Watch Dogs Multiplayer – How to Catch a Hacker

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In Watch Dogs multiplayer, one person tries to stay out of sight while hacking another player, while the gamer being hacked attempts to hunt down and identify the hacker. It’s basically a game of cat and mouse. We already covered the mouse portion of the struggle, so let’s take a look at how the cat should go about catching the mouse. You may be surprised at how easy it is.

Be Observant

While it may seem obvious, being observant and looking around is the best way to catch a hacker. That’s not to say you should just casually move about as you’re looking for the hacker. What we mean is that the hacker is going to look like a normal person. You’re not looking for Aiden Pierce, you’re looking for someone who looks like everyone else around you. What’s going to tip you off is that this person isn’t controlled by the computer AI. This person is human, controlling their character just like you would control Aiden Pierce.

You should look for anything out of the ordinary. Is someone sitting in a stationary car? That’s not normal in Watch Dogs. Did a car just move slightly out of the lane of traffic? The AI-controlled drivers are perfect. They stop at every red light, and start moving again as soon as the light turns green. Anything that doesn’t look perfect should clue you in to the hacker.

The obvious actions are pretty easy to spot. Is someone taking cover behind that stairwell? While you should definitely keep an eye out for the more obvious actions, it’s the subtle movements that you need to pay attention to. A good player will not make it obvious that they aren’t controlled by the AI. However, it’s extremely difficult to act exactly like an AI character, so you will see subtle differences if you’re looking out for them.

Have Patience… You’ve Got Time

The longer the search for the hacker takes, the easier it is to find the hacker. Keep this in mind as your search begins. You don’t need to run around in a panic trying to find the person hacking your precious data. As the search continues, the search area gets smaller and smaller, making it harder for the hacker to remain hidden.

Keep in mind, the hacker is probably doing everything he or she can to keep an eye on you. The best players will even use out of the way in-game camera systems, or move their own camera around so they can get a view of your character. If you’re not frantically searching for the hacker, that person is going to be confused. They’re going to wonder why you aren’t making more of an effort to find them. This gives you an advantage because they won’t realize that you’re meticulously studying the area to determine if anyone is acting more human than they should be, or figuring out where the best hiding spots are.

Once you’ve surveyed the area thoroughly, it should get close to the point where the search area begins to narrow. This should make it even easier to figure out where the hacker may be hiding. Most importantly, as you’re searching, make sure you look at every single person. Don’t move around so quickly that you miss that guy off in the corner, because he may very well be the hacker you’re looking for.

Use a Pattern Search

As we’ve already covered, you have plenty of time to locate the hacker, and as time passes, the search area gets smaller. Because of this, you should look in a set pattern. While the search area is large, survey the area and determine if there are any elevation changes that would benefit the hacker. Are there stairs close by? Is there an underground garage or an underpass? Are there any building that would serve as good hiding locations?

Take all of these factors into account at the very beginning of the search. Once the search area narrows, it will help you rule out certain locations. The out of the way locations are the ones you should save for at least the first time the search area narrows. If there’s a garage at the edge of the initial search area but it moves out of range when the area narrows, you would’ve wasted your time searching the garage.

If you combine all of this advise, you’ll pay attention to the minor details in behavior, take your time while searching and save yourself from exploring out of the way areas when you may not need to. All of this will drastically help in your search for the hacker during Watch Dogs multiplayer.