He isn't your typical brooding vigilante. Honestly, when Ubisoft first revealed Watch Dogs 2 Marcus Holloway, a lot of players didn't know what to make of him. We were coming off the heels of Aiden Pearce—a man whose personality was basically a wet trenchcoat and a gravelly voice. Then comes Marcus. He’s loud. He’s stylish. He actually likes his friends.
Most games in the "hacker" genre try way too hard to be edgy. They want you to feel like Neo or some basement-dwelling anarchist with a vendetta against sunlight. But Marcus felt like a real person you'd actually want to grab a beer with, even if he was busy dismantling a city-wide surveillance state between drinks.
It’s been years since the game dropped in 2016, but if you look at the landscape of open-world protagonists today, Marcus stands out even more. Why? Because he wasn't just a vessel for the player. He had a specific perspective rooted in his identity as a Black man in a tech-dominated San Francisco. That's a layer of depth most triple-A games are too scared to touch.
The Problem With ctOS 2.0 and Why Marcus Fights
The game kicks off because Marcus gets profiled. That’s the core of it. The ctOS 2.0 system—this "smart city" infrastructure—flagged him for a crime he didn't commit based on an algorithm. It’s not just a sci-fi trope; it’s a direct commentary on predictive policing and algorithmic bias.
Marcus doesn't just get mad. He gets even.
He breaks into a Blume server farm, wipes his profile, and joins DedSec. But here is the thing: Marcus isn't some lone wolf. The dynamic between him and Sitara, Josh, and Wrench is what makes the narrative move. They’re a collective. You aren't playing a "chosen one" story; you're playing a "found family" story that happens to involve high-stakes cyber espionage.
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Is He a Hypocrite?
Critics often bring up the "ludo-narrative dissonance" in the game. You've probably heard the argument. Marcus is a cool, fun guy in cutscenes, but the player can go out and gun down fifty security guards in the open world. It feels weird, right?
The game actually tries to nudge you toward a non-lethal playstyle. Marcus has his "Thunderball"—that billiard ball on a bungee cord—and a stun gun. Most of the community agrees that playing Marcus as a pacifist hacker feels much more "canon." When you use the jumper drone or the quadcopter to solve a puzzle without ever stepping foot in the restricted zone, that’s when the Watch Dogs 2 Marcus experience really clicks. Using a 3D-printed assault rifle just feels... off.
Breaking Down the Skill Tree: How Marcus Actually Plays
If you’re hopping back into the game or playing it for the first time on a modern console, you’ll notice the progression system is actually pretty smart. It’s divided into several "branches" like Social Engineering, City Disruption, and Remote Control.
Marcus isn't just a guy with a phone. He's a social engineer.
- Vehicle Hacking: You can literally steer cars remotely. It’s chaotic. It’s hilarious. You can cause a ten-car pileup just to distract a single guard.
- The Botnet: This is your "mana" bar. Managing this during a high-speed chase through the hills of San Francisco is where the tension comes from.
- Environmental Interaction: Every transformer, steam pipe, and lift is a weapon.
Most people sleep on the "Mass System Crash" ability. In the late game, being able to shut down all city infrastructure for 30 seconds makes you feel like a god. It’s the ultimate expression of Marcus’s power over the digital world.
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San Francisco as a Character
You can't talk about Marcus without talking about the Bay Area. Ubisoft Montreal absolutely nailed the vibe. From the colorful murals in the Mission District to the sterile, glass-and-steel towers of Silicon Valley, the world reflects the conflict Marcus is living through.
There’s this specific mission where you have to infiltrate a parody of Google (called Nudle in-game). Walking through the campus, listening to the NPCs talk about "disrupting the industry" while Marcus scoffs at the pretentiousness, is peak writing. It shows that Marcus isn't just fighting "evil"; he's fighting a specific type of corporate arrogance that he sees every day.
The Fashion and Culture of Watch Dogs 2 Marcus
Let’s talk about the drip. Seriously.
Marcus is probably one of the most customizable characters in gaming. You can go to high-end boutiques and buy a $2,000 suit, or you can go to a tourist trap at Pier 39 and buy a tacky "I Love SF" t-shirt. This isn't just fluff. It reinforces the idea that Marcus is a chameleon. He fits into the tech world, the street art scene, and the underground hacker bunkers simultaneously.
The soundtrack also plays a huge role. When you’re riding a dirt bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and the radio hits just right, you get why this game has such a cult following. It’s not dreary. It’s vibrant. It’s a complete 180 from the first game, and Marcus is the sun that everything else orbits around.
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Why Watch Dogs: Legion Failed to Replace Him
When Watch Dogs: Legion came out with its "Play as Anyone" mechanic, it proved one thing: we missed Marcus.
Having a thousand playable characters meant having zero characters with soul. You could play as a grandma or a spy, but you didn't have Marcus's personal stakes. You didn't have his specific humor. You didn't have his relationships. Marcus gave the series a face. Without him, the franchise felt like a tech demo for a procedural generation system.
He was the bridge between the player and the complex themes of data privacy and corporate overreach. Without a central protagonist to ground those ideas, they just felt like background noise.
Real-World Connections: Is ctOS Real?
Kinda. While we don't have a single "City OS" running everything, we have the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Every smart fridge, doorbell camera, and traffic sensor is a potential entry point. Security researchers like those at Def Con have shown that the stuff Marcus does—hacking traffic lights or intercepting cellular data—isn't entirely fiction.
The game’s lead content consultant was actually a researcher who made sure the terminal screens and "code" shown in the game weren't just gibberish. When Marcus is typing, you’re often seeing actual Linux commands. It adds a layer of authenticity that makes the stakes feel a bit more grounded in reality.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Playthrough
If you're going back to San Francisco to hang out with Marcus again, don't just rush the main story. You'll miss the best parts of the character.
- Go Full Stealth/Non-Lethal: Seriously, try a "No Kill" run. It forces you to actually use Marcus’s tools—the jumper and the drone—instead of just shooting your way out. It’s much more rewarding and fits the story better.
- Listen to the ScoutX Dialogue: Use the ScoutX app to take photos of landmarks. The little bits of trivia and Marcus’s reactions to them flesh out his personality in ways the cutscenes don't.
- Engage with the Side Ops: Missions like "Ubistolen" (where you leak a trailer for a real Ubisoft game) or the ones involving the Church of New Dawn (a clear Scientology parody) are where the game's humor shines brightest.
- Experiment with NetHack: Don't just use it to find objectives. Use it to read the "flavor text" on every NPC you pass. You'll find hilarious secrets about their bank accounts, search histories, and personal lives that make the world feel alive.
Marcus Holloway remains a high-water mark for Ubisoft. He’s a character defined by his intelligence, his community, and his refusal to be a statistic. In an era of gaming filled with generic heroes, Marcus is a reminder that personality—and a really good hacking app—goes a long way.