Home Gaming A Sleeping Dogs sequel was in the works, once upon a time

A Sleeping Dogs sequel was in the works, once upon a time

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Sleeping Dogs is one of my favourite open world games – for a lot of reasons. Its Hong Kong action focus and hard-hitting melee combat was certainly more empowering than the iffy hand-to-hand stuff in most action games. A lot of it, though, had to do with its focus on people who are just like a lot of my family. People who spoke Cantonese. The game got so much right about the culture I grew up in; English sentences punctuated with bits of Cantonese, people bowing three times at a funeral, odd superstitions that had been a part of my childhood.

Naturally, I was saddened to hear that United Front Games, the company behind Sleeping Dogs shut down. Dreams of a Sleeping Dogs sequel, scuppered. And, as it turns out, they had plans to make one.

So says Vice gaming’s Patrick Klepek, who has obtained document’s about the game. In a long and detailed report, Klepek outlines the ambitious game, which was cancelled in 2013.

The game would once again focus on Wei Shen, only he’d be joined by a “conflicted, corrupt partner” by the name of Henry Fang. Set, instead of Hong Kong, in China’s Pearl River delta it would have a branching storyline that would allow players to switch between Shen and Fang – a little, I guess, Like GTA V lets you cycle through its protagonists.

“An opening scene consists of Wei and Fang talking together, discussing what the next step of an investigation should be. Deciding to split up and follow different leads, Wei’s thread will follow him as he busts heads for information, while Fang plants evidence by breaking into a suspect’s house. Depending on the character selected, the audience (and characters) will only see one side of the story until both threads are played. This gives us ample opportunity to explore both characters fully, and gives the player the revelatory experience of discovering both sides of the story.”

Like many games of that time, it had planned mobile integration with a separate game, which would allow you to influence the living world that was envisioned for the game proper. It all sounds terribly ambitious.

The game would support full co-op, and like Skyrim, have procedurally-generated missions that you’d be able to play forever.

“One campaign tasks players to go to the run-down gambling district to eliminate a triad that is controlling it. They meet a snitch that helps them throughout the experience. After players complete the campaign, the MSP [massively single player] decides that such action was enough to change the state of the district to a more stable one. They try another campaign later on that allows them to come back to the district, but now the snitch they met is a small business owner that gives them a discount in his store.”

In his report, Klepek details how and why it was cancelled, along with details of United Front’s eventual downfall. It’s a bit of a sobering look at the game industry, and well worth a read.

Last Updated: November 23, 2016

42 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief Argonian

    November 23, 2016 at 10:35

    Man, I still need to play this, but my gaming has taken an arrow in the knee

    Reply

    • Bruce Bielie

      November 23, 2016 at 10:37

      Wow!!!!! My thoughts exactly!!! (Like read my opening post! Only yours is short and sweet!)

      Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      November 23, 2016 at 10:40

      You don’t say? Where were you at 8?

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Argonian

        November 23, 2016 at 11:24

        Just south of Solitude if memory serves, grabbing King Olaf’s verse

        Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          November 23, 2016 at 11:32

          So,,, Not in the Nexus?

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Argonian

            November 23, 2016 at 11:34

            The what now?

          • Lord Chaos

            November 23, 2016 at 11:36

            HotS…

          • Admiral Chief Argonian

            November 23, 2016 at 11:53

            Oh yeah. forgot about it, was too busy questing

    • Andre Fourie

      November 23, 2016 at 10:40

      Why?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        November 23, 2016 at 10:44

        He installed Windows 10

        Reply

        • Andre Fourie

          November 23, 2016 at 10:47

          LOL. Windows 10 Installs itself. Did it on my work laptop. I almost shot the thing.

          Reply

          • Lord Chaos

            November 23, 2016 at 10:47

            What’s wrong with Windows 10? It has DX12.

          • Andre Fourie

            November 23, 2016 at 10:48

            I don’t have issues with Windows 10. I have an issue with Microsoft taking choice away from me.

          • Lord Chaos

            November 23, 2016 at 10:49

            Oddly, it never force installed or even asked to be installed for me. I actually had to go to the windows settings and click the upgrade button.

          • Andre Fourie

            November 23, 2016 at 10:51

            Mine decided to do it by itself while I was downloading something. I wasn’t pleased.

          • HvR

            November 23, 2016 at 11:45

            If you reserved your upgrade to Win10 but opted not to install at that moment it automatically installed a month before the upgrade window closed.

          • Captain JJ

            November 23, 2016 at 11:39

            I like Win10. Never had an issue myself.

        • Admiral Chief Argonian

          November 23, 2016 at 11:24

          Don’t be daft, I’ll only install W10 when R2 comes out

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            November 23, 2016 at 11:39

            Old man.

          • Admiral Chief Argonian

            November 23, 2016 at 11:53

            *wise man

      • VampyreSquirrel

        November 23, 2016 at 11:02

        Skyrim… it’s almost all he plays atm

        Reply

        • Andre Fourie

          November 23, 2016 at 11:35

          But why???????

          Reply

          • VampyreSquirrel

            November 23, 2016 at 12:08

            *shrug*

          • Andre Fourie

            November 23, 2016 at 12:12

            *Shrugging back*

        • Andre Fourie

          November 23, 2016 at 11:36

          Does he like boredom?

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            November 23, 2016 at 11:54

            That’s not how I spell freedom.

          • Admiral Chief Argonian

            November 23, 2016 at 11:57

            ^this

          • VampyreSquirrel

            November 23, 2016 at 12:08

            *shrug again*

          • Andre Fourie

            November 23, 2016 at 12:12

            *Shrugging back again*

  2. Craig "CrAiGiSh" Dodd

    November 23, 2016 at 10:36

    This game was really good.
    Its a shame the studio shut down and the sequel didn’t happen 🙁

    Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    November 23, 2016 at 10:36

    Sleeping Dogs’ pork buns made me the man I am today.

    Reply

  4. Bruce Bielie

    November 23, 2016 at 10:36

    I actually own Sleeping Dogs on PC, but have not gotten around to playing it yet. Well, I did, and my PC just said it is too old to bear that burden.
    So now I have a new beast, I should give it a go.
    Right after Skyrim.

    So not this year then, Or next year. Or the year after that…

    Reply

  5. Andre Fourie

    November 23, 2016 at 10:41

    Where the hell is HAMMER????????

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      November 23, 2016 at 10:44

      Hammer’s working 🙁

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        November 23, 2016 at 10:44

        Upvote for support!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          November 23, 2016 at 10:44

          XD

          Reply

      • Andre Fourie

        November 23, 2016 at 10:45

        There’s Hammer. Hello Hammer.

        Reply

  6. Captain JJ

    November 23, 2016 at 11:11

    What a damn shame. This game was and is still the best in its genre imho.

    Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      November 23, 2016 at 11:11

      Wow, surprised to see you’re still alive.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        November 23, 2016 at 11:35

        I AM!
        😀
        Was a bit sick for a while. But alas, apparently the black hole where my heart is supposed to be is still pumping blood.

        Reply

  7. RinceThis

    November 23, 2016 at 12:19

    Nooo! Loved this game so much!

    Reply

  8. 40 Insane Frogs

    November 23, 2016 at 13:05

    🙁 What a shame, Sleeping Dogs IS an amazing title, and it deserved a sequel.

    Reply

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