Watchdogs: Truth - An Interactive Audio Experience

by Ben Caird, T'Nia Miller (Narrator), Gary Beadle (Narrator)

Welcome to Watchdogs: Truth, Audible's first original interactive audio experience.
After Dedsec's heroic actions in the Zero Day affair, the government publicly praised their role in saving the city. However, this reset of relations was short-lived. A new crackdown on civil freedoms is underway, as the surveillance state fights back against growing activism and protest.

The government's cyber intelligence force, SIRS, has been directed to orchestrate a sinister campaign of message manipulation, fake news, and discrediting dissent. With the rise of deepfakes and fake news, the line between truth and falsehood has become nearly impossible to discern.

But Dedsec is fighting back. When they uncover a troubling instance of this disinformation, they realize the threat is far more organized and nefarious than it first appeared. Now they must convince the implementers to change course – using the targeted tactics Dedsec is known for.

As you listen, you'll be guided through this story by Bagley, who can access any CTOS device, including your own Optik. At the end of each episode, you'll be asked to make choices that will determine Dedsec's next move. The fate of the city hangs in the balance. Are you ready to join the fight for the truth?

Starring T’Nia Miller as Connie, Gary Beadle as Tyrone, Freema Agyeman as Yolanda, Russell Tovey as Paul, David Morrissey as McAllister, Hannah Lowther as Camilla, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Oscar, Ruben Reuter as Charlie and Pascal Langdale as Bagley.

Also featuring Kim Adis, Moyo Akandé, Salman Akhtar, Tom Alexander, Afolabi Alli, Rachel Atkins, Julie Barclay, Suanne Braun, Lydia Brownell, Silas Carson, Debbie Chazen, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Wil Coban, Saffron Coomber, Sam Crerar, Calvin Dean, Jessica Dennis, Lourdes Faberes, Susanna Fielding, Tony Gardner, Raj Ghatak, Tom Gill, Mylene Gomera, Steven Hartley, Luke Kempner, Harriet Kershaw, Reece Lyons, Sam Mackay, David Menkin, Claire Morgan, Yasmin Mwanza, Harry Myers, Joe Pitts, Penelope Rawlins, Richard Reed, Jay Rincon, Garry Robson, Grace Saif, Inel Tomlinson, Matthew Woodyatt.

Directed by Colin Carvalho Burgess of Coex Studios.

Now available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.

Based on the videogame Watch Dogs © 2024 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Watch Dogs, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are registered or unregistered trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. (P)2024 Audible Ltd.

Genres: Audiobook, Thriller, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audiobook

Published November 25, 2024

Reviews

[My Little Forest · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor plot, excellent performances (and BGM).
Every choice I made turned out to be the wrong one, which didn't help build my sympathy for this format. LSS: not for me.

[CyberBookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this experiment from Audible and Ubisoft turned out fairly well. It perfectly captured the experience of playing Watch Dogs: Legion, where each chapter is a vehicle to meet a new DedSec member and go on a mission with Bagley as your guide.

I would say the story is less Choose Your Own Adventure and more like choosing which rails you want to go down. The chapters are structured like a series of diamonds; the beginning and end points are identical no matter which rail you choose. Anything more complicated might not have worked as well in this audio drama format.

In the end, it felt like I went on a few DedSec missions, made some choices about who I wanted to hang out with, and expanded on the lore of a franchise that I enjoy. Good voice action, music, and sound effects with a nicely diverse cast.

A solid 4 out of 5 stars.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love Audible’s originals as they’re always so well performed and produced. It was no different with this one and had soo many amazing performers and actors, it was done really well.

I love the interactive experience you get with this book, making a decision at the end of the chapter based on what played out previously, you’d get an option which chapter and decision to pick next to advance the story.

Loved the Camilla and Charlie chapters and it went so quick. It was a compelling story and it was a great production.

[Brent Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was brilliant! The intimate journey through the lives of a small group of hackers fighting back against government conspiracy is cliche, but fricken fantastic in this format: a choose-your-own-adventure audiobook! The production value is top-shelf, and it makes it so much more of an emotive experience, as you can hear the environment where everything takes place, and the emotional state of the characters.

The story is fantastic too, as the characters evolve as the story unfolds.

[Ryan Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content Warnings: Strong language, Violence, Death, Alcohol abuse, Drug Abuse

Watchdogs is a full-cast, dramatized Choose Your Own Adventure experience held back only by some poor writing decisions at key decision points. You should be aware that the choices you make do not carry meaningful changes to the next chapter except in your own experience of events. In fact, there is only one, same, binary choice presented after each chapter regardless of the decisions made. One particular decision felt very abstract and impersonal. At another point I felt I had to choose between role-playing using the subjective experience of the character or relying on an experience depicted to the listener which that character would not have had. Despite these shortcomings, I still found myself agonizing over which decision to make, considering what the in-chapter consequences might be. After all, your subjective experience of an event is all that matters in these stories.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagine this audiobook would be good for certain personalities, but not mine.

