Prototype of Early Sleeping Dogs Version Has Been Leaked

It's been almost 14 years since the original Sleeping Dogs, developed by United Front Games, launched on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The game found its audience and became one of the best GTA-style titles since then, but Square Enix shelved the franchise after sales fell short of expectations, and the gaming studio went bankrupt.

A video has unexpectedly surfaced showing what an early Sleeping Dogs prototype looked like—as the source, GrandTheftAero, points out, this build dates to November 2011, nine months before release. The footage, running over half an hour, shows the early version differed in a few ways from the final game. For instance, completing missions could reward the protagonist with bonuses tied to playing as a police officer or a triad member, a feature that didn't make it into the final release. It's also clear not all textures were finished yet, which is fairly typical for a build this early. You can check out a closer look at the early Sleeping Dogs prototype below:

While a Sleeping Dogs sequel probably isn't happening, a film adaptation is confirmed to be in the works, directed by Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us, Nobody 2), with MCU star Simu Liu playing Wei Shen—Liu already showed off his fighting skills in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The actor also recently hinted some good news about the film might be coming soon.

We also know that United Front Games worked on Sleeping Dogs 2; it was set to feature co-op mode, a new setting, and even a companion app, but financial troubles forced Square Enix to shut the project down, which left a lot of gamers disappointed.

The upcoming live-action Sleeping Dogs movie doesn’t have a release date yet.