Why Watch Dogs Doesn't Feel Real

What makes an open world alive? It’s a difficult endeavor to try and create the illusion of a living world in a virtual environment. What does Skyrim, Los Santos or Dunwall have that we classify them as “Living worlds” as oppose to other games like Watch Dogs? It’s because the world of Watch Dogs is made for the player.

Like other open world games the player is given a set of objectives within the environment to complete, both optional and mandatory. You’re not the main character in an open world game, instead your character is another player in the environment and assist in molding it. When playing Skyrim your actions constantly effect the people around you, but in addition these characters go on living even if they never met you. This deception convinces the player that the NPCs that inhabit this world have their own will, something that is absent in Watch Dogs.

Instead Chicago serves the player. Objectives, multiplayer invasions and other in-game situations reveal themselves only when the player is around. You never feel like you’re actually exploring a living place like Skyrim or Los Santos. Within these environments new places, objectives and missions begin to open up as the player explores the regions. While the game does guide you at times it’s never forced, instead the vast empty potions of the map encourage you to venture fourth only to find more hidden gems. It’s characters and objectives that could go unnoticed that create this sense of wonder and life.

No mystery, no wonder

Regardless of the scale of the game-world this sense of mystery is absent in Watch Dogs. You can go to an unknown area of the map but you won’t find anything enticing there because the game has already told you. Without any fascination to explore the unknown Watch Dogs becomes a set of levels to complete. And despite it’s living environment Chicago becomes less alive that most linear games. The world of Halo, Metroid and Mass Effect are revealed in small portions but Watch Dogs is shown right at the beginning.

Part of the wonder of being in an unknown place is exploring it. Seeing what exist behind the curtain and creates a bond between the world itself and the player. Without any surprises that sense of realism is gone. While Watch Dog’s world of Chicago isn’t bad it’s not memorable either, where as the world of Columbia, Empire City and Pandora will not be forgotten.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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