The DLC: The Human Condition

Lore & Background

Set after the events of the main Watch Dogs 2 campaign, The Human Condition finds DedSec investigating a string of baffling disappearances in the San Francisco Bay Area. The trail leads to New Dawn, a reclusive tech startup that promises a revolutionary form of human enhancement through a device called the 'Aurora.' As Marcus and his crew dig deeper, they uncover a chilling plan to merge human consciousness with ctOS, blurring the line between life and machine. The DLC expands on the game's core themes of surveillance and control, questioning whether technology can truly elevate humanity or merely enslave it.

Reader's Guide

Marcus receives a tip from a former DedSec contact about a friend who disappeared after joining New Dawn's beta program. The mission involves infiltrating a low-security office to retrieve data logs. Key characters: Marcus, Wrench. This chapter re-establishes DedSec's counter-surveillance role and introduces the DLC's central mystery.

The team traces the disappearances to a remote research facility. Players must hack into the facility's ctOS network to uncover New Dawn's true goal: a consciousness-uploading experiment that has gone wrong. Key characters: Marcus, Sitara, Horatio (via comms). This chapter deepens the ethical dilemma of human augmentation and connects to the main game's critique of technological overreach.

Marcus confronts New Dawn's founder in a final showdown at the company's headquarters. The mission requires a mix of stealth, hacking, and combat to prevent the Aurora device from being activated on unwilling subjects. Key characters: Marcus, New Dawn founder (unnamed). This climax ties the DLC's narrative back to DedSec's mission to expose corporate abuse of ctOS, offering a resolution that questions the cost of progress.

Did You Know?

• The Human Condition was the second and final story DLC for Watch Dogs 2, following the T-Bone Content Bundle.
• The DLC's title is a reference to the philosophical concept of the human condition, exploring what it means to be human in an age of technology.
• New Dawn's Aurora device is a direct reference to real-world transhumanist ideas about mind uploading and digital immortality.
• The DLC introduces a new co-op mode called 'Showd0wn,' which features competitive and cooperative hacking challenges.