We first saw Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's open-world third-person action adventure game, about two years ago at E3. It was supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but was delayed until this year. We didn't mind, because the graphics were stunning and the concept was cool---enough that it made our most-anticipated games list two years in a row.
Now that it's out, though, we're thoroughly disappointed. Problems with the story and gameplay aside, many players complain that Watch Dogs received a graphical downgrade, even on a PC with the graphics settings cranked up to ultra. The game isn't nearly as gorgeous as the demos we saw at E3 2012.
It's not uncommon for games---especially console games---to look better in a pre-rendered promo video than during gameplay, but we saw a gameplay demo at E3. There's no logical explanation for the decline in quality.
Enter the modders, who not only solved the problem, but might have found the cause.
Guru3D forums user TheWorse has released a mod compilation that restores Watch Dogs' visuals and performance to the standard set by the demo. Changes include dynamic shadows, increased rain density and light effects, bokeh depth of field, lightning changes, lens flare, new camera options, and more.
For most games, the story would stop there. But in this case, it seems Watch Dogs' out-of-the-box graphic performance had nothing to do with the hardware. TheWorse discovered the E3 graphics settings nestled within the game's code and realized they'd been turned off. The Watch Dogs game engine was capable of rendering dynamic shadows, and bokeh depth of field, and most everything else TheWorse accomplished---without any heavy lifting on his part. All he had to do was turn the settings back on.
In other words, Ubisoft did give Watch Dogs a graphic downgrade, and did so intentionally. The retail release was quite capable of looking every bit as good as the E3 demo, yet someone wrote the code needed to make it look worse. Despite these discoveries, Ubisoft PR rep Tessa Vilyn, in a tweet sent earlier this week, stood by her assertion that Watch Dogs had not been downgraded.
To be fair, some players are reporting performance issues with TheWorse's mod. The problem could be the hallmark of a new, rough-around-the-edges game mod, or it could be a demonstration of why Ubisoft downgraded the visuals. Either way, it seems clear something shady is going down with the shaders in Watch Dogs.
