Profiling the various citizens around you was a key part of Watch Dogs‘ world-building in the first two games. While other open world games found different ways of making it seem like every human being was a functioning part of the game’s world, Watch Dogs crafts online personas of people to emphasize their place in the world. It wasn’t particularly long-reaching or expansive, and didn’t particularly affect gameplay except for certain scenarios. However, in Watch Dogs: Legion, the deep profiler takes things several steps further from both a conceptual and gameplay perspective.
Players can eventually unlock the “Deep Profiler” capability by purchasing it for 25 tech points, which are acquired in various missions and locations throughout London. This is where the profiling in Watch Dogs: Legion becomes way more interesting for gameplay, as it not only provides players the capability of allying with harder to recruit teammates, but it also adds a whole new layer to the game’s world-building. Even when the characters themselves may not have the most interesting backstories or daily lives, this deep profiling system showcases a web of relationships between NPCs that deepens the experience in a very subtle manner.
Compared to the past two Watch Dogs games, deep profiling is much more in-depth. Before, in the first Watch Dogs game, utilizing the profiler had some gameplay implementations, but mostly served as a unique thematic touch. At the time, being able to see the occupations and likes/dislikes of NPCs did hammer home Watch Dogs‘ whole “big brother” motif in a way other games hadn’t really done before. Games like Grand Theft Auto had elements of NPC interaction before Watch Dogs, but it was never on the level of learning anything more than what a character looks or sounds like.
That being said, at the end of the day, the profiler was very used sparingly from a gameplay perspective, and otherwise didn’t necessarily change a whole lot throughout the game. Plus, after a solid amount of play time, character occupations would start to repeat and the world-building effect it once had would eventually wear off. It was the same deal with Watch Dogs 2 as well, despite all of the other improvements made to the protagonist and the game’s story over the first game. Profiling was a neat little trick for players, but in Watch Dogs: Legion, it’s become a far more systemic gameplay mechanic that’s pivotal to building up the revolution.
In Watch Dogs: Legion, players start with the standard profiling capability that veterans would be used to. It’s not until players unlock the “deep profiler” tech where Watch Dogs: Legion‘s “play as anyone” system truly shines. Profiling a character in Watch Dogs: Legion not only displays a person’s name and occupation, but deep profiling them reveals their relationships, their daily schedule, and their overall disposition in relation to DedSec. This means that, along with recruiting what players would consider the standard fare of NPCs, players can also recruit highly-skilled characters who may not be incredibly fond of DedSec.
This is where Watch Dogs: Legion‘s recruitment gameplay loop becomes far more enjoyable. Say there’s a particular character with a specific skillset a player wants: they would want to deep profile them, learn about their respective plans or vices, and do what they can to help them. Depending on the player’s actions, they may be more inclined to join (or hate even more) DedSec and the revolution. It’s a very thoughtful evolution on one of the essential cores of Watch Dogs‘ world, something that’s always been in every game but never had more than a granular impact on the game’s world or missions.
For what it’s worth, Watch Dogs: Legion‘s deep profiling is an impressive effort in systemic game design. No longer is hacking into people’s lives and discovering their identities just a fun thing to do in Watch Dogs‘ world. Profiling now serves a very legitimate purpose in helping build the rebellion against Albion. Determining people’s relations to the state of the world and capitalizing on their desire for rebellion makes these characters feel just a bit more alive, even if they’re fairly generic overall. Even when a lot of the NPCs around the world may not have the most nuanced or interesting backstories, deep profiling them at least makes a unique effort in fleshing out Watch Dogs: Legion‘s world just a bit more.
It’s an interesting framework, one that could be iterated on in the future to help mitigate some of the same-ness that comes with Legion‘s NPCs. The illusion of a living/breathing open world is best strengthened by the characters around the player, and Watch Dogs: Legion does relatively well in that regard. Character profiles certainly aren’t as limited as they were in the first Watch Dogs, even though there’s still the chance of repetitive quests for recruiting characters. That being said, deep profiling is an interesting systemic approach to evoking the illusion of a “living” world, something future Watch Dogs games could improve even further.
Watch Dogs: Legion is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are coming at launch.
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