While many originally pegged the title as a direct sequel to Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games has confirmed that Triad Wars is an open-world spinoff title set within the same Hong Kong universe.
From the footage released thus far, it’s understood that Triad Wars will hone much of the gameplay from its console brethren —including driving and hand-to-hand combat — though the studio has billed the game as an entirely different beast.
“Triad Wars is the flipside of Sleeping Dogs. Sleeping Dogs was about taking you on a ride along that story,” design director Steve Ferreira explained. “Triad Wars is the other side of that. It’s all about Hong Kong and the criminal underworld within Hong Kong. And this is about you creating your own game.”
In the game, players will have begin life as a low level criminal meddling around the neon streets in search of work. Soon, though, you’ll rise to power as the kingpin of the Triad underworld, a job which requires you to recruit and maintain your gang in order to control the most turf.
Moreover, United Front Games has described the title as non-linear, with players having the ability to affect the landscape of Hong Kong throughout the course of the game. As such, no two playthroughs will be the same, and the studio hope to evolve Triad Wars systemically once it is released.
Triad Wars has been pegged for release in early 2015, though players can currently register for the chance to partake in the closed beta. For those who wish to find out more about the spinoff, the studio has confirmed plans to host a Reddit AMA today, September 23rd at 12pm PT / 5pm ET / 8pm GMT.
