Welcome to the New Order
This Watch_Dogs 2 briefing, entitled "Everything We Know So Far", is designed to bring you up to date with the most current information available. Reading this guide should prepare you for the November 15th, 2016 release of Watch_Dogs 2, returning you to the world of hacking first made popular in Watch_Dogs 1.
What Is Watch_Dogs?
Watch_Dogs is a series of games from Ubisoft Montreal focusing on a world replete with political corruption, mass surveillance, and those who hack such systems These hackers, the titular "watchdogs" of the series, face off against a wide variety of obstacles, utilizing advanced hacking methodologies and systems to deliver justice.
Watch_Dogs 2 is the sequel to the first game, Watch_Dogs. While Watch_Dogs featured Aiden Pearce, a hacker set out to avenge the death of his family at the hands of a corrupt politician in bed with mass surveillance via huge tech companies, Watch_Dogs 2 features a new protagonist in a brand new setting.
MARCUS HOLLOWAY moved to Oakland at a young age when his activist parents were forced to leave their San Francisco home because of gentrification. Oakland was a tough experience on them all, and Marcus grew to hate the system. He was enrolled in a community program to keep him safe from the streets, and started to learn how to work with computers there, but everything changed in the summers of 2013 when public unrest was at an all-time high and the city of Oakland proceeded with Phase 2 of their Home Domain Center to “protect people through mass surveillance.”
The systems would eventually wrongly accused Marcus of being the prime suspect in a local high-tech burglary and he was arrested based solely on digital evidence. His computer skills were also used against him because of the nature of the robbery, and he was almost jailed. The Judge in the case took Marcus’s background into account, however, and Marcus was released to perform community service. He went from being a member of the community program to teaching kids about computers. Still, his greatest teacher was the Internet, and he learned from it the way a straight A student was supposed to learn in class.
Regardless, Marcus was rightfully angry and he had his first cause to take down the HDC. While his actions eventually broke Blume and resulted in the retraction of the HDC, ctOS 2.0 was its replacement. Not only that - all the data that was harvested by Blume was kept intact.
Those false accusations against Marcus marked him as a future criminal and threat according to ctOS, however, making his victory bitter-sweet. He was incensed, and while Silicon Valley might overlook his past, Marcus was angry at the whole system that prejudiced his future and that of his friends. Instead of working shoulder to shoulder with the greatest programmers in Silicon Valley, Marcus looked for a way to even the odds for everyone. Marcus heard about DedSec through the chat rooms he frequented and they’d heard of him in return. They offered him a spot on their team, which he quickly joined.
Wrench
Marcus isn't alone in his struggle - he has several powerful allies who enable his retribution, who embody the same ideals of justice and fairness.
DedSec's resident full-fledged anarchist "Wrench" is an odd one. He wears a freaky mask with LED displays capable of bizarre emoticons. He shows up for parties, slipping the beer bottle under the mask. Few people have seen his real face … but he’s cute. He denies it. He’s vulgar, crude, entertaining, and an absolute adrenaline junkie—he lives on the edge. Dedsec follows a charge, and this guy charges full-steam ahead. They jokingly call him “The Wrench” because he’s the wrench you throw into somebody’s gears to grind them to a halt. It’s easy to get swept up with him in an operation that’s out of control and while you’re scrambling to make things work, he’s having the time of his life. He shows up for the tough operations and is willing to go the extra mile where the others might hesitate. He’s on the front lines kicking police. He might actually be the arsonist on the news that the cops haven’t caught yet. If the media wanted to sell a reason to fear DedSec, he’d be a great reason.
While most of DedSec works behind a screen, this man thrives out in the action and he seems to have no fear. He’s an adrenaline junkie with need to rebel against the establishment, and his energy is infectious. However, the man can cause complications, putting DedSec at risk, and this probably will create conflict at some point.
Sitara
On the other side is Sitara. Sitara’s taken full advantage of the education system. She’s studied marketing, psychology, PR, and just about anything related to art, but most of her hacking ability is self-taught. She thought moving away from the shallow LA culture to downtown SF would be a healthy change, but found hollow celebrities replaced by soulless tech giants. It’s a perfect place for her artistic rebellion – where culture is being crushed by cold industry. DedSec is her chosen tool to fight back and she’s carefully crafting the SF group in her image, making sure every public message is on-point and every logo packs a punch.
Sitara has a mean streak with a sense of humor. She suffers no fools, but she loves to troll them. Her suggestions for where to draw the line often don’t include a line. She believes the system has completely failed, and until it’s fixed, she’s not going to play nice.
She clicks with Marcus because they are both full-time rebels and very passionate about where DedSec is going. They both know it can be something bigger and they’ll work closely to do it. Sitara wants DedSec to be something to fear – which may create friction with other members, but offers a “devil on the shoulder” type of council for the player. Possible conflict arises when the group focuses more on the “lulz.” While she can party like the rest of them, Sitara sees too much fucking around as a waste of momentum. It will be a challenge to get her to stop and enjoy the trip once in a while.
The Hydra - ctOS 2.0
Marcus is going to need all the help he can get - he's facing off against an absolute hydra of an enemy. After Aiden Pearce destroyed ctOS at the end of Watch_Dogs 1, work began on ctOS 2.0, largely overseen by investment and technology guru Dušan Nemic. The system, a more secure and, if you can imagine it, more extensive system than ctOS, was installed in San Francisco by the Blume Corporation, with an eye for control and profit.
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