August 14 marks the 10th anniversary of Sleeping Dogs, the open-world martial arts action/adventure game from developer United Front Games. The game was released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. It follows the story of undercover police officer Wei Shen, who successfully manages to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization before becoming embroiled in a turf war. Hong Kong is the backdrop for Sleeping Dogs' story to play out, and the bustling city is extremely authentic, brimming with interesting characters and locations to explore.

Despite garnering fairly strong review scores on release, it ultimately failed to meet sales expectations and was deemed unsuccessful by publisher Square Enix. However, the game has built up a cult following in the years since its release, with players praising the lived-in open world environment, the nuanced melee combat, and the dramatic storytelling. Talks of a sequel unfortunately never materialized, much to the disappointment of many fans. Blending parts of Yakuza with Grand Theft Auto and even hints of Arkham, Sleeping Dogs managed to balance most of its spinning plates extremely well and was a ton of fun to play.

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Sleeping Dogs' World and Combat Were Rich With Detail

Sleeping Dogs Fist Fight

Open-world environments are notoriously hard to get right. Finding the balance between varied locations, having them be realistically populated, and creating an authentic experience can be extremely tough, especially if the world is based on a real-life location. Its vibrant Hong Kong location is extremely true to the source material: split into four distinct zones, the city features crowded streets bustling with life and a huge concrete jungle for Shen to explore. It feels very authentic, and developer United Front Games did a great job capturing the look and feel of Hong Kong. Such was its dedication to the task in hand that some staff actually spent prolonged periods of time in the city, conducting extensive research to ensure the art design was up to the high standards set by the location.

The combat is another high point. Shen is extremely agile and flexible and able to fight attackers coming from anywhere around him. He can counter, grapple, and strike with relative ease. The fluidity of the combat is reminiscent of the Batman: Arkham series, and fighting off waves of enemies is not only satisfying but extremely intuitive too. Shen is able to use the surrounding environment in order to gain the upper hand and can use a variety of stylish 'takedown' moves to finish off his enemies.

Sleeping Dogs' Future and a Possible Movie Adaption

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A remastered version of Sleeping Dogs was released, subtitled Definitive Edition, in October 2014 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It bundled together all the DLC content along with tweaks to the gameplay and improved audio and visual quality. This kept the title alive for a new generation and has ensured the title remains easily accessible today for owners of current-gen consoles. Since then though, despite many fans and critics praising the game, there have been no plans to revive the series. At least, not in video game form.

Talks of a live-action Sleeping Dogs movie started in 2017, shortly after Developer United Front Games closed its doors for good the year before. Actor Donnie Yen, known for Star Wars and IP Man, announced he would be starring as protagonist Wei Shen in a live-action adaption of the game. This obviously got fans excited, but it would prove to be the last fans would hear about this for a while. More recently though, Yen took to Twitter in July 2020 to excitedly announce he was preparing for his next movie and challenge, using the hashtag #sleepingdogs at the end of his post. There have been no further updates since then though, leaving fans to wait and wonder whether Sleeping Dogs will finally make its comeback on the big screen.

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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