Ruffin Prentiss was the actor giving Marcus that life, and while I was sad to learn during a recent conversation that he likely won’t return to the Watch Dogs universe anytime soon, we had a lot to discuss about how much a well-written video game character – and a Black character in particular – could mean to their actor and a community at large.
“I don’t think I knew the magnitude of what a Black player-character could mean, especially in terms of video gaming,” Prentiss enthuses.
“I have to give Ubisoft credit for this because there were drastically different tones between Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2,” he explains, pointing out how Aiden’s characterisation was a recognisable revenge-driven vigilante, while Marcus came from a very different place.
Marcus is different because we don’t get to see Black characters who are doing something out of the norm for what pop culture says Black people are cool for.