Perhaps no open-world game has ever been more underrated than Sleeping Dogs. Released in 2012, Square Enix's martial arts-infused title has slowly earned a reputation as one of gaming's underappreciated cult classics. Comparisons to Grand Theft Auto have been somewhat inevitable, but Sleeping Dogs owed a more significant and beneficial debt to the Hong Kong-based martial arts movies that gave it its distinctively hard-boiled flavor.
In Sleeping Dogs, players controlled Wei Shen, a charismatic, soft-spoken cop whose loyalties become fractured after working undercover to infiltrate the infamous Sun On Yee Triads. With a strong emphasis on a tense and genuinely cinematic central narrative packed with memorable story beats and well-rounded characters, Sleeping Dogs distinguished itself through its satisfying martial arts mechanics, smooth parkour and dense, authentic recreation of bustling Hong Kong.
While critical reception to Sleeping Dogs was almost universally positive and despite the game's legacy as a cult classic, fans have been left frustrated in their hopes of a direct sequel. Through a combination of disappointing sales, competition from other studios and a desire for Square Enix to move on with other IPs, that wait may end up being an indefinite one.
Sleeping Dogs initially looked set to be a huge hit, being bestselling title in the week of its release and the fifth-highest first week opening of any game from 2012. Sadly, however, sales dropped dramatically after the game's strong opening, falling 15 percent in its the second week of release. Despite shipping around 1.5 million copies according to Square Enix, the publisher deemed it a commercial disappointment, its failure to net further revenues for the company contributing to the eventual resignation of then-CEO Yoichi Wada.
The fault didn't lay entirely at Sleeping Dogs' door. Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider, two titles also released by Square Enix around the same time, were well-received critically but also failed to rake in the sort of revenue expected of such a large and ambitious publisher. Possibly owing to a cumulative drop in the faith given to new properties, Sleeping Dogs was pushed out in favor of IPs more capable of resonating commercially with a widespread audience such as Final Fantasy XIV.
That isn’t to say that Square Enix didn't try. United Front was planning on a direct sequel, picking up after the events of the previous game and featuring an ambitious dual narrative approach wherein players followed both Wei Shen and his inscrutable partner Henry Fang, the perspective shifting between the two protagonists and revealing the other's side of the same mission or storyline.
More ambitious still, the proposed sequel looked to press forward into the realm of cross-play and fully-integrated cloud saves. Also planned was a mechanic that would have allowed players across the globe to communally affect the outcome of one another's games, impacting the crime levels of certain neighborhoods and dictating how corrupt or clean particular areas would become depending on how the network of players chose to police them.
Sadly, United Front's ambitious plans failed to materialize. Things certainly weren’t helped when Triad Wars, the attempted MMO spinoff to Sleeping Dogs, was canceled by its developers in 2015 due to a lack of interest and issues with the beta. Featuring the same map as the original mainline title and focusing on players’ attempts to rise to the head of Hong Kong's criminal underworld, Triad Wars never generated the interest required to reignite the franchise. Had it done so, United Front and Square Enix may have been happier to push for a full mainline sequel.
All hope is not lost for fans of the Sleeping Dogs franchise. While it may have diverted attention away from a direct sequel to the original game fondly remembered by those who originally played it or else had the good sense to seek it out, the upcoming movie starring martial arts legend Donnie Yen has a genuine chance to reinvigorate interest in a franchise that always deserved more appreciation.
The fact that Square Enix was happy to remaster Sleeping Dogs for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One implies a degree of respect and affection for a property that the studio clearly wanted to work, while the game's continued esteem, love and cult status have ensured there still remains a vocal minority clamoring for its return. Whether that minority will ever have their voices heard, however, remains to be seen.