It may be a common theme now since past endeavors have proved successful as Sleeping Dogs is the latest game to release a Halloween/horror themed DLC add-on. Rockstar Games got the ball rolling two years ago with the release of RDR: Undead Nightmare and then Sucker Punch released the massively successfully Infamous 2 add-on Festival of Blood. Now Square Enix and United Front Games are stepping up to the plate with their own brand of horror in Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in Northpoint.
Announced this past weekend at the New York Comic Con, the first screens and trailer for the Sleeping Dogs DLC have been released today. The first major story centric DLC released for the game, Nightmare in Northpoint will have Wei Shen return but this time he won’t be fighting gangster or corrupt cops. Instead, Wei will have to battle with Chinese folklores come to life in the form of zombies and vampires who have arisen on the streets of Hong Kong.
Thematically it may sound like Sleeping Dogs is merely trying to hop on a somewhat popular bandwagon, but Nightmare in Northpoint looks kind of cool so far. Combining Chinese folklore with the slightly cheesy elements found in Chinese horror films could provide us with a tale that doesn’t take itself too seriously but at the same time is fun to play and well thought out.
Besides the addition of undead enemies Wei needs to deal with, the Nightmare in Northpoint DLC will include some new combat tools such as a wooden stake to deal a killing blow to vampires and enhanced combat abilities to deal extra damage. United Front hasn’t laid out the specifics for Nightmare in Northpoint as far as how long the DLC will be, but I’m sure it’ll follow in the same steps as Undead Nightmare and Festival of Blood by giving us 2 - 4 hours of additional content.
I know it probably would’ve been cool to see other Chinese mythological entities appear in place of zombies and vampires, though maybe we’ll see such a thing surface down the road if Nightmare in Northpoint becomes a hit. So far Sleeping Dogs has performed well and I assume Square Enix is happy with the game otherwise we wouldn’t have this potentially awesome DLC in the first place.
Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in Northpoint will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 30th.
