During this year's GamesCom Ubisoft had a collection of promotional material on display for various games, including a showcase for what the multiplayer will look like in Watch Dogs 2. The trailer reveals co-op, online invasions and a mode called "Bounty Hunt".
The video was posted over on Ubisoft's YouTube channel, and just like with the first Watch Dogs, Ubisoft is gunning for that "seamless" multiplayer where gamers can hop in and hop out and enjoy the online activities without a loading screen. Arguably, this was one of the biggest highlights from the first Watch Dogs.
New to Watch Dogs 2 is the ability to team up with friends online and do some co-op missions. The cooperative mode can actually transition into the other two modes, Invasion and Bounty Hunt.
Invasion is the returning mode from the first game where you can attempt to infiltrate another player's game and hack some goods out of their character. If they catch, though, a pursuit may ensue and things can get chaotic.
Speaking of chaos... new to Watch Dogs 2 is a counter that measures how much damage you're doing to the San Francisco area and how much police heat you're racking up in the process. While in the previous games players could get into some intense police chases, in this sequel the more damage you do the more that heat keeps building. If it swells too much, then the game will automatically initiative a global bounty hunt, where up to three other players can join in on the action with the police and attempt to hunt the player down and bring them to justice.
The Bounty Hunt mode is reminiscent of the exact same mode in Atari's Test Drive Unlimited 2, where players being pursued by police (and couldn't be stopped) would initiate a call-out to other players online to join in on the action and attempt to subdue the fleeing player. The person being pursued oftentimes didn't know exactly which units were the AI police units and which units were the player units, so there was this constant escalation of paranoia because a rival player could come barreling out of nowhere and slam into the car and end the pursuit.
In the case of Watch Dogs 2, the Bounty Hunt mode will attempt to create that same level of tension like in Test Drive Unlimited 2, where the fleeing player will constantly have to look over their shoulder to avoid being subdued by rival players or by the police.
The trailer for the game outlines some of the new mini-games and events sprinkled throughout the greater San Francisco area, including boat racing, dirt racing, stealth missions, hacking missions and even infiltration missions.
It's mentioned that any activity you participate in online will go toward your overall character progression, including unlocking new gear for Marcus, such as clothing items, new hacking equipment and even new weapons.
Ubisoft's open-world action title, Watch Dogs 2, is due to drop on November 15th for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
