Pre-orders for "Watch Dogs" see the vigilante thriller leap to second on the Steam Store chart by Monday, April 14, while "The Elder Scrolls Online" remains popular among visitors to GameStop's Impulse Driven service.

Ubisoft's newest action-oriented title is "Watch Dogs," a near-future take on the "Assassin's Creed" school of conspiracy-defeating antihero, and consumer demand responds to Ubi's latest round of marketing, a Facebook profile-mining site called Digital Shadow.

On GameStop's Impulse, "The Elder Scrolls Online" has usurped "Final Fantasy XIV" as the retailer's hot MMO, with "Skyrim"-flavored adventuring a hit among users.

Elsewhere, "The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" makes a sudden return to GOG's top five; on sale over the weekend, "Assault" also contains the highly rated prequel "Escape from Butcher Bay," which remains a well-received innovator in the first-person action game genre.

Steam* (steampowered.com)
1. DayZ (+1)
2. Watch Dogs (+5)
3. Goat Simulator (-2)
4. Space Engineers (re-entry)
5. Rust (-1)
*Steam chart based on revenue rather than units.

GameStop Impulse US (impulsedriven.com)
1. The Elder Scrolls Online (=)
2. Titanfall (re-entry)
3. Mass Effect Trilogy (re-entry)
4. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (re-entry)
5. The Elder Scrolls Online: Imperial Edition (-3)

GamersGate US (gamersgate.com)
1. Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition (re-entry)
2. The Walking Dead Pack (re-entry)
3. The Walking Dead: 400 Days (re-entry)
4. Wargame: European Escalation (re-entry)
5. Telltale Games' Poker Night 2

GOG (gog.com)
1. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (re-entry)
2. Journeyman Project 1: The Pegasus Prime (new)
3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (re-entry)
4. Heroes of Might & Magic 3: Complete (re-entry)
5. Age of Wonders III: Deluxe Edition (-4)

Desura's Most Popular (desura.com)
1. One Finger Death Punch (re-entry)
2. Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension (-1)
3. Gender Bender DNA Twister Extreme (re-entry)
4. It's Dark - free (new)
5. Project Adventure Game - free (new)