Watch Dogs vs Watch Dogs 2: Which Is Better?

Watch Dogs 2, and the stored reviews for both games describe the gap without meaning to. Vibrant open-world environment is praise from the sequel's players, with creative ways to interact with the game world beside it. The original's players file immersive open-world environment, then limited variety in hackable objects a few lines down. Our catalogue logs parkour and exploration as mechanics for the sequel and for neither on the original. Inverse's launch comparison lists what fills the Bay Area: selfies that passers-by photobomb, dogs to pet, a wardrobe to build. The case for Chicago is mood. One Steam poster describes it as a dark back alley on a cold rainy night, the same atmosphere the original's players file as praise. As a place to wander between missions, San Francisco gives more back.

Watch Dogs 2, starting with the cars. Driving mechanics are clunky and frustrating is the first stored complaint for the original, and Ubisoft agreed. Senior producer Dominic Guay said in 2016 that the first game's physics simulation became overwhelming once shooting, chasing and hacking piled up, so the sequel moved to arcade handling, as Wccftech reported. The toolkit widened too. Inverse counts a stun gun available from the start and drones that scout a whole area and hack closed circuits from a distance, and good combination of action, stealth, and hacking is stored praise for the sequel. The original keeps its defenders: innovative hacking mechanics is its top stored praise item, and one Steam poster found its weapons much easier to collect. The sequel lets you finish a mission in more ways.

Watch Dogs, and this is the category I weigh most. Engaging storyline with a compelling protagonist is stored praise for the original, and none of the sequel's five stored praise items mentions story at all. The Steam threads line up behind that: one poster prefers the first game's story for being on the serious side, another credits it with the better story and characters, and a third gives it the better story and a darker feel to the world. Aiden Pearce is a hacker hunting the people behind a family tragedy. Marcus Holloway joins DedSec to expose ctOS 2.0, and our catalogue tags the sequel comedic where it tags the original revenge. Inverse makes the best case for the sequel, a DedSec crew who each get a backstory and a personality. Good company is not a plot, and the original has the plot.

Watch Dogs, on stability, and it is the sequel's own players who decide it. Three of Watch Dogs 2's five stored complaints are technical: severe graphical issues including screen flickering, numerous bugs affecting gameplay, and poor performance on some systems. The original's list has one, some technical issues with bugs and audio, and visually appealing atmosphere sits in its praise. We read and summarized player reviews from Steam and the PlayStation Store for both games, and the phrase on some systems says the worst of it depends on hardware. The sequel is the newer and brighter game. Its PlayStation Store listing advertises dynamic 4K on PS4 Pro, and one Steam poster credits it with better graphics, while another says it can look like a cartoon. I would take the game whose players complain less about it running.

A draw, because every number that should separate them refuses to. Both sit on PS Plus Extra in our data. Our logged figures put a normal run at about 37 hours for Watch Dogs and 38 for Watch Dogs 2. The gap opens only for players who clear the map: about 60 hours to see everything in the original against 43 in the sequel, so Chicago leaves roughly 23 hours after the credits and San Francisco about 5. Whether those hours are worth having is contested inside the original's own reviews, which praise replayability with side missions and contracts and complain about repetitive side missions in the same list. One Steam poster rates the first game's side activities higher; the sequel's players note an affordable price during sales. Nothing here picks a winner.