Get a Free Copy of ‘Watch Dogs 2’ Before Tonight

Whether or not you tuned into Ubisoft’s latest big press event is irrelevant; you can still score a free copy of the developer’s reasonably well-liked, hacking-centric PC game Watch Dogs 2 for the low price of free. The catch? You have to claim your free game before 5pm AEST tonight, or else the deal — like several of Ubisoft’s executives in recent days — will evaporate away.

I remember playing Watch Dogs, and even a bit of Watch Dogs 2, and admiring what Ubisoft was attempting to do with its geeky interpretation of the San Francisco Bay Area. I ultimately faded out of the game in favour of jumping back to more mayhem-driven classics like Grand Theft Auto V or all thirty-five instalments of the Assassin’s Creed series. That’s not to say I didn’t like what the Watch Dogs world had to offer; other styles of gameplay simply spoke to me more at the time.

Still, free is free, and Watch Dogs 2 is good enough of a game that it’s worth devoting some of your precious summer gaming hours to giving it a try. You’re undoubtedly hunkering down at home — because you are smart and don’t feel the need to visit a crowded theme park and die — so why not pass the time with a not-that-old, open-world title?

The actual process of getting Watch Dogs 2 for free is the easiest part of it all. Visit this web page, log into your Uplay account (or create one), and click through all of the screens/prompts. That’s it. Once you’re successful, you’ll see this screen:

That’s it! You should now see Watch Dogs 2 in your Uplay desktop app, and you’ll be able to start hacking away without issue. Ubisoft’s giveaway is only for the core Watch Dogs 2 game — and not the associated DLC — so you’ll have to buy all of that on your own if you find yourself hooked by the hacker-themed gameplay.

If you’re still on the fence, here’s what I’d do: Get your copy of the game now, then spend some time watching people play it to see if it’s worth an install on your system. It doesn’t cost anything — or, really, take any time — to associate the free game with your account. You don’t have to download it if you find your interest wavering.