The new ‘Watch Dogs’ story agrees with you: Aiden Pearce was a maniac

In a strange twist of fate, Aiden’s latest story feels like it’s addressing an aspect of games storytelling “Legion” director Hocking famously wrote about in 2007, when he coined the phrase ludonarrative dissonance. When a game critic mentions this, it often refers to a player’s actions clashing with the authored intent of the character, like the jovial, happy-go-lucky Nathan Drake murdering over 1,000 people every game. The first “Watch Dogs” awkwardly tried to fit Internet espionage into the Grand Theft Auto structure, and in the end, we got Aiden the serial killer as our hero. “Bloodline” acknowledges this, and several years later, Aiden’s own family fears him as an irrational monster, addicted to violence.