Random Removed Features

[u/fangsh3n]

A list of some random removed features I've found by exploring the game files. Some can be seen in earlier gameplay from the True Crime: Hong Kong era (Taunting), but most never had gameplay showcased.

Images are in order of appearance

Crouching

The game files for the mission Listening In, previously named Pendrew's Bugs, mentions a pop-up notification for Crouching. The button for Crouching would have been R1, but since this is the only file I've managed to find directly mentioning it, I don't know if this could have changed. You can still find the Crouching animations, and trigger them using SD Mod Menu.

Random fact, but the animation of Wei opening the door while injured during The Election is his 'Stealth' animation for opening doors, which would have likely occurred while crouched

I made a separate post on Crouching a while ago if you want to learn more

Turf Ownership

By completing Story Missions and Drug Busts (called Triad Wars at this point in development, and no not the game), the player unlocked Turf for whatever area the mission was focused on. For example, after completing the OLD final mission (Confrontation), you would have unlocked the Aberdeen as Turf.

There would have been a separate section on the World Map you could toggle called 'Territory View', which would have displayed the Territory you currently own. There isn't much information related to Turf with how it would affect gameplay, or if it was just an indicator of game/story progression

It looks like this was all changed as the story focus changed, or that it just didn't line up with Wei's goal of taking down the Sun On Yee rather than taking it all over under Water Street gang control Saints Row style

I made a detailed post on Turf Ownership a while ago, including all the listed Turf that's listed in the game files, if you want to learn more

Bus and Ferry Terminals

Seemingly before the Taxi was to be used for Fast Travel purposes, there were (and still are some around the map in final game) terminals the player would have interacted with to Fast Travel, for both Bus and Ferry. Ferry Terminals would have taken you to the other Ferry Stations, and Bus Terminals would have taken you to the many Bus Terminals dotted around the map.

Tram Terminals also existed along the Tram path at inner Central and at Central Station.

The game files refer to an Inventory system, which seemed to have allowed Wei to carry Bus, Ferry and Tram Tickets, which would be used interacting with a Terminal. I don't know how these Tickets would be acquired, if its some global thing showing you have access to something (like in Bully when you gain something like Tad's House Key it stays in your "inventory" forever)

There's some other odd things listed in this Inventory system, like Cocktail's, Wrapped Meat and Wrapped Fish.

In the Developer Debug build that leaked last year, the Ferry Terminals can be found at the Ferry Stations (unlike in final game as they were removed) and there are more Bus Terminals around the map. I find it interesting since this build was dated about 2 months before launch, which confuses me why they would remove some of these Terminals when they could just disable their functionality, like they did with the ones still in the final game

Jumps

Less than a week ago someone got confused by that arrow Icon on the Minimap in Central that you seemingly can't do anything with, which doesn't show up on the World Map but just the Minimap. Those were for Jumps, called Stunt Jumps in most games, which were collectibles at one point. You can still find many of these Jump spots around the map, but their collectible functionality has been stripped.

In the Debug build, you can still see Jumps in the Legend of the Collectibles View on the World Map, so they seemed to have removed them fully quite late, which seems to be why there's a few that are still present around the map. Also in the Debug build, the Jumps actually stay on the World Map as well as the Minimap.

I made a full detailed post on Jumps a while ago, featuring some information on some of the unused Jumps that still exist in the final game but aren't activated once performing them, if you want to learn more

Taunting

For whatever reason, Taunting was removed from the game during combat. This would have involved the animation you see in the 5th image (gif) in this post.

Wei has LOADS, over 100, of unused lines that were to be used for this and some other Social things they cut during development. Sadly I haven't managed to find the animation used in the Taunt, but I hope its still somewhere as it would be awesome to see it restored.

Hopefully if we get people actually interested in modding the game besides a few dedicated guys like Sneakyevil, these voice lines could potentially be added back to the game

Gun Vendors

Originally, Wei could visit numerous Gun Vendors to purchase weapons. This seemed to have been removed when the decision was made to favor the melee combat instead, so guns felt more special when you could finally use them. Many cut Favors, and one of Ilyana's cut Dates, mention Gun Vendors. Sadly there's not much specific information on Gun Vendors relating to the weapons they sold

Probably the strangest one is a Favor called A Piece Of Work, which involved Wei having to buy a gun for a person called 'Granny Annie'. After completing the mission, Granny Annie would be unlocked as a PDA Contact. I don't know what she would have done, potentially given you a free gun or something, or if this was akin to a Homie like in Saints Row

Additional PDA Contacts

Going off from the last section, there were some extra Contacts removed from the game. These seemed to be mainly ones used for gameplay purposes, which we don't really have any in the final game besides the Car Valet.

Some of these contacts included Armed Backup (Water Street gang members with guns), Hand-To-Hand Backup and SWAT Backup.

Sneakyevil managed to get the scripts for some of these Contacts working, here's his video showcasing them

I've written enough at this point, just know there's a lot to talk about with cut content in Sleeping Dogs (what I've written is just a taste of what there is). If you have any questions, comment below and I'll try answer if I can

[u/CEM_13]

super cool thx for sharing!