Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami
Developer(s)	Dennaton Games
Publisher(s)	Devolver Digital
Distributor(s)	JP Spike Chunsoft
Designer(s)	Jonatan Söderström Dennis Wedin
Composer(s)	See Soundtrack
Engine	Game Maker (original version) PhyreEngine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Linux, PlayStation 4
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows October 23, 2012 OS X March 18, 2013 PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita NA June 25, 2013 PAL June 26, 2013 Linux September 9, 2013 PlayStation 4 NA August 19, 2014 PAL August 20, 2014
Genre(s)	Action, top-down shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Download

Hotline Miami is a 2D top-down action video game by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, collectively known as Dennaton Games. The game was published by Devolver Digital and released on October 23, 2012 for Microsoft Windows.^[1] The game blends top down perspective with stealth, extreme violence and surreal storytelling, along with a soundtrack and visuals influenced by 1980s culture. The game itself was influenced in part by Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 neo-noir crime drama film Drive, as well as Cocaine Cowboys;^[2] Refn is specifically thanked in the game's credits, and the game even features a similar "Driver" jacket lying on the floor in several levels.^[3]

Gameplay

Hotline Miami is divided into several chapters, each of which is further broken down into several stages. At the start of most chapters, the unnamed protagonist wakes up in his apartment and listens to cryptic messages on his answering machine. These messages tell him to perform an arbitrary task at a certain location, which in each case is inferred as a metaphor for killing every person at that location, such as giving VIPs at a hotel a 'great stay', or taking care of a 'pest infestation'. Prior to commencing a mission, the player is asked to select an animal mask to wear, each of which provides unique advantages or handicaps.

In each stage, the player navigates a building from a top-down perspective, and the goal is almost always to kill every opponent therein. Occasionally the player must also defeat a boss at the end of the chapter or find key items as they explore, but most levels are very straightforward. Some levels will also include hidden masks for the player to find along the way. The player has access to a wide variety of melee, thrown, and ranged weapons, and will need to handle challenges through either stealthy tactics or overwhelming force. However, the player character is no more resilient than the enemies, so mistakes are usually fatal.

Enemy AI varies slightly, causing them to occasionally move unpredictably, making it difficult to plan a perfect approach. To make up for this, the game allows the player to restart each stage the moment they die, allowing them to quickly fine-tune their approach over several attempts. The game grades the player's performance at the end of each chapter based on a number of factors, also granting them points that unlock more weapons, and may also unlock additional masks depending on their score.

Synopsis

Plot

Hotline Miami employs an unreliable narrator and events are sometimes presented out of chronological order. The player takes the role of an unknown man; he is frequently referred to as "Jacket" by fans due to his distinctive letterman jacket, but he is never referred to by this or any other name in the game. He is plagued by visions involving three masked strangers who discuss his identity and actions. The first is a man who wears Jacket's clothes and a rooster mask ('Richard') and asks him cryptic questions, the second is a woman wearing a horse mask ('Don Juan') who expresses concern over his mental state, and the third is a mobster who wears an owl mask ('Rasmus') and expresses disgust at his behavior.

Jacket wakes up in his apartment on April 3, 1989. He receives a voicemail about a supposed delivery of 'cookies' to his home. Jacket finds a package outside which contains a rooster mask and instructions to perform a hit on a group of criminals and steal a briefcase in their possession, threatening that he is being watched and that "failure is not an option." After delivering the briefcase to a pre-arranged drop-off, he is attacked by a homeless man and forced to kill him, after which he removes his mask and vomits. Jacket continues to get more voicemails, each of which presents itself as a client or employer demanding that he take care of an innocuous "problem" at a specific address, which invariably contains a criminal operation that he must eliminate.

After each level, Jacket stops at either a bar, convenience store, pizza place, or video store. He finds the same bearded man working at each store, who gives him encouragement and free samples of merchandise. Following a voicemail directing him to attack the estate of a movie producer, Jacket rescues a drug-addled girl who was being sexually abused and brings her home. Eventually, he begins a relationship with the woman, while continuing to murder mobsters at the request of the voicemails.

