Watch Dogs is Ubisoft’s action-adventure series about hackers, connected technology, and the systems cities use to monitor and manage people. Its three main games follow Aiden Pearce in Chicago, Marcus Holloway and DedSec in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a recruitable resistance in near-future London. For a first playthrough, play the main games in release order: Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs 2, then Watch Dogs: Legion.
What is Watch Dogs about?
Across the series, hacking is a way to interact with a city’s connected infrastructure as well as its computers and networks. The games pair that premise with action-adventure stories about personal motives, activist hackers, and opposition to surveillance. Ubisoft describes the franchise as having attracted more than 40 million players worldwide, though its franchise page does not date that figure (Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs franchise page).
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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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 |
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Watch Dogs Legion (PS5) | $22.75 | Buy on Amazon |
What order should I play the Watch Dogs games in?
The simplest first-playthrough route is release order. Each main game has a different lead and setting, while the later expansion Bloodline brings characters from the first two games into a story set before Legion.
- Watch Dogs: Start with Aiden Pearce in Chicago.
- Watch Dogs 2: Continue with Marcus Holloway and DedSec in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Watch Dogs: Legion: Move to near-future London and its resistance movement.
- Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline (optional): Play the expansion after the first two games. It is set before Legion; play it before the main campaign if you prefer story chronology, or after the campaign for a release-oriented route.
This is a recommendation, not a prerequisite: Ubisoft’s descriptions give each main game its own protagonist, setting, and premise, and do not say that you must finish earlier campaigns to understand Legion.
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- 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
What is each Watch Dogs game about?
| Game | Story and playable-character structure | Setting | Official release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watch Dogs | Aiden Pearce, a hacker and former thug, pursues a revenge story after a family tragedy. | Chicago | May 27, 2014 |
| Watch Dogs 2 | Marcus Holloway works with DedSec to target ctOS 2.0, which Ubisoft describes as a system used to monitor and manipulate citizens. | San Francisco Bay Area | November 13, 2016 |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | Rebuild DedSec after a catastrophic attack and resist the forces controlling London. Its “Play as Anyone” system lets players recruit and play as characters encountered in the city. | Near-future London | October 28, 2020, on Ubisoft’s product page |
The series’ structure changes most noticeably in Legion: instead of one fixed protagonist, the playable cast is assembled from recruits. Ubisoft narrative designer Brendan Hennessy described the writing approach as a “dynamic script with 20 different variations” (Ubisoft News on Legion’s writing). That design serves the recruitable-cast idea, but makes the game’s storytelling approach different from the fixed-lead stories of the first two games.
Do I need to play Watch Dogs 1 and 2 before Legion?
No. Legion introduces a new setting, resistance story, and playable-character system. Playing earlier games first is useful if you want the series’ broader context and know Aiden and Wrench before they appear together in Bloodline, but the recommended release order is about experiencing the series’ evolution, not meeting a requirement to understand the London campaign.
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
Where does Bloodline fit in the Watch Dogs timeline?
Bloodline is a story expansion for Watch Dogs: Legion set before the events of the main game. Aiden visits London to steal a robot-controlling device from Broca Tech; Wrench’s interference draws Aiden’s nephew Jackson into danger. Both Aiden and Wrench are playable in the expansion, according to Ubisoft’s Bloodline launch announcement. For the most useful character context, play Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2 first. Then choose whether to play Bloodline before Legion for chronology or after it for a straightforward release-oriented path. Ubisoft confirms the prequel placement in its Bloodline story announcement.
Which Watch Dogs game should you choose?
- Choose Watch Dogs for Aiden Pearce’s personal story, Chicago, and a fixed main character.
- Choose Watch Dogs 2 for Marcus, DedSec, and a story centered on challenging a system used to monitor citizens.
- Choose Watch Dogs: Legion for London and the option to recruit and play as people across the city rather than follow one permanent protagonist.
- Add Bloodline if you want a story featuring Aiden and Wrench together.
What platforms are the Watch Dogs games on?
Ubisoft’s product pages list different platforms for each game. These are the platforms shown on those pages; storefront availability, editions, and services can change by region and over time.
Recommended Free Tools
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.
| Game | Platforms listed by Ubisoft |
|---|---|
| Watch Dogs | PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Ubisoft product page) |
| Watch Dogs 2 | PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (Ubisoft product page) |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (Ubisoft product page) |
Ubisoft’s original Legion launch announcement also mentioned Stadia and Amazon Luna in its launch-era platform information. Those are historical launch details, not confirmation of current service availability.
Quick Recap
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
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
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