Watch Dogs Legion was one of the stars of this year's E3 convention. It set itself apart from the rest of the games on show with a unique mechanic which does away with the "N" of NPC and allows the player to essentially take control of anyone they encounter.
You'll be recruiting citizens of London into your hacking group: Dedsec. However,
to balance having an army of playable characters at your finger tips, there won't be any respawning. Should your character die at any point, they will stay dead — this concept is known as "permadeath."
Many were put off by this idea as it an often be rage-inducing but the art director for
Watch Dogs Legion recently participated in an interview in which he explained why he thinks that permadeath actually improves the experience. How, you ask? Well, according to Josh Cook, it raises the stakes and makes you make decisions more analytically.
"Permadeath is a bit of a controversial inclusion in the game but it’s something that I personally love, I think a lot of people actually really love the way that amplifies the stakes of the game," Cook said during a recent Ubisoft event (via
WCCFTECH).
I think it’s very important to note that permadeath is a result of a tactical choice. You have the decision to make, you have the opportunity to surrender, and your operatives will enter a cooldown period where they’ll be placed in a hospital or a prison or in different circumstances depending on how they go down. But it’s a tactical choice. If you choose not to surrender, then you’re putting your operative at risk and they are at risk of dying, they will be done and they will be dead and they won’t be coming back.
Cook went on, saying that it simply makes the
Watch Dogs Legion more exciting:
"It really raises the stakes, it makes the game very exciting. It’s a risk/reward situation – losing them for a brief time, or continuing on and finishing up that last bit of progress – that makes for some really exciting moments in the game and I’m glad we have it. I personally love it, I think it’s a great idea."
Watch Dogs Legion is set to release on March 6th, 2020 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC.