I played 0 for several months, which whetted my appetite for another game that is similarly open and offers a deep melee combat system, meaning I had to reinstall Sleeping dogs for the first time in about a decade. Sleeping dogs changes things up, however, by putting you in the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop in Hong Kong who returns to his hometown to put an end to the triads terrorizing it while also seeking revenge for his sister. For comparison: Sleeping dogs is a much grimmer, more cinematic and operatic crime drama and brawler genre, but has some really nice things to offer outside of those hooks too.
Sleeping dogs The progression system, which tied skills and passives to three different meters, was novel for the time. You could earn experience points for the Triads, the police, and the Citizens, and each of these points was geared toward a different aspect of the game. You’d get Triad experience points for being more violent in combat, or Citizen experience points for completing side missions, meaning you’d get out of the game what you put into it. Police missions sometimes require you to disguise yourself as Wei and sneak into places to do hacking minigames and investigative work that break up the pace of the open-world action, and then, as you’d expect, there’s a whole host of side activities, like street racing and karaoke. Sleeping dogs successfully blends different open-world gameplay styles to offer impressive range and depth. It’s a shame there was never a sequel, but you can buy it for $3 on GOG and make up for it in person.