After a few missions, Jacket receives a phone call insisting he come to the phone company's office to deal with a 'prank caller'. When he arrives, he finds everyone dead except for a man wearing a motorcycle helmet, searching the company's files. The two fight, the outcome of which splits the story along two paths.

Jacket's interpretation

Jacket kills the Biker before returning to his car. Following this, Jacket's version of events becomes increasingly surreal, with the dead bodies of the men he's killed appearing around his apartment and the stores he visits, although his girlfriend and the clerk fail to notice them. Jacket continues the 'jobs' and almost gets caught when SWAT officers raid a mob hideout he was assaulting. After escaping, Jacket stops at the deli only to find the body of the Biker on the floor. The clerk, now extremely concerned, confides in Jacket that "all of this is not really happening," and instantly, the Biker is gone and the clerk is oblivious to what just happened. Soon after, the clerk is found dead in every store he worked at and is replaced by a bloodstained bald man, Richter, who is rude to Jacket and offers him nothing.

Jacket continues to murder people as ordered, until one day he arrives home to find his girlfriend murdered and a man in a rat mask on his couch, who shoots him in the head. The scene then cuts to a darkened dream-state apartment where he finds his corpse on the floor, with Richard seated on the couch in lieu of the shooter. Richard says that this will be their last meeting, that his actions from here on won't serve any purpose, and that he will never see the full picture. Jacket's clothes turn into hospital clothing as he walks across the hallway and into the apartment opposite, where he sees himself lying in a hospital bed.

Jacket awakens in a hospital, overhearing that he has been comatose for weeks, and that the police have the rat-masked man in custody. Injured, Jacket escapes the hospital and returns to his apartment, only to find it and his car ransacked. He changes back into his regular clothing and assaults the police station, killing the chief of police in the process. He finds out that the man in the rat mask is Richter, who apologizes for his actions and reveals that he received the same voicemails as Jacket. Jacket is then given the option to execute Richter, though in the canon version of events he is spared. Afterwards, he discovers the address of the Russian mafia's leaders.

Jacket arrives at the address and rampages through the building killing everyone, including the organization's elderly patriarch. The game ends with Jacket looking out over a balcony, smoking a cigarette as he releases a photograph to the wind.

The Biker's interpretation

Following the game's conclusion, the player is given the opportunity to play as the Biker, who is revealed to be receiving the same phone calls as Jacket. However, he eventually becomes less willing to follow their instructions, and attempts to end his affiliation with the group. His investigation into the source leads him to the phone company. After the Biker investigates the company's files, Jacket arrives. In this version, however, the Biker defeats Jacket. The Biker then travels to the Russian mafia headquarters. Spotting a janitor retreating into the basement, the Biker follows him and discovers a room full of masks and phones. It is revealed that two janitors (who are essentially creator cameos) have been setting up the killings. Depending on their actions, the player will be given one of two possible endings:

• Standard ending - The Biker confronts the janitors and demands to know why they've been doing all of this. If Jacket hasn't collected a series of hidden letters scattered throughout each of the pre-Biker levels, the janitors will simply claim that they were bored, that the voicemails and masks were a way of entertaining themselves, and mock the Biker's need to justify his mindless violence.

• Secret ending - If Jacket has collected all the letters and the player solves the game's word puzzle, the Biker is able to guess the password for the janitors' computer system and discover their true intentions before confronting them. Instead of simply claiming boredom, the pair will explain that their plan was to destabilize negotiations for an alliance between the Soviet Union and the U.S. by conducting the systematic murder of the Russian mafia, all under the direction of a nationalist activism group known as 50 Blessings. The pair claim that the Biker knowingly signed up for the organization, which explains the presence of the organization's flyers in both Jacket's and the Biker's apartments. The janitors then reveal that there are sections of the same organization all over the United States. The Biker promptly ends conversation with the janitors, voicing contempt for the tiresome addition of such details before leaving.

Regardless of which ending is obtained, the player may then kill the pair or let them live; an action which bears no impact in the game. The Biker leaves on his motorcycle before the credits roll a second time.

Characters

Most of these names are unofficial because they were not named in-game.

