14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft has detailed the Digital Trips that are possible in Watch Dogs, the upcoming open world experience, which allow protagonist Aiden Pearce to let loose and go on a rampage in the virtual Chicago.
Watch Dogs focuses on Aiden Pearce, a vigilante hacker who wants to exact his revenge upon those who wronged him. The new game will portray his quest for vengeance using all sorts of tools during the missions, but it will also feature special encounters called Digital Trips.
According to Ubisoft, which detailed these sequences on the UbiBlog, the Digital Trips are actually new aspects of the game that offer crazy new gameplay mechanics.
According to Lead Gameplay Designer Danny Belanger, these moments "were designed to give players a chance to step away from the heavy themes in the narrative and journey into a lighter, more arcade-y side of the game’s hyper-connected Chicago."
One such Digital Trip is the Spider Tank one, in which Aiden can control a mechanized tank with spider-like abilities.
"The Digital Trips are based around different pillars of our core activities," Belanger said. "It fits a playstyle. It fits something people want to do or enjoy doing in the core mechanics of the game. The Spider Tank one is the one that’s more mutated. It’s just crazy."
In this encounter Aiden must use the tank's weapons and the ability to attach itself to buildings to complete as many objectives as possible before the police captures him, and Ubisoft confirms that upgrades can be made to the tank's weapons and durability.
Another Digital Trip is called Madness, in which Aiden must actually collect demon souls by running over pedestrians in Chicago.
"Once the timer starts it’s your job to collect as many demon souls as possible by running over the fiery-faced figures standing in the middle of the street. It’s as brutal as it sounds and even more fun. Like the Spider Tank, your armored car can be upgraded as well," the studio said.
These Digital Trips, according to Belanger, are related to the actual game and aren't just wacky activities reminiscent of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, for example.
"It’s open to interpretation," he explained, "but they were all based on an emotion the main character has or something he’s struggling with or a character trait. There’s always something in there that has meaning. Some of them are easier to notice than others."
Watch Dogs launches next month, on May 27, for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. A Wii U edition is coming this fall.