Hack Chicago with Prima’s free Watch Dogs walkthrough.
Go in-depth with the official Watch Dogs guide!
Watch Dogs allows for a variety of play styles. Some missions require you to go unseen to complete the task at hand, while others force you to kill everyone involved. However, a vast majority of the missions in Watch Dogs give you the option to play however you want. If you enjoy stealth games like Assassin’s Creed and Metal Gear Solid, you can sneak around and avoid enemy confrontation, or you can play the game like a third-person shooter and kill everyone in sight.
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both play styles, and it’s important to know when to use each. While there isn’t a single right or wrong way, missions are considerably tougher if you don’t at least attempt to complete them using the best strategy possible. You’ll set yourself up for extended frustration if you ignore the play style that works best for a given mission and go in blind.
When should I use stealth in Watch Dogs?
Anytime your objective is to complete a mission unseen, you have to use stealth tactics to complete your task. If there’s no such mandate, the choice is yours, but it’s best to use stealth when there are plenty of hacking opportunities and objects to use for cover. For instance, when you reach a restricted area (red section on the map), move around the outskirts looking for cameras. Even if you decide to go in guns blazing, it’s best to know the location of all the guards. In order to do that, you need to scan the entire area, moving from camera to camera.
Once you know where all of the guards are, figure out your entry point. Are there enough places that provide cover that you can sneak inside and get to your objective without being seen? If so, that’s probably your best course of action. Keep in mind you can still take down guards as you come across them, even without lethal force. In fact, if you use a takedown on a guard and there’s another one patrolling the area, chances are the patrolling guard will see his fallen comrade and move closer to investigate. This allows you to take out that guard and clear a path to your target.
The more guards there are, the harder it is to use lethal force to clear the area. As soon as one guard is alerted to your presence, you’ll have an army on top of you, using explosives and laying down a relentless storm of bullets. Sure, you can lob a few IEDs in their direction and hope for the best, but with a little patience, you can probably reach your target with minimal confrontations and a low risk of death.
When should I use weapons in Watch Dogs?
First and foremost, if you plan on moving into an area with a thirst for blood, get a weapon with a silencer attached. If you use anything else, every guard in the area will come looking for you as soon as you fire a single shot. With a silencer, you can take down a few guards without drawing the attention of the others (at least until they find their dead friends).
Even with a lethal mindset, it’s still important to use stealth and cover as you enter a restricted area. You heal fairly quickly, but only if you’re not actively being attacked. If you take a few hits, quickly duck behind the closest cover point and remain there until you’ve healed up. For this reason, it’s important to scout an area by hacking into the camera system before you make your assault.
Ideally, you should go in guns blazing when there are very few guards, or you can setup an ambush. For example, if you have a few IEDs, remain hidden behind cover while you toss those IEDs in strategic locations (one for every group of enemies). Once everything is set, detonate the IEDs, then open fire with your weapon of choice. Even if there are a ton of guards, a few well-placed IEDs will take care of most of them, leaving you to clean up the leftovers.
If the mission requires you to take down a specific individual, it’s almost always best to locate that individual before you mount an assault. In many instances, as soon as the guards are alerted to your presence, the target will flee the scene. This leaves you with numerous guards hunting your down, as well as the need to chase after the now fleeing target. Conversely, if you knew exactly where the target was located, you could have made a beeline to him, and taken him out before he had a chance to run. You’d still have to deal with the other guards, but the primary objective would be complete.
