Watch Dogs an open world adventure. It's the first instalment in the Watch Dogs series. You navigate and explore the world on foot or in a variety of vehicles. The novelty is the futuristic setting that highlights the use (and misuse) of social media to control a population, as well as the ability to use these and other systems to your advantage. This makes it an unusual game in that you are not often directly shooting or attacking people, but using the environment to get the job done.

It's set within a fictional version of Chicago in 2013. The single-player story follows the story of hacker and vigilante Aiden Pearce and his quest for revenge after the killing of his niece. Using stealth and combat you hack electronic devices to complete missions using equipment and devices to reach different areas without being seen. System hacking requires you to solve logic puzzles under a time restraint.

These hacks and other exploits grant you real-time control of the city’s infrastructure, enabling you to trap enemies by manipulating the traffic lights, stopping trains to board and evade authorities or chase down robbers who have mugged someone. In the online multiplayer mode you team up with up to eight players to engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.