• Jacket - He is the main protagonist of the game. He wears various masks and performs a number of brutal assassinations in response to cryptic messages left on his answering machine. He is later attacked by another masked assassin, who kills his girlfriend. Because of this, he pursues those he feels are responsible. While he is given no name, various pieces of merchandise and cross-promotion have adopted "Jacket" as his official moniker.^[4]
• Biker - The protagonist in the chapters that occur after the main storyline is finished. He receives the same phone calls as Jacket, but is less willing to follow their instructions, eventually trying to end his affiliation with the group. This eventually leads him to a confrontation with Jacket. He is playable in the later chapters, but uses a different play-style than Jacket: he is unable to use stray weapons and can only use a cleaver as well as three throwing knives.
• Richter - Another person receiving the same phone calls. He is the one who attacked Jacket and killed his girlfriend.
• Richard, Rasmus, and Don Juan - Three masked personas that Jacket sees within his distorted reality.
• Blonde Woman - A woman the protagonist rescues early in the game. While nursing her back to health, it is implied the two begin a relationship. She is later murdered by Richter.
• Beard - The only apparent friend of Jacket's, who works at every shop Jacket visits.

Development

Inspiration

The biggest influence on the game's story was David Lynch. Another notable influence on the story was the 2011 film Drive. Gordon Freeman, the silent protagonist from the Half-Life series, was also of influence.^[5] The documentary Cocaine Cowboys influenced the developer's decision to use 1980's Miami as a setting.^[6] On the use of masks, the designers said they were inspired by the movie Kick-Ass and tried to figure out a way where someone without a lot of money would be able to disguise themselves.^[6]

Super Carnage

Hotline Miami was a spiritual successor to an unreleased game called Super Carnage. Jonatan Söderström started working on the game when he was 18, describing it as a top-down shoot-em-up in which the aim was to kill as many people as possible. The project was cancelled following difficulties programming the game's artificial intelligence's (AI) pathfinding. Söderström later met Dennis Wedin, singer and keyboard player in the metalcore band Fucking Werewolf Asso. They collaborated on a promotional game for the band called Life/Death/Island, which was again cancelled. Söderström and Wedin decided that their next game would be a commercial release, due to financial difficulties. They saw Super Carnage and its potential as a game. They decided to expand upon this, and thus they started developing Hotline Miami.^[7]

Marketing and release

Leading up to the release of Hotline Miami, Devolver Digital opened a phone line in Miami, Florida to enable people to call and leave voice messages of their own. Some time after the official release of the game in late October 2012, a trailer was created using these recordings.^[8] In early November 2012, an update for the game added support for gamepad control, multiple bug fixes, a few gameplay tweaks, graphical adjustments, and a new bonus map called 'Highball'.^[9] By mid-December 2012, the game's publisher, Devolver Digital, revealed that 130,000 copies of the game had been sold in the seven weeks since it launched. In an interview at Eurogamer, project manager Graeme Struthers was "chuffed to bits" for Hotline Miami creators Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, adding that “those are some talented boys.”^[10]

In an interview with Pocket Gamer, Söderström was quoted as saying that his team had been talking to Sony about bringing the game to PlayStation devices – including the PlayStation Vita – although they would require a third party to port it for them. The creators were also considering porting the game to iOS and Android touchscreen devices,^[11] but on July 23, 2013, in response to a question on Twitter regarding if Hotline Miami would ever be ported to iOS devices, the developers replied "Nope. Controls would suck.".^[12] As of December 5, 2012, the Twitter account for the game indicated that a Mac version is close to completion.^[13] The Mac version was released on March 19, 2013. In mid-February 2013, Devolver Digital and developer Dennaton Games confirmed that the game would be coming to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in the summer of the same year. The title would be Cross-Buy, allowing those who have purchased the game on either Vita or PlayStation 3 to play it across both platforms, only having to buy it once. The port was handled by Abstraction Games shifting from Game Maker engine to PhyreEngine and featured enhanced controls, an extra unlockable mask, and online leaderboards. These features were later added for existing PC owners as a patch.^[14] It was also revealed that, at this point, over 300,000 copies of the game had been sold.^[15]

