Because this one switches between multiple perspectives, you only get a handful of choices before the start of each level but they’re a lot more distinct from each other. In the original game, before each level you were given the choice of multiple masks that would give you different abilities, such as the ability to make doors lethal, give you lethal punches or make guns quieter. And with such an expanded length it could be a concern that the game could run thin, and that is not the case here.

The first game could take a good player 4 hours to finish, whereas this would take 10-12 hours. The scope has been widely expanded, with more stages, larger levels, and a bigger cast of characters. That can be frustrating because this game has a lot more story than the first. The game often shifts between multiple perspectives in a seemingly random order that it can be a little difficult to tell why everything is happening the first time around. With that said it it doesn’t quite make things clear for experienced players either. This is a game made for fans of the first one, and those unfamiliar will have a much harder time understanding it. The story also relies heavily on details from the first game (including its secret ending). Quick restarts remove frustration from the challenge, meaning that it becomes all too easy to spend a long time attempting to beat a stage without realising it. Every enemy goes down in a single hit, but so do you, and be careful of using guns as they make noise and will attract nearby enemies. From a top down perspective you use a variety of weapons to take down enemies in spectacularly gruesome ways. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and its predecessor are games where the objective is to kill everyone in the area, you cannot progress to the next stage until you are the only breathing person there.

If the answer is you haven’t played it, then it probably isn’t for you.

Are you fan of that game? If the answer is no then this really isn’t for you. The original Hotline Miami was an incredibly challenging game full of both aesthetic brilliance and fantastic tense combat.

Hotline miami 2 levels