Alongside the main storyline and the four cases to solve, there are dozens of side missions available for Wei Shen to take up during his time undercover. Outside of completing the main story, the side missions are your biggest source of income and, more importantly, provide the means to build up your Face level. There are five major categories of side missions. A number of these side missions actually tie into the main story, oftentimes involving people you’ve met over the course of the game, weaving a narrative that doesn’t lie exclusively with the main missions.
In addition to those five categories, there are special side missions available through specific Downloadable Content packs.
Favors
The largest selection of side missions, favors involve Wei being called to by someone he knows, or by someone who knows him by reputation, in order to request something. These favors vary wildly from person to person. Calvin, for example, has it out for the cops, and his favors have you acting as a getaway driver after a particularly stupid stunt on his behalf. Other favors are dates with ladies Wei meets throughout the story, and still others are as harmless as taking a few pictures for a shirt maker.
Including the Susan’s Lunch tutorial favor the game has you play through during the early missions, there are a total of thirty-six favors available to complete.
Jobs
There are thirty jobs available at different points throughout the game.
- Martial Arts Clubs: After the Main Story mission “Amanda”, four martial arts clubs become available around Hong Kong for Wei to crash. Survive six waves of increasingly larger numbers of opponents for cash prizes and special themed costumes.
- Car Deliveries: Available midway through the first act of the game, Uncle Tran will call you to let you know he’s open to your services. When you call him, he will text you with the type of car he wants delivered to his chop shop, and where it can be found. There are twenty of these deliveries, but they are not all available right away, with more deliveries opening up after the end of the first act.
- Debt Collection: At the start of the second act, Uncle Po offers Wei work under a debt collector named Roland Ho. After your introductory job with him, you are able to take part in five more debt collection jobs.
Events
Occurring throughout the city are twenty-eight special events that happen as Wei is traveling past certain locations. There are three types of these events.
- Drug Busts: The second lead to the “Popstar” Case acts as a tutorial for Drug Busts. All Drug Busts consist of going to the marked location on the map and beating down the local thug population until they decide to run off. After this, you hack the Spy Camera that watches over their hangout. Then return to your safehouse in North Point to use the hacked camera to identify the drug dealer at each location and get the HKPD to arrest them. All seventeen Drug Busts become available immediately, so there’s no reason not to take care of them as soon as they appear on the city map. The boost to your Cop points can provide some immediate benefits for Wei, and help prepare him for when the story escalates into regular gun battles with hostile Triad members.
- Shoplifter: As Wei drives or runs past certain establishments, the owner may call Wei over to deal with a problem customer. All you need to do is to take the problem and move it elsewhere.
- Hit and Run: A member of the Sun On Yee gets robbed right in front of Wei, and you have the chance to chase down the thief and retrieve the goods. These chases can go from being on foot to being a tense drive through the streets at a moment’s notice, so be prepared for these thieves to do everything they can to make your life difficult.
- Junk in the Trunk: If you drive past a nondescript sedan parked in an area it doesn’t seem to belong in, and hear sobbing or shouting coming from the trunk, take the time to pop it open and rescue whomever is inside.
Races
The street races of Hong Kong become available after the start of the “Hotshot” Case, with more races opening up as you earn progressively faster cars or motorcycles. There are a total of eighteen street races to be found in Hong Kong: thirteen car races, and five motorcycle races. Two of the car races are done as part of the “Hotshot” Case, and one of the races is part of the Fast Girls main story mission.
Car races are divided into three classes, C, B, and A, while motorcycles only have B- and A-class races. Two of the A-class races (one for cars, one for bikes) are unlocked after dating Sandra. At each racing start location, you’re able to choose from your stable of available cars or motorcycles that meet the race requirements, so there is no need to drive to each race in the vehicle you want to use.
Downloadable Content
While totally optional, the DLC packs available for Sleeping Dogs provide additional missions to hone your skills while providing additional money, as well as Cop, Triad, and Face points. On top of the extra costume DLC packs and pre-order bonus packs from different retailers, four of the DLC packs include new missions and new races. Because of their optional nature, we have organized them into their own unique category.