On May 28, 2013, it was featured on the eighth Humble Indie Bundle as one of the games offered if paying above the average amount. The Linux version for Hotline Miami was released concurrently with the bundle as at that time. On the night of June 24, 2013, the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita version of Hotline Miami was released early, due to scheduled maintenance of the PlayStation Network. On March 24, 2014, Devolver Digital announced that the game would be headed to the PlayStation 4 with cross-buy support. The PlayStation 4 version of Hotline Miami was released on August 19, 2014.^[16]

On September 11, 2014, Overkill Software, the developers of Payday 2, released an announcement on Steam that there would be a downloadable content pack based on Hotline Miami released on September 30 as a collaboration between Dennaton Games and Overkill Software.^[17] Two days later, owners of Payday 2 would receive a coupon that allows -50% off on Hotline Miami, and vice versa, to promote both games. These coupons would be valid until September 29.^[18]

In Japan, the localised editions of Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita are scheduled to be bundled together and released as Hotline Miami: Collected Edition on June 25, 2015.^[19]

Soundtrack

The Hotline Miami Official Soundtrack can be found on Devolver Digital's SoundCloud account.^[20] It was later made available to purchase on Valve Corporation's digital distribution platform, Steam.^[21] Although the soundtrack is available for purchase, all of the music files can be found within the game folder in Ogg Vorbis format (albeit often in edited versions).

Track listing
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Horse Steppin"	Sun Araw	10:10
2.	"Hydrogen"	M|O|O|N	4:49
3.	"Paris"	M|O|O|N	4:31
4.	"Crystals"	M|O|O|N	4:49
5.	"Vengeance"	Perturbator	2:53
6.	"Deep Cover"	Sun Araw	8:05
7.	"Miami"	Jasper Byrne	3:19
8.	"Hotline"	Jasper Byrne	3:12
9.	"Knock Knock"	Scattle	4:04
10.	"Musikk per automatikk"	Elliott Berlin	3:05
11.	"Miami Disco"	Perturbator	4:31
12.	"Release"	M|O|O|N	6:02
13.	"A New Morning"	Eirik Suhrke	2:28
14.	"Flatline"	Scattle	2:14
15.	"Silver Lights"	CoConuts	6:36
16.	"Daisuke"	El Huervo feat. Shelby Cinca	2:42
17.	"Turf"	El Huervo	5:04
18.	"Crush"	El Huervo	2:40
19.	"Electric Dreams"	Perturbator	4:45
20.	"Inner Animal"	Scattle	3:40
21.	"It's Safe Now"	Scattle	2:43
22.	"To The Top"	Scattle	1:58
Total length:			1:34:20

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (Vita) 89.17%[22] (PS3) 86.06%[23] (PC) 85.33%[24] Metacritic (PS3) 87/100[25] (Vita) 85/100[26] (PC) 85/100[27] Review scores Publication Score Edge 9/10[28] Eurogamer 10/10[29] Game Informer 7.75/10[30] GamesRadar [31] GameTrailers 8.7/10[32] IGN 8.8/10[33] PC Gamer (UK) 86/100[34] VideoGamer.com 9/10[35]

Critical reception

Hotline Miami received positive reviews from critics, with praise given to its neon-soaked depiction of 1980s underground Miami, overflowing with raw brutality and ultraviolent close combat as the player finds himself outgunned and using his wits to choreograph a way through impossible situations. The game's soundtrack was lauded for accentuating the already heightened tension and gritty violence. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation Vita version 89.17% based on 12 reviews and 87/100 based on 12 reviews,^[22][26] the PlayStation 3 version 86.06% based on 17 reviews and 85/100 based on 27 reviews^[23][25] and the Microsoft Windows version 85.33% based on 32 reviews and 85/100 based on 51 reviews.^[24][27]

Eurogamer scored the game 10/10, with reviewer Tom Bramwell saying that the game was a blend of elements, all of which are integral to the overall experience.^[36]

PopMatters scored the PlayStation 3 version of the game 9/10, reviewer Eric Swain wrote "Hotline Miami is still an introspective surrealist dive into the mind of a maniac who lives within the neon gloss of the late '80s. You still go around killing groups of thugs at the behest of a voice on the other side of the phone calls, which is somehow sufficient to addle you into killing everyone you find at an address that that voice provides. You still choose an animal mask to wear before entering these kill zones, and you still have a variety of weapons at your disposal to stab, shoot, and bludgeon your way through crowds of Russian thugs and the police."^[37]

