Sleeping Dogs is a third-person open-world action-adventure game set in contemporary Hong Kong. Players control Wei Shen, an undercover police officer who infiltrates a Triad organization called the Sun On Yee. Gameplay emphasizes melee combat using martial arts moves, grapples, and environmental attacks over gunplay, alongside driving, parkour, and open-world exploration. The game features a triple experience system split between Triad, Police, and Face progression paths, each unlocking different abilities and rewards.

Wei Shen, a Hong Kong-American police officer and martial artist, returns to Hong Kong on assignment from the SFPD to infiltrate the Sun On Yee, one of the city's most powerful Triad organizations. Reconnecting with his childhood friend Jackie Ma, Shen enters the criminal underworld as a low-level gang member, quickly earning the trust of local boss Winston Chu. As he rises through the ranks, Shen must maintain his cover while feeding intelligence back to his police handlers, all while the Sun On Yee's internal power struggles threaten to consume everyone around him. Caught between his duty as a cop and the bonds he forms with the people he is betraying, Shen finds the line between his identities blurring. When a brutal massacre tears the organization apart and triggers a war for its leadership, Shen is drawn deeper into the violence, forced to question who he can trust on either side of the law.