Sleeping Dogs Dev’s New Game is not Sleeping Dogs 2
United Front Games, the developers behind Sleeping Dogs, last night teased a upcoming announcement on Twitter. And as is the way with video game announcements, it has been leaked. United Front are unfortunately, to the dismay of many Twitter users (and probably many others), not developing a proper sequel to Sleeping Dogs and instead are making what looks to be a multiplayer team brawler named “Smash & Grab”.
Soon after the leak, United Front Games formally released the trailer for Smash & Grab. The description reads “set in a dystopian future, Smash + Grab is an illicit underground competition where rival gangs compete for loot, weapons, and infamy.” It’s hard to tell exactly what it is but it does not take itself seriously. Whether a game about looting stores in a Dirty Bomb/Sunset Overdrive art style sounds like something you’d be interested that is up to you.
You can find out more by making your way over to the game’s official website. Smash and Grab seemingly takes place in a corporate city – you can assemble your own gang, customise them and compete in multiplayer action with both ranged and melee combat. Head of United Front Games, Stephen Van Der Mescht says that, “Smash + Grab combines our love of competitive online games with our expertise in action mechanics and hand-to-hand combat, sharpened during our development of Sleeping Dogs.”
To me however – and this may be a problem for Smash & Grab whether it deserves it or not – Sleeping Dogs 2 sounds much more interesting and the idea of a sequel to the smash hit is looking less and less likely. Square Enix and United Front Games looked like they were toying with the idea with the now cancelled multiplayer game Triad Wars as well as the re-release of Sleeping Dogs onto new consoles. It seems however that if you were expecting a follow-up to Wei Shen’s brilliant story, you may have to keep waiting for a long time.
Smash & Grab will be releasing next month on Steam Early Access for “approximately six months”. As to why the game is launching in Early Access opposed to a full launch United Front says that, “We poured all our passion and know-how into creating Smash + Grab. We’re now excited to tune, refine and hear feedback from players in Early Access to make it the best multiplayer fighter that it can be.”
