Can a game built almost entirely around one clever gimmick still be worth your time years after launch?
That is the question hanging over Watch Dogs Legion, and the honest answer is a qualified yes. This is a 3.5 game, and I want to be clear about why it lands there rather than higher or lower. The play-as-anyone hook is genuinely novel, the map is one of the better open-world cities going, and there is a lot to do. It is also uneven, narratively thin, and the central idea works better as a toy than as a story engine. Buy it on a sale and you will get your money’s worth. Pay full whack and you might raise an eyebrow.
The premise and setting
Legion drops you into a near-future London under an authoritarian boot, with surveillance everywhere and a private security firm running the streets. You are the hacker collective DedSec, and your job is to push back. The setting is the strongest thing here. London is recreated with real landmarks, recognisable boroughs and a grimy, drone-filled mood that fits the story it is trying to tell. Wandering it on foot or by car is a pleasure in itself, and it is one of the more characterful open-world cities I have spent time in.
The strengths
The play-as-anyone system is the headline, and it does deliver. You can recruit almost any non-player character you see, each with their own kit, jobs and quirks, then swap to them at will. It turns the city into a roster. I lean into the silliness of it, and that is where the game opens up. Recruiting a member of the police force and then taking the nicest car in the city for a spin is exactly the kind of nonsense the systems are built to enable, and I went down that road in recruiting police in the best car in Watch Dogs Legion.
Beyond the gimmick, the hacking sandbox is solid. You can take a mission stealthily through cameras and gadgets without ever stepping inside, or you can go loud. The freedom to approach an objective however you fancy is the Ubisoft open-world formula at its more relaxed end, and it suits a solo player who likes to experiment rather than follow a strict route.
The weaknesses
Here is where the rating comes from. Because every character is procedurally assembled, almost none of them carry real weight. The writing is functional at best, and the main cast never grips you the way a hand-built protagonist would. The play-as-anyone idea, clever as it is, hollows out the storytelling rather than enriching it. Mission design is repetitive, the difficulty is soft, and the world reacts to your chaos less than you would hope. It is wide, but it is not deep.
How WillyB plays it
I play this solo, in free-roam, and I treat it as a chaos sandbox more than a campaign. The fun is in the emergent moments: building an absurd roster, testing how far the systems bend, and seeing what happens when you stop respecting the mission markers entirely. The play-as-anyone chaos is the whole point, and I let it run wild in play as anyone chaos in Watch Dogs Legion. If you come at Legion the way the trailers wanted you to, as a serious resistance drama, you will be let down. Come at it as a toybox in a beautifully rendered London and it clicks.
Who it is for
This is for the player who likes open-world games for the world and the systems, not the story. If you want a city to mess about in, a hacking sandbox to break, and a steady drip of solo objectives to chew through, Legion fits. If you need a strong narrative and characters you can care about, look elsewhere, because that is precisely the thing this design trades away.
The verdict
Watch Dogs Legion is worth it in 2026, on a sale, for the right player. It is a generous, good-looking, genuinely inventive open-world game that never quite reaches the heights its premise promised. A fair 3.5: more than the sum of its flaws, less than the sum of its ideas. For the full state of the game and where it sits in my rotation, the Watch Dogs Legion hub keeps it all logged, and if you want to see where it ranks against the rest of the solo shelf, the open-world list is the place to browse.
The verdict
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FAQ
Is Watch Dogs Legion worth it in 2026?
On a sale, yes. The play-as-anyone system and the near-future London map carry it, even though the writing and the recruit characters are thin. Pay full price and you may feel short-changed.
Do you have to play as multiple characters in Watch Dogs Legion?
No. You can find a recruit or two you like and run the whole campaign with them, but the recruitment system is the main thing the game does differently, so leaning into it is where most of the fun sits.
Is Watch Dogs Legion good for solo free-roam?
Yes. It is built as a solo open-world game first, and free-roam is where it shines. Recruiting odd characters, stealing cars and poking at the systems is more entertaining than the story missions.
What is the setting of Watch Dogs Legion?
A near-future London under an authoritarian boot, with surveillance everywhere and a private security firm running the streets. You play the hacker collective DedSec, and the city is the strongest thing here, recreated with real landmarks and a grimy, drone-filled mood.
What are the weak points of Watch Dogs Legion?
The writing is functional at best and the procedurally assembled characters carry no real weight, so the play-as-anyone idea hollows out the storytelling. Mission design is repetitive and the difficulty is soft. It is wide, but not deep.
Who is Watch Dogs Legion for?
The player who likes open-world games for the world and the systems, not the story. If you need a strong narrative and characters you can care about, look elsewhere, because that is precisely what this design trades away.
Watch WillyB's Watch Dogs: Legion → More Open-World & Free Roam
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