Set in contemporary Hong Kong, the story follows martial artist and undercover police officer Wei Shen who infiltrates the Sun On Yee Triad organization.

Gameplay focuses on Wei Shen's martial arts moves, fighting, shooting and parkour abilities, and on gadgets that can be used for combat and exploration.

Players must complete missions to unlock content and continue the story, but they may instead freely roam the game's open world environment and engage in both legal and criminal activities.

The game was announced in 2009 as part of the True Crime series but was canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011, as a result of the project's delays and budget issues.

Six months later, Square Enix purchased the publishing rights and renamed the game Sleeping Dogs, without the True Crime license, but considered a spiritual successor.

The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer who goes undercover and ventures out on a raid to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization.

[8] The heads-up display (HUD) interface features a mini-map that indicates targets, key locations (safe houses and contact points) and Shen's current position.

Sleeping Dogs' melee combat has been compared to that of Batman: Arkham Asylum: it allows the player to fight opponents coming from any direction with attack, grapple and counter-moves and can be performed with[13] or without[5] weapons.

Firearms are scarce in the game and the player can normally carry only one gun at a time: although it is possible to tuck away and unholster a handgun for later use, other weapons cannot be holstered, and all must be discarded after running out of ammunition.

[6] Although the player must complete missions to unlock content and continue the story, they may wander the game's open world and participate in activities such as visiting a karaoke bar, carjacking, street racing and joining a fight club.

Other characters in the game include the head of the Sun On Yee, David Wai-Lin "Uncle" Po (James Hong); fellow Triad bosses "Broken Nose" Jiang (Elizabeth Sung) and Henry "Big Smile" Lee (Tzi Ma); Shen's love interest Amanda Cartwright (Emma Stone); Winston's right-hand man, Conroy Wu (Robin Shou); singer Vivienne Lu (Lucy Liu); and Shen's girlfriend Not Ping (Celina Jade).

It is revealed that Shen is an undercover cop whose arrest was part of a police operation, headed by SP Thomas Pendrew and Inspector Raymond Mak, to infiltrate the Water Street branch of a Triad organization named "Sun On Yee".

After Po's funeral, during which they are attacked by 18K members, Lee reluctantly agrees to an election that will decide the leader of the Sun On Yee, but promises retaliation if he does not win.

Lee orders attacks against other Sun On Yee branches in an attempt to eliminate the competition and intimidate them into voting for him, including kidnapping Jackie and handing him to the 18K as a way to get rid of Shen.

[28] Early designs for the game, named Black Lotus at the time, incorporated dark tones with elements of humour similar to an "HBO crime drama".

[27] A year into development, Activision proposed that Black Lotus be made part of an existing franchise and highlighted similarities to the True Crime series; both games were set in open worlds with plots centred on an undercover cop in a criminal organization.

[30] Despite progress in game development, at the release of the financial report for the last quarter of 2010 on February 9, 2011, Activision announced the cancelation of True Crime: Hong Kong.

[31] Although United Front Games shared this sentiment, executive producer Stephen Van Der Mescht expressed in an interview that "True Crime: Hong Kong was playable from start to finish and virtually complete in terms of content" prior to Activision's cancellation of the project.

Due to competition posed by other titles, particularly Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, Activision's view was that True Crime: Hong Kong was not at the level of quality that it could compete.

[39] There were reservations among the developers about the language for the background dialogue; the sound design team eventually prevailed in using Hong Kong Cantonese over English.

[citation needed] United Front Games relied on viral marketing, such as Internet advertisements and TV trailers, prior to Sleeping Dogs's release.

[47] Square Enix revealed North American pre-order bonuses for Best Buy, GameStop and Amazon customers in April 2012; each retailer offered its own exclusive in-game content pack.

[52][53] Owners of Just Cause 2 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC received automatic access to a Sleeping Dogs character outfit in the style of Just Cause 2 protagonist Rico Rodriguez.

[58] It includes all the 24 previously released downloadable content (DLC) and features improved graphical resolution and gameplay, setting and audiovisual quality changes based on community feedback.

The DLC adds the ability for Shen to tase and arrest civilians and criminals around Hong Kong, as well as additional collectibles, side missions, ownable police vehicles, and new clothing.

[79] Carolyn Petit from GameSpot and Ben Wilson from PlayStation Official Magazine found the combat enjoyable and highlighted the environmental attacks as "empowering and effective".

[5] Edge gave similar praise: "Offering a view of Asia through the filter of its action film industry, this is a depiction of Hong Kong that could have come straight from the reel.

Cooper applauded the conflicted nature of Shen's personality as a result of being in an overwhelming situation, arguing that this detail solidified him as a developed and likable protagonist.

[81] Blyth described the cast, aside from Shen, as "brilliantly recognizable stereotypes that have been given enough extra edge for you to care about them", and felt the attitude shifts of some characters were distracting and unrealistic.

[97] On September 10, 2013, the company announced that Sleeping Dogs, alongside Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution, had been successful in their game development, but did not meet sales expectations, and were considered to be "failures".