IGN gave the game a score of 8.8/10 emphasizing its "striking blend of fast ultraviolence, a dense, challenging story and brilliant presentation." In its final verdict for the game, the reviewer Charles Onyett stated "Hotline Miami‍ '​s momentum of mystery builds right up to its finale, where snarling cynicism is offered as a justification for why all this machinery of neon fuzz and thumping bass, bright blood and fractured identity was started up in the first place. Yet the justification is also disarmingly simple, the same reason why quarters were dropped into arcade machines built during the late '80s era Dennaton Games so clearly reveres. Why bother with Hotline Miami? Because it exists. Because it's fun. Because it deserves to be played."^[33]

Awards

The game received the 'Best PC Sound of the Year' accolade by IGN in its end of year awards (2012).^[38] It was also nominated for the 'Best PC Action Game', 'Best PC Story' and 'Best PC Game of the Year', in addition to awards for the 'Best Overall Action Game of the Year',^[39] 'Best Overall Music of the Year' and 'Best Overall Game of the Year'.^{[40][41][42][43][44]}

It was the recipient of both Eurogamer's and Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Game of the Show award at their inaugural Rezzed expo.^[45][46] On December 24, 2012, PC Gamer awarded the game with "The Best Music of the Year 2012".^[47] At Machinima.com's fourth annual Inside Gaming Daily Awards for 2012 the game received the award for most original game.^[48]

Hotline Miami also won 'Best New IP', 'Best Gameplay' and 'Best Soundtrack' at the 2012 Vidya Gaem Awards, and received several nominations in other categories.^[49]

Piracy

Jonatan Söderström has responded to complaints and questions on file-sharing website The Pirate Bay under the name 'cactus69', providing advice for users who are experiencing problems with pirated copies of the game. Söderström has made a post on Twitter admitting that whilst he does not want anyone to pirate the game, he can empathise with the fact that some people may not be able to afford it.^[50]

When questioned about piracy issues by Eurogamer, Graeme Struthers of Devolver Digital said "He (Söderström) just felt he didn't want people playing the buggy version of his game however they got it. He wanted them to get the patch. He basically said, 'I'm not going to criticise this, it's a fact of life. It would be nice if guys could find it within themselves to pay for it, but that's the world I'm in, so you know, you just have to take it for what it is.' It has been torrented to such a staggering level, and given the file size of it, I mean, you can't really be surprised, right? You could pass this thing around on the world's smallest memory stick. So it has been torrented to extraordinary levels."^[10]

Sequel

In an interview with Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin at Eurogamer, the creators shed some light on possible new future game content.^[51] When prompted with the question of upcoming downloadable content, the creators revealed "I think we're going to do quite a big project. It will probably be about as long as the full game, so probably we'll charge something for it. It will be like a sequel kind of, but building on the story. We don't want to reveal too much, but it will probably have more playable characters than the first game did. And a couple of different stories and angles. A lot of people have been asking about a map editor to build their own stages, so we're looking at if it's possible to do that. I think it would be really cool to let people do their own stages."

In late November 2012, Söderström tweeted "Working while listening to the sweet tunes of a preliminary Hotline Miami 2 soundtrack that we've put together during the weekend."^[52] He later clarified that it was only really the music that he was dealing with at the time and that, "We only have some general plans for the next game".^[53] In terms of the new soundtrack, Söderström said "I'm not sure for the second game yet. Last time we had nine different musicians doing the soundtrack. Looks like a couple of them might do more tracks for the sequel, but we've been looking at some other bands as well. Want to keep it fresh."^[54]

Hinting that the sequel may be some way off, Söderström insisted that he was still committed to working on patching and fixing the original game. The official Hotline Miami Twitter released photographs revealing the title screen of the sequel, revealing its full title, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. On June 19, 2013 the first teaser trailer for the sequel was released on the Devolver Digital YouTube channel. The game was initially announced for 2014^[55] but was eventually released on March 10, 2015.^[56]

References

External links

• Hotline Miami official website

Hotline Miami Games Hotline Miami Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Related articles Dennaton Games Jonatan Söderström Devolver Digital