The Watch Dogs games are certainly not Ubisoft’s most beloved franchise, but I’m a big apologist for those games. One of my absolute favorite aspects about them is the Invasion mode, in which you can seamlessly enter a player’s game, attempting to hack them and escape without being caught and killed, or vice versa. Deathloop has its own version of this, and it's one of my favorite games of the year.
In Deathloop, players explore different areas as Colt, looking to kill Visionaries and break the time loop. While doing this, players can join their game as Julianna, one of the Visionaries, and attempt to thwart Colt. This can be done by setting traps, alerting NPCs to Colt’s location, and straight up killing him. It’s so exciting! Every time I got the “Julianna is on the hunt” notification, I felt a rush. 
With no mini map, it’s an intense game of cat and mouse. As Colt, I move silently, trying to avoid detection as I scan the antenna and slip away into the tunnels. As Julianna, I went crazy doing everything I could to find Colt before he could escape. I set trip and proximity mines by the antenna and got the high ground, surveying the area to find Colt. Battles were always exciting, and it’s just a generally great way to implement multiplayer in this universe in a way that makes sense.
It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in an Invasion mode since Watch Dogs. Actually, it’s the only Invasion mode I’ve played since Watch Dogs. Game developers, steal this formula! There’s so many single player games that would be great if it adopted invasion modes for its multiplayer. Imagine another Agent 47 appearing in your Hitman level with the sole objective of killing you before you can complete your mission. Suddenly, it’s like Spy vs Spy.
The best part is that you can simply turn it off if you don’t want to participate. It’s easy to opt out of, allowing you to enjoy the single player experience without compromising it or feeling like you’re missing out on anything.
The Invasion multiplayer in Watch Dogs was a major reason why I loved that game, and it’s why Deathloop is one of my frontrunners for Game of the Year. Please, game developers, start putting invasion modes in your games.
