The Internet Is Going Wild For Helen, The Hacker Granny From ‘Watch Dogs Legion’
Watch Dogs Legion's Helen may be nearly 80, but she isn't about to sit back and knit while the world goes to crap around her.
Today’s breakout E3 star is Helen, a granny with a mask, gun and penchant for murder.
Showcased at Ubisoft’s E3 press conference this morning, the central idea behind Watch Dogs Legion is that players can recruit and control almost anyone in London.
Each character will have different abilities and backstories, and death is permanent. If the person you’re controlling dies you’ll have to pick a new character, and the story will simply continue on.
This is an intriguing enough idea in and of itself, and it will be interesting to see if Ubisoft can pull it off. However, this curious mechanic isn’t what captured the most hearts and minds during the Watch Dogs Legion preview.
That honour went to Helen Dashwood, a 78-year-old retired engineer who wields a gun, tases cops, and sics spider robots on people like facehuggers from Alien.
There is only one true gam3r and her name is helen dashwood #E32019 pic.twitter.com/n3SmPNs0NI
— Emily “kind of a speed freak” Heller (@emilypheller) June 10, 2019
helen watchdogs is the new best character in all of video games
— aw shit, here we go again (@mistiwyshak) June 10, 2019
Helen may be nearly 80, but she isn’t about to sit back and knit biscuit tins of baby booties while the world goes to crap around her. She has a gun, and she knows how to use it.
Introduced in a preview of Watch Dogs Legion‘s character switching, Helen doesn’t just look like a granny. She appears to move like one too, slowly climbing over barriers, kicking men in the shins, and clasping her pistol in both hands as she toddles off to commit some violence.
Even so, a little arthritis isn’t going to stop her from fighting against a totalitarian government, and she’s much more proficient at taking down armed men than one would expect an old lady to be.
Helen’s an excitingly different character to the healthy young men that tend to headline action games, and her no nonsense, can-do attitude immediately charmed gamers around the world. Her in-game profile may not list any grandchildren, but that’s because there simply isn’t enough room. We are all Helen’s grandchildren, and Helen grandmother to us all.
HELEN, MY QUEEN! She kick, she fight, she tuck you in at night 😘 pic.twitter.com/4kq6W0pAHy
— Kara Holmes @ E3 (@Kairomatic) June 10, 2019
I LOVE HELEN HOLY MOLY LOOK AT HER GO pic.twitter.com/xLt4EtxrUk
— TAHK0, but @ E3 ☕️ (@TAHK0) June 10, 2019
i don't want any character OTHER than Helen the elderly hacker to be playable
— 🌸alexis moore💖💙💜 (@alexisparade) June 10, 2019
When I get WatchDogs Legion, if Granny Helen dies, I will restart completely if I have to
— Theo Scarlett (@Theo_Scarlett) June 11, 2019
Not the granny we need. The granny we deserve. pic.twitter.com/1y4IPgLXnR
— Twitch (@Twitch) June 10, 2019
Cyberpunk 2077: We're stealing a generally queer/trans aesthetic, BUT, we're not catering to that community. Sorry, not sorry. HAVE CHISELED DUDEBRO
Watch Dogs: Meet Helen, the surprisingly spry 80 year old antifascist hacker assassin. There she goes tazing a cop! What a Kidder
— Dr. Wolverine is up to no good (@Doc_Wolverine) June 10, 2019
GRANNY HACKER
GRANNY HACKER pic.twitter.com/KaX6D8EnBY— Pixelbuster (@Nitomatta) June 10, 2019
Watch Dogs Legion lets you play as a Hacker Granny with a pet robot spider.
Game. Of. The. Year. pic.twitter.com/LZkOqVPkYh
— Tylor (@theSirToasty) June 10, 2019
everyone: i only just met helen the hacker grandma but if anyone hurt her id kill them and then myself
— @ e3 (@anahthema) June 10, 2019
no cops at pride only helen
— adrian🏳️🌈 (@zerochoirs) June 10, 2019
It’s just a shame that you can’t play the whole game as Helen, particularly as she’s the perfect stealth operative. Nobody ever suspects granny.
Watch Dogs Legion is due 6 March 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.