I didn't like the long (but apparently necessary) explanation in the beginning on how an interactive audiobook is supposed to go. I found the interactive AI voice to be annoying somewhat like having "Clippy" or that silly Microsoft Dog there to help you through everything.

I also found the accents of the voice actors difficult to understand. They sounded British although how would I know? Could have been Australian for all I know. The accents were too deep to comprehend and I started off with a bad feeling in the beginning with the AI voice anyway.

Because I couldn't follow the voice actors and I found the AI intrusion annoying, I had no idea what this book was about or where it was going.

So I stopped listening to this audiobook. I might return to it someday, but I doubt it.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
Not for me.

The intro states this to be Audible's first interactive Experience but there has been an earlier attempt some years ago but, sadly, I cannot remember the title - obviously, then, not very memorable. But it worked much better than this. I struggled to get my tablet to offer me the second of the two alternate selections in this story, Watchdog, Truth, which definitely played havoc with continuity.

This is a fast action tale, a thriller witch includes a love story, performed by a full cast and a multi layered background sound track. Not really to my taste: too shouty and frenetic. But the stereo surround sound effect was certainly impressive.
At least it is free to download through the Audible Plus programme.so give it a try anyway.

[Bruce Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! As a fan of Watchdogs IP it really hit the spot, especially after finishing another Legion play through. The voice acting and sound stage are both excellent (I do love Freema Agyeman)

The way the book is structured there isn’t a difference at the end of each chapter, but it’s great being able to pick where you’re going on a mission/who you’re sending. A huge shoutout to Charlie, too. My MVP!

4/5 overall. It’d have been nice to have some whole outcomes change dependent on your choices, but that’s probably a bit ambitious for an interactive audiobook. For fans of the franchise or choose your own adventure books, I’d recommend.

[Jim Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watchdogs is an interesting IP. The games are generally fun while exploring the ramifications of technology abuse. This is more of that. This story was entertaining and very much "Legion"-esque in that the story weaves through whomever the active recruit is, but there is a stronger central character and story here - so in that regard it's slightly "better" than Legion. That said, I didn't buy into some of the core story elements that were used. It just came across as contrived and inauthentic for the character. But oh well, I continue to brake for Watchdogs. Now, how about some Watchdgos 4?

[Danielle Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I thought this was very well performed, and the premise was exciting and fun. I really loved some of the chapters (choices) which had characters that I enjoyed getting to know, but I did find that other chapters were less entertaining and felt like more of a slog to get through until I made the next choice.
Overall I had a good time and I would be interested in listening to more interactive audiobooks like this one if more of them are made.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook is very well produced, it makes it much easier to engage and melt into the story. The actors were phenomenal, hats off to them!

My issue with it, is that your choice has no effect on the story at all. It ends how it ends. I don’t know if there would be a way of doing it so that when you make a choice it says “skip to this chapter” or something so that you have more of an impact on the story.

[Jos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very much felt like a videogame in terms of structure and narrative, probably because that's it's origins. Everything moved fast with little in the way of development or delving into the characters. I really enjoyed the choose your own adventure style & would listen again for another version of the story.

[Jeno · Rating 1 out of 5]

they could do so much, they could fuck with my attention, make me believe I am the good person;
instead I got a list of woke bullshit, whales, deep fakes, drunks, Tower Of London.

God, such a lost opportunity.
They could make me doubt myself, doubt my choices.
They could make me feel a part of Dedsec fighting the ctOS.
God dammit.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

Very cool concept, but didn't really enjoy the fact that the decisions didn't really matter in the end. I would love to see Audible (or other producers) do something else in a similar vein. 

[Cosmin Fota · Rating 3 out of 5]

First interactive book I've listened to and it was fine. I mean, I could complain about who is who and not able to connect to the action (maybe the SFX weren't compelling enough or were too much), but I won't.
I recommend it to teens, YA.

[Neky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insanely good voice acting and sound design. Story was engaging but a bit hard to follow and lacked development, pace felt too fast. I liked the Down's syndrome representation

[Maetco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor and uninspiring writing failed to keep me interested.

[Matthew Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t care about the characters and for something this short the first half wasn’t that engaging. The plot apex was good but the book is meh. Good thing it was free on Audible.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

- 1 star for David otherwise very interesting both as an concept and as a Watchdogs story.

[Mike Rempel · Rating 3 out of 5]

this would have been better if I had listened to this in audible . I could not select the path so I had to listen to the same story over and over with only slight change .

[Deidra Lookingbill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first read of 2025 and the beginning of my self-imposed 100 book challenge. I started with this one because it is like a choose-your-own-adventure for adults, which I love. What I didn't expect was for the story to be kind of dull and the characters to be unlikable, so I picked all the choices that I thought would be worse for them. I figure, if they're going to torture me, I should return the favor.

In the end, it was okay. Not terrible. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but I wouldn't say run screaming either. There was a nugget of a good idea in there. Somewhere. Hiding.

[Dominic Läuchli · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.6 - the performances and the idea of this interactive experience are great. The plot, however, fell flat for me. I never played the watchdog games apart from the first hour of the first game, but this felt like an average game-y story. I hope audible keeps producing stuff like this though.