As part of many missions in Watch Dogs 2 you’ll have to solve hacking puzzles. These can range from easy all the way to controller-throwingly difficult, but if you know the basic premise that the puzzles are built on, it will make everything a little easier.
So here’s a quick little how-to for when you need to deal with these puzzles.
The puzzles are essentially the same as the “direct the flow” puzzles that have featured in many games, for example Bioshock but with a modern twist. The idea is that you need to direct the flow of blue energy through the circuits until it reaches an end-point that will unlock whatever you need for the mission objective. You direct the flow by changing the rotation of the junction shapes, and whilst you don’t need to be in NetHack to see the circuit, it makes everything easier. Also, the quadcopter is your friend with these puzzles.
At junctions you’ll typically have one of three shapes:
The Knee – which is a right angled turn that only connects at two points, these are your bread and butter.
The T-Junction – A three pointed junction that looks like a capital T with an elongated top line. These ones are trickier, but a good rule of thumb is to always try connecting them so all 3 points connect to a circuit first.
The Straight – Simple enough, just a straight line, although you’ll often have to adjust these multiple times to send flow through different areas of the puzzle.
Additionally you’ll sometimes get junctions that are locked, to unlock them you need to direct the blue flow so it is going into each side that has a triangle on it. The arrangement of the triangles changes the difficulty of the challenge in unlocking these junctions. Typically though, the first or second one will be the hardest to unlock, and once you get a couple undone, the puzzle will become easier.
Lastly, some of the junctions will have timers on them that if you don’t solve the puzzle in time, will reset themselves back to their original position. This will usually shut down part of your newly unlocked circuit, but this is typically more a mild irritation than a huge set back as you can just put the reset junction back into place.
Other than that, it’s just a case of looking where the flow needs to go, what your options are for getting it there and what’s stopping it. One tip that can help if you’re stuck is to pay attention to the blue flow, it will be visibly moving a certain way. Paying attention to this will make it easier for you to visualise what your next step needs to be.
Good luck, and if you get stuck, our guide has plenty of puzzle breakdowns in it to help you along.