Since launch, Watch Dogs 2 has received over five major free updates in addition to three sets of DLC, bringing new missions, weapons, outfits, vehicles, map locations, and online modes. From the start, the game has encouraged playing with others, and on July 4, you'll be able to bring even more friends along for some San Francisco hacking antics with the biggest online update yet that includes a new and long-awaited 4-Player Party mode.
"It's something we've been thinking about for a long time," says Watch Dogs 2 producer Kris Young. "It's always more fun to be in a team, and the online modes we have are great, but we really wanted to expand on them. We also pay attention to what our community is saying, and it's something they've been clamoring for, so we're happy to finally make it available to everyone."
How will it work? Players can start a public or private party with room for up to four friends (or strangers, if you use matchmaking). From there, the party is free to explore San Francisco. "The cops will be there. You could try to take down the Red Zones. Everything that's in the city of San Francisco will be there, so you can immediately have some fun exploring San Francisco with four people" Young says. "Then, at any time, you can launch the activities that support the 4-player Party – Bounties, Invasions, Loot Trucks, Races, Showd0wn, Man VS Machine Robot Fights, and the DedSec Virus events are all available for you to have fun with."
Young also explains that the 4-Player Party mode is intended to be more about cooperation than competition, so anything that happens in this mode will not affect leaderboard standings.
In addition to the 4-Player Party mode, the latest update will also include some slight fixes and improvements to make the experience of playing with others a little smoother. "Watch Dogs 2 already has a fun world to explore, so we mostly had to do some adjustments and gameplay balances" says Young. "We introduced an option to let you skip the cinematic when you're using the 3D printer, we know that was kind of frustrating. We also fixed the shuffler takedown move and outfit that some players weren't able to unlock properly, with a few other stability fixes as well."
To celebrate this new update as well as the Bay Area's rendition of Independence Day, Watch Dogs 2 will also hold a special in-game event during the month of July that includes fireworks displays over the city of San Francisco and a festive change to the paintball gun that makes it shoot red, white, and blue pellets.
Watch Dogs 2 is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more information, check out our previous coverage.
