Sleeping Dogs: Enhanced Edition’s first gameplay trailer is here

Publisher Square Enix and developer United Front Games have released the first trailer for their upcoming remaster of 2012’s Hong Kong-based open-world action/adventure, Sleeping Dogs. Called the ‘101 Trailer’, this latest footage showcases the game’s improvements over its previous version, which include native 1080p and new high resolution textures, increased traffic and pedestrian density, new lighting, ambient fog, and of course, an improved gameplay. Additionally, as its the case with these types of remasters, the Enhanced Edition will also feature all the base-game’s downloadable packages, including the story-extending episode Year of the Snake and the horror-themed add-on Nightmare in North Point.

Sleeping Dogs had a difficult and prolonged development cycle, which began in 2008. It was announced in 2009 in the True Crime series but was cancelled by Activision Blizzard in 2011, as a result of its delays and high-development budget. Square Enix bought the publishing rights six months later, and recast it as a non-True Crime game. During development, United Front staff visited Hong Kong to conduct extensive field research for the visual environments and sound. Upon its release in 2012, the game garnered very positive reviews, particularly for its combat, voice acting, experience system, and depiction of the city, but was criticized for its graphics, camera, and animations. The game sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide within a year. Downloadable content packs featuring new outfits, missions, and add-ons were released over the course of six months, as well as three expansions. A sequel, Triad Wars, is in development and is set to be released in early 2015.

Sleeping Dogs is set in a fictionalized version of Hong Kong, China. The game tells the story of Wei Shen (Will Yun Lee), a San Francisco police officer, who was transferred to the Hong Kong Police Force and tasked with infiltrating and destroying the Sun On Yee Triad organization. There are two sub-plots contained within the main story line. The first is Shen’s personal struggle between completing his mission as a police officer and having to commit crimes to prove his worth to the Triad, while the other involves completing missions assigned by a Triad lieutenant, including assassination of Triad members loyal to other lieutenants.

Sleeping Dogs: Enhanced Edition launches on October 10th in Europe and October 14th in North America, on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.