The original’s core gameplay remains Wrong Number adds some interesting variations and new characters to keep you thinking. New level types and characters add tons of variety It was a lesson in how it feels to be a sociopath or what one must do to live and work among them.Īnd that kind of creeped me out, so the good news is that I am not, in fact, a sociopath. The repetition further removed me, although I was fully invested, and I realized that this is how the world feels to its collection of amoral and vicious characters. And while you will react with some combination of revulsion or morbid fascination, you’re never quite a part of your own actions.Īnd as I plowed through my trials, learning some lessons on one attempt, forgetting them the next (but generally moving toward that one go that would leave me the last one standing), I found myself falling into each level’s rhythm: move, lock, shoot, feint, hide, ambush, shoot, lock, shoot, move, door, punch, lock, shoot, shoot. You watch them unfold from above, every cloud of bloody mist and guard-dog carcass rendered in tiny squares, your victims’ faces indistinguishable from one another. It’s horrible, but the top-down perspective and quaint graphics remove you from these events. You will use powerful shotguns to blast enemies’ torsos apart and leave them sleeping eternally under a comforter made of their own intestines. You will jump on defenseless enemies and slit their throats. You will blow people’s heads off in this game. Hotline Miami 2 takes place in the late ’80s/early ’90s, and it has graphics to match. It’s hard to describe a game as brutally violent and occasionally terrible (thematically) as Hotline Miami 2 as “charming,” but the innocence of the visuals provides an interesting contrast to how many of those pixels end up being red. The retro aesthetic charms while it pummels you Image Credit: Evan Killham/GamesBeat What you’ll like

Hotline miami 1 vs 2