dogs Legionwas first revealed, many were incredibly impressed with the game. Showing off the assassin granny, the dystopia-view of London, and its play-as-anyone approach was incredibly interesting. Then, Ubisoft made the wise decision to delayWatch Dogs Legionalongside a couple of others.
This shifted the conversation and resulted in a bit of a Ubisoft oversaturation:Watch Dogs Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, andImmortals Fenyx Risingall released in the past few months. It’s difficult enough to stand out in the plethora of games that come out every year, evenCyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launchhas seen that particular game dominate the conversation, yetWatch Dogs Legionfalls prey to its own sword.
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A Plethora of Ubisoft Games
Simply put, even in a narrowed-down view,Watch DogsLegion is overshadowed by a variety of Ubisoft games despite being a recognizable IP.Assassin’s Creed Valhallais an obvious competitor, as it is arguably Ubisoft’s most well-known IP. With the game set in the Viking era, it drew eyes and is arguably one of the biggest games of the year. Perhaps the biggest surprise is howImmortals Fenyx Risingseems to do the same, as this brand new IPfrom Ubisoft has drawn a lot of eyes, and it has particularly drawn enough thatWatch Dogs Legionseems like a game from 2019, not October 2020.
Moving forward, it seems other Ubisoft games are still getting the attention.Assassin’s Creed Valhallahas a season passkicking off with Wrath of the Druids in Spring 2021, andFar Cry 6is set to release next year (even if it was actually delayed). All of this begs the question: why?Watch Dogs Legionis not a bad game, and it’s possible to draw a few conclusions. Perhaps the most obvious is how its buggy launch wasn’t that bad, but that the conversation over its support has been exactly that and no more. This could limit how long it dominates the conversation for, but perhaps the biggest culprit is its presentation.
Watch Dogs Legion"play-as-anyone" aspect is interesting, but ultimately, it’s a gimmick. The result is that many of the playable characters aren’t memorable, which isn’t to say that there aren’t memorable characters, but that they are still weaker than even other games.Assassin’s Creed Valhallahas the strong-will Eivor and the mischievous Basim,Immortals Fenyx Risinghas the PC Fenyx and makes the common Greek gods into something more unique, andFar Cry 6has Giancarlo Esposito’s Anton. As a result,Watch Dogs Legionlives on in the shadow of its sister games, and while the delay was likely good for its initial reception an PR, it pushed it even close to bigger and, perhaps, better games.
Watch Dogs Legionis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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