Watch Dogs Legion gets an October release date in new gameplay trailer

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A new, more in-depth gameplay trailer for Watch Dogs Legion was shown at today's Ubisoft Forward show, confirming an October 29, 2020 release date for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Antagonist Nigel Cass was the star of today's trailer. He seems to be the madman at the heart of the authoritarian regime ruling this cyberpunk London, but there are other villains as well, including crime lord and human trafficker Mary Kelley.

A castle infiltration mission was also used to show more of Legion's NPC recruitment system. We saw a construction worker crash the joint nail gun blazing, a hacker turn enemy drones into friendly units, and a double-agent who was able to waltz right in without lifting a finger. We've seen NPC switching before, and we're pretty clear how it works at this point, but it's cool to see how different NPCs can totally rewrite missions.

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On top of today's trailer, we also saw a short film chronicling the aggression of the regime that took over London. It's a short, interesting look at the daily lives of the resistance, not to mention the other side of the game's recruitment system.

To bring you up to speed, Watch Dogs Legion is a new installment in Ubisoft's open-world sci-fi series. It's set in London this time, but in a dystopian future plagued by mass unemployment, inept government officials, and an authoritarian regime disguised as a security firm. Thank goodness we don't have to deal with any of that in reality, eh?

Anyway, the big sell with Legion is that it lets you recruit and play as literally any NPC you meet. You can build a team of 20 agents, focusing on different classes and traits to build a flexible crew, and rotate or replace those agents however you want. The possibilities are functionally endless, but if an agent goes down, they're gone for good, as permadeath is a staple of this recruitment system.

This whole system sits alongside the open-world mix of action and hacking that you'd expect from a new Watch Dogs game, so Legion is looking mighty ambitious indeed.

Get the right price and edition on your Watch Dogs Legion pre-order with our guide.

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.