How Long It Is – Watch Dogs 2
Watch Dogs 2 is a large game. Its predecessor gave players access to a large chunk of Chicago, setting them loose and seeing what they could do with the hacking tools provided to them. While it was a solid first attempt, it was definitely lacking in several areas. The sequel opens things up even further by providing more objectives, each organized under Main and Side Operations. That gives players a lot to tackle, and that’s not even counting the various side activities players can throw themselves into to pass the time including Online Operations. That makes the question “how long is it?” a difficult one to answer, but we’re going to try anyway.
While you don’t have to complete all of the Side Operations to beat the main story, you will have to do some of them to earn you enough followers to get the skills needed as well as to access the end of the game. With that being said, ignoring all of the more “fun-focused” side activities and focusing solely on story, you’re looking at just over 20 hours. That’s with fast traveling to each mission, ignoring games and collectibles, and doing as few of the Side Operations as possible.
What helps make the game longer without padding is that each Operation is actually made up of several smaller missions. For instance, one Operation has you steal a car, steal some information, mod said stolen car, then have a crazy showcase with the vehicle to grab the media’s attention. Each smaller mission is fun and takes no longer than 10-15 minutes but they feed into the main objective.
If you’re a completionist and want to do all of the Operations, you’re looking at over 30 hours. All of the side activities easily add another 5 to win all, and then, depending on how good you are with puzzles, there’s the different resources you can collect which can add a varying amount of time to the final count.
To avoid any possible spoilers, we’ve included a list of the different Operations you will find in Watch Dogs 2 (not counting any DLC).
Main Operations
Main Operations are how you progress the overall story of Watch Dogs 2. These tend to involve all of the major characters and consist of bigger set pieces than the other content as well as cutscenes. There are 15 of these available in the game and are unlocked as you help out the people of San Francisco.
- Introduction
- Hello World
- Cyberdriver
- False Profits
- Haum Sweet Haum
- Looking Glass
- Limp Nudle
- Hacker War
- W4TCHED
- Eye for an Eye
- Hack the World
- Power to the Sheeple
- Robot Wars
- Shanghaied
- Motherload
Side Operations
Side Operations aren’t as grand as the main ones, but they aren’t just throwaway missions either (at least not all of them). You’ll uncover quite a bit of the story through these, and you will even see the connections between Watch Dogs 2 and the original. These are a good way to earn a sizable amount of fans while also unlocking new clothing items and other goodies. There are currently 22 of these in Watch Dogs 2.
- Introduction
- $911
- Always On
- Bad Publicity
- Bottom Dollar
- Ghost Signals
- Infected Bytes
- High Price to Pay
- The Name Game
- Paint Job
- Pink Slips
- Proviblues
- Ripcode
- Shadenfreude
- Shadows
- Stolen Signals
- Ubistolen
- Haum Intruder
- Rodenta Academy
- Whistleblower
- Kickin’ it Old School
- Primary Target
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