Review | Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare In North Point DLC

This year’s Halloween was filled with tricks, treats and some Halloween themed DLC. Square Enix’s Sleeping Dogs was no exception to this and they released the Hong Kong, horror movie influenced expansion called Nightmare in North Point. This DLC came with a new storyline, new combat moves and a few new unlockable items but as a fan of the series, is it worth it?

The story of Nightmare in North Point is actually a pretty simple to follow: an old Sun On Yee member comes back from hell to wreck mayhem on those who killed him…which were members of the Sun On Yee. Well, the nice folk in hell decided to name him Smiley Cat because of how he was killed and sent to a meat processing plant to become food for cats. Yeah I know…I laughed.

The game starts of with our hero of the game, Wei Shen, on a movie date with one of his many girlfriends from the single player campaign, Not Ping. While enjoying the night without the worries of being a cop or Sun On Yee, things start to shake up a bit and BAM…..here comes a ghost from hell, wearing a cat mask and captures Wei’s girl. With Not Ping gone and Wei Shen left with no girl to take home…it’s time to start looking for some clues on who this “Smiley Cat” person is and what exactly are his motives.

The gameplay pretty much stays the same except for a few additions to the combat and some unlockable items you can get by completing missions. The face bar get’s a small upgrade and is now used to fill up with some spiritual energy while you fight. Once it’s totally filled, you can start unleashing devastating attacks that help you take down these new enemies a lot faster and it’s also the only way to take down the annoying Yaoguai demons.

The enemies you face are the Jiang Shi, old Chinese vampires that remind me of the good old days of watching old school Hong Kong horror movies on VCDs. They attack just like how they’re portrayed in the films, by jumping around with their arms extended like zombie kangaroos. Aside from fighting the Chinese vampires, you’ll also be facing possessed pedestrians, difficult to take down, Yaoguai demons and a few old characters that were offed in the single-player campaign, that manage to show up again to get their second chance at getting rid of Wei.

As you go throughout North Point, where all of this takes place, you’ll also be running into a few side missions that have you either closing up portals by throwing the Jiang Shi into them or saving citizens that are being held captive. Sadly, all of this including the main mission objectives can be done in less than 3 hours…which is what you can expect for a couple of bucks.

To be honest, I actually had a decent time playing through this DLC with it’s many references from old HK flicks but the story is very bland, the combat is essentially the same, and the missions can be done fairly quickly with not much difficulty. If you’re looking for a extensive expansion, I wouldn’t count on this one but If you’re a fan of Hong Kong movies and want to check out the references for yourself, I’d give this one a shot.

Check out the official trailer below: