Welcome to the Resistance
The biggest talking point of Watch Dogs: Legion is that any character can potentially be playable. You can build your Dedsec from any number of anarchists, spies, grannies, hipsters, doctors, street artists, lawyers, or beekeepers wandering the streets of Post-Brexit London, giving an unprecedented way to approach missions.
While we’ve had some interesting revelations about Watch Dogs: Legion in the past few weeks – namely that permadeath is an optional feature so you don’t need to risk losing a character you really like (Perfect for players like me who will let themselves die in stealth sections so I can try to do it without being seen) today’s Ubisoft has taken the cake, not only giving us a (typically tongue in cheek) look at how the recruitment system works, but by announcing two big names for the new game: Aiden Pearce, star of the first Watch Dogs game, and grime artist Stormzy.
To cover Stormzy first: he’s repeatedly been critical of the current UK Government, which is led by the Conservative party, up to an including interrupting his Brit Award performance to swipe at then Prime Minister, Theresa May, for her failure to rehome victims of the Grenfell fire, or facing criticism for telling a class of schoolchildren that current PM, Boris Johnson, is a Bad Man. This anti-establishment bent is a big reason as to why he’s been cast in this role, which has a focus on a strict authoritarian regime. While it’s not the first time a celebrity has cameo’d as themselves in a Watch Dogs game (Such as Archer and Friends actress Aisha Tyler openly talking about her shoplifting habit or arguing with hotel staff) this is the first time we’ve seen them get any significant focus, in this case an entire mission.
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As for Aiden Pearce, he’s getting his own post-launch DLC, with a separate story and goals outside of Dedsec’s, which makes sense given the acrimonious relationship he had with the Dedsec cell based in Chicago. No word yet on what he’s doing in London, or whether he’ll interact with Dedsec, but it’s definitely a big development. Hopefully we’ll see some of the cast of Watch Dogs 2 make an appearance, but let’s not get greedy.
Let’s face it, we’re all going to make Dedsec made up entirely of the elderly. Tell me I’m right down in the comments.