Watch Dogs: Legion‘s free multiplayer update is now scheduled to arrive on March 9, Ubisoft has confirmed. Developer Ubisoft Toronto initially planned to deploy the multiplayer suite much closer to the game’s late 2020 launch. However, the studio delayed Watch Dogs: Legion’s online component in an effort to better focus on general optimization issues and bug fixes.
The title hit stores for consoles and PC last October, evolving the Watch Dogs formula in several key ways. Most notably, a single protagonist no longer sits front and center. There’s no Aiden Pearce or Marcus Holloway equivalent in the franchise’s latest installment. Instead, players assume the role of any non-playable character in the vast open-world, an incredible feat made possible by Ubisoft Toronto’s inventive technology. The system can generate unique background information and skills about NPCs, allowing players to step into the shoes of a wide range of characters. Though the actual simulation behind Legion’s NPC system isn’t that intriguing, it provides one way of ensuring this adventure stands out from the rest of Ubisoft’s open-world endeavors.
Today, Ubisoft confirmed Watch Dogs: Legion’s online mode will be available for free across all platforms on March 9. The multiplayer suite will provide players with plenty of content, including a free-room cooperative mode that allows up to four players to explore London and partake in side activities, city events, and challenges. Two-to-four-player co-op missions are incoming as well, along with new cooperative gameplay mechanics. Such missions will give players the chance to assemble their ideal team, then take the fight to threats scattered across London’s landmarks. Meanwhile, “Leader of the Pack” will serve as the first Tactical Op – endgame content constituting five “interconnected narrative missions” that players should approach strategically to complete. Legion’s first PvP mode, Spiderbot Arena, goes live on March 9, too, unleashing an intense deathmatch mode that will see players control armed spiderbots.
Season Pass holders additionally have two single-player missions to look forward to come March 9. Guardian Protocol involves DedSec’s tracking down an algorithm that could permit AI to control human decisions. The second mission, Not in Our Name, centers around a group stealing DedSec’s identity and information for a tabloid owner who means to blackmail their victims.
All of this content should hopefully breath new life into Watch Dogs: Legion as a whole. Ubisoft launched the title last fall to little fanfare, but a robust online suite could shift things in the right direction. At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see how players respond to the update once it goes live in a couple of weeks.
Watch Dogs: Legion isn’t the only Ubisoft title set to receive a new lease on life this year. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and Rainbow Six: Siege all have fresh content on the horizon. AC Valhalla has two big story expansions set to launch this year, for example, while Siege’s Operations Crimson Heist is slated to launch in March.
Watch Dogs: Legion is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S; the game’s free multiplayer update goes live across all platforms on March 9.
