Watch Dogs: Legion is all about choosing the squad that surrounds you. If you build up the team around you with the best, most capable NPCs, the idea is that you'll have a character to handle just about any situation. Once you find a group like that, it's important to keep hold of those characters. If you happen to play with the option to include permadeath on, you might be in danger of losing some of your NPCs.
But what does it actually mean to have permadeath activated in Watch Dogs: Legion? Does it mean you'll have to say goodbye to a character permanently? How does it work, and is it worth turning on to experiment? We've got all the answers here, so before you go to activate it, have a read through this quick guide first. You may decide you never want permadeath.
How permadeath works in Watch Dogs: Legion
Permadeath in Watch Dogs: Legion is exactly what it sounds like. If activated, it means you could potentially lose an NPC who ends up dying for good. But there are three options you need to worry about in terms of Watch Dogs: Legion.
When you start a new game, you'll be faced with three options: On, Off, and Ironman. Turning the feature Off means you won't have to deal with potentially losing every operative if they fall in battle. You cannot turn the option on later. You'd have to instead start a new game entirely.
If you set it to On, you could potentially lose anyone. You can also turn it off at any time, but you can't turn it back on if you start the game this way. If you choose Ironman, permadeath is on for the entire length of your game. There's no changing it.
To clarify, permadeath means that if you run out of operatives when working on a mission, that's game over. You don't get to come back and keep trying. That's why it's imperative that you keep your NPCs alive.
Additionally, in this very tense game mode, if you lose an operative in battle, they die forever. While many can die if they also carry the Doomed or Death Wish perks, permadeath occurs usually after an NPC comes out of battle unsuccessfully. It's a high-stakes way to play the game that means you can't make mistakes when fighting because if you do, you might have to kiss valuable NPCs goodbye.
Permadeath is a dangerous way to play that will likely appeal to anyone interested in having everything to lose when they play Watch Dogs: Legion. Now that you know how it works, you can make the decision for yourself whether you want to use it or not.
