True Crime: Hong Kong Is Now Sleeping Dogs, Out This Year

Great news for fans of the older True Crime: Hong Kong game, as after it was abandoned by publisher Activision, the game will still be released by developer United Front Games, with the help of Square Enix, under the name of Sleeping Dogs.

True Crime: Hong Kong was announced a few years ago as an all-new installment in the action series owned by Activision.

Quite a lot of details appeared, including screenshots and videos, but Activision mysterious dropped the publishing rights last year. They were quickly picked up by Square Enix, but we haven’t heard anything else about the project since then.

Now, the Japanese company, together with United Front Games, has confirmed that the title will be renamed as Sleeping Dogs and is going to be released later this year.

Besides the name change, however, the game is pretty much the same, still taking place in Hong Kong, where an undercover cop needs to infiltrate a Triad mob family that controls the Asian city.

“Sleeping Dogs catapults players into the role of undercover cop Wei Shen. His mission: taking down the Hong Kong Triad from the inside,” Square Enix and United Front Games revealed. “As players explore the bustling and crowded island of Hong Kong, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.”

“Featuring an intuitive and imaginative combat system, Sleeping Dogs empowers players to take on whole gangs with bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns using improvised weapons from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors.”

United Front Games will be working together with Square Enix’s London studio, which also helped make games like Batman: Arkham Asylum or Just Cause 2.

Sleeping Dogs is now set for a release later this year, onto the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Until then, you can check out some screenshots and a stunning live action trailer below.