Today, a major free update arrives on all platforms for Watch Dogs 2, comprised of a new multiplayer mode and weapon, in addition to other things.
Ubisoft has described the 1.13 patch as the game’s biggest free update so far. The most standout feature is Showndown, a new 2v2 PvP mode intended as an “endgame challenge” that you play with a friend or other players found through matchmaking. Matches are set in 15 different locations and involve one of three different objective types that are akin to Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, and Domination-style modes in other games.
Drone, motocross, and ekart races will all get multiplayer support with this update, and each will also have its own leaderboard. In addition, when exploring the world, you will also begin to come across armored loot trucks. You can hack these, activating an event when you need to survive waves of police to reap a big reward.
New clothing options have also been added, and a new and colorful weapon, the paintball gun as well. The paintball gun stuns enemies, or, in multiplayer, obscures the enemy’s screen by covering it in paint.
In addition, the 1.13 update also makes some technical improvements like adjusting the effectiveness of explosives during online play. There are also PC-specific fixes, and you can see this in the full patch notes below. Today’s patch arrives a day before the PS4 release of the No Compromise DLC pack, which comes to Xbox One and PC on May 18th.
Watch Dogs 2 1.13 Patch Notes
- New Online Mode: Showd0wn – This is a new type of online gameplay for 2v2 PvP matches that can be played with a friend, or through random matchmaking. Showd0wn will feature three types of objectives [Steal the HDD, Doom-load (KotH style), and Erase/Protect the Servers] across 15 distinct locations. This is a great endgame challenge to play with friends, provided you’re not a script kiddie and know how to use all of the tools in your arsenal.
- Online Races – Drone, motocross, and eKart races are getting multiplayer functionality! They will also have their own leaderboards, so you can use them to compete for season rewards.
- Loot Truck Event – These armored trucks will randomly appear in the world, offering you a chance to hack them and then defend against the flood of police that will be responding. These will not be easy to rob, but the cash and followers payout is fat.
- Paintball gun – This bad boy will be available in the 3D printer and can stun enemies with a barrage of paintballs. Fun fact: in PvP gameplay your opponent’s screen will be colored in paintball splashes when you attack them.
- New Clothes – 13 new clothing items are available in the various stores, as if you didn’t look fly enough already.
Improvements
- Explosive damage – We’ve improved the effectiveness of explosives for online play. With this update, damage to the opponent is determined by their proximity to the explosion. Standing on top of the IED will end in immediate and embarrassing death, but you’ll suffer less damage if you’re further out when the blast goes off. Check yourselves before you wreck yourselves.
- Leaderboards – Multiple minor improvements to the leaderboard system
Bug Fixes
- “Bio Hacking” blocker – Fixed an issue that was preventing some players from completing this mission.
- Duplicate operations – Fixed a bug that was sometimes causing duplicate operation entries in the DedSec App.
- Key Data – We’ve updated some Key Data units with proper definitions and descriptions on the map.
- Lots of other minor bug fixes and improvements we don’t want to bore you with.
PC Specific – Title Update 1.013.177.1
- Fixed an issue when the game couldn’t be started in Steam after the download with “Launch the game as soon as it’s ready” option turned on.
- Fixed an issue when the San Francisco Fog was displaying incorrectly during rain.
- Fixed an issue when the game launched on laptops with integrated GPU, instead of dedicated.
- Lots of fixes to various minor issues with flickering, reflections, missing textures, windowed modes behavior, UI, text, online game modes, other stuff.
