Sleeping Dogs (aka "Sleepy Dogs") is basically GTA in Hong Kong but inspired by HK crime dramas rather than tarantino stealing his ideas from them. And it was REALLY good and shockingly holds up (did another run late last year). Arkham Batman style combat on foot but you also have guns and cars (with Total Overdose style shenanigans to leap from car to car). Technically a sequel to True Crime LA but nobody cares about that.

Also... Emma Stone is in it for reasons nobody understands. And it is still unclear if she actually knows she was in it either.

But it also highlights the issue. Taking GTA and moving it to another country would, by and large, lose the purpose of the game. Modern day Rockstar is very much an American company and all of their points of reference are American cinema (or what few foreign films take off here). That was very noticeable any time Nico began referring to "the old country". To transplant that to Russia or Thailand would just be an American movie set in Russia or Thailand.

Whereas... if you enjoy HK crime dramas than you will LOVE Sleepy Dogs because it 100% understood the assignment. United Front clearly worshipped the movies and it very much showed... while also making sure Wei Shen had spent most of his life in the US to account for any weirdness there.

And if you've ever spent time in Hong Kong? Okay, it isn't quite as good as RGG and Kabukicho or Yokohama. But you very much get all the right vibes in a way that the GTAs often fail at with LA and NYC. You aren't going to be able to navigate Wan Chai just because you beat up some fools there (unlike how you can 100% navigate Kabukicho after any modern Yakuza...) but you are going to feel "at home" on the streets in either form.