For a publisher that has frequently teased a third installment in the Hotline Miami series, Devolver Digital is remarkably insistent that “there is no Hotline Miami 3.” But cryptic, contradictory tweets and joke menu screens have nonetheless fueled fans’ hopes that a sequel to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number could be in the works, particularly after Devolver attracted a lot of investment via its recent AIM listing, including from the 5% share acquired by Sony.
Developer Dennaton Games stoked the flames further when one of its co-founders tweeted in late 2020 that they were working on a new, unannounced game, and that “It is a passion project so I’m not sure who will enjoy it. But I’m sure some people will be horrified and others delighted.” If a new Hotline Miami game is genuinely in the pipeline, fans will be keen to see it recapture the brutal magic of the acclaimed original, rather than mirror its more divisive follow-up.
How Hotline Miami Became One of the Best Games of 2012
Hotline Miami was developed by the two-man team of Jonatan Soderström and Dennis Wedin, and was initially released for Windows in 2012. Hotline Miami is a top-down shooter, and combines a retro-futuristic aesthetic, fast-paced gunplay and melee combat, brutal violence, high levels of difficulty, and a psychedelic and cinematic storyline.
Taking inspiration from the work of David Lynch and also from the 2011 movie Drive, the game puts players in control of an unnamed protagonist who receives mysterious phone calls at his apartment, encouraging him to go to various locations and slaughter the people he finds there. A rubber chicken mask is delivered to the player character – who fans have dubbed “Jacket” – which he wears while committing the atrocities, although other masks can be unlocked later which provide different boosts and abilities.
The casualties of Jacket’s murder spree are seemingly violent thugs, but little other explanation is offered for why he is so willing to massacre them. Throughout the game his perception of reality deteriorates, with the corpses of his victims appearing and even speaking to him, and other mask-wearing characters appearing in his home to torment him. The game’s retro pixel art style and gaudy, neon color palette contrasts jarringly with its uncompromising violence, further adding to its unique and mind-bending style.
The game was a huge success, with its story, gameplay and soundtrack all receiving stellar reviews, and ports to all major consoles following shortly after release. Hotline Miami has since proved to be an enormously influential title, inspiring a large number of games that have borrowed some combination of its top-down view, its art style, or its punishingly difficult and violent insta-kill gameplay. Its sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number was released in 2015 to a more mixed, but still largely popular, critical response.
Hotline Miami 2’s Missteps, and How a Third Installment Can Overcome Them
The second Hotline Miami aimed to replicate the original’s formula, but also to expand upon it, delivering more of everything: more length, more levels, larger maps, more characters, and a more convoluted plotline. Unfortunately, some critics believe this approach was the game’s downfall: instead of a vicious and streamlined shooter, they felt the sequel suffered from a sense of bloat, and a lack of focus.
The increased scale of the game didn’t only impact its length, but also the gameplay itself. Instead of small spaces where the enemies were usually visible on a single screen, the larger and more open stages meant that players were often shot by off-screen assailants. Coupled with the game’s one-hit kill mechanics, this sort of death was perceived as unfair and immensely frustrating by some players.
Instead of switching between two playable characters like in the first game, the sequel encompassed over a dozen, and while some reviewers felt this made for an ingenious time-shifting narrative, others felt it was confusing and poorly paced. One particularly controversial scene, which resulted in Hotline Miami 2 being refused classification in Australia, was also considered by some to be in poor taste and unnecessary to the plot.
With teasers and other suggestions that Hotline Miami 3 may be being developed, such a sequel is left in a tricky situation. To recapture the success and popularity of the first game, Dennaton may need to return to its stripped-down and more basic formula, telling a simpler story in a shorter game with smaller, more finely-honed maps. However, this risks accusations of making a simple re-hash of the original.
An alternative, more daring approach would be to depart more significantly from the debut title. Hotline Miami’s combination of hand-to-hand combat and gunplay could work extremely well as a first-person shooter, and although such a game would require a larger budget, the success of the developer and its publisher means increased funding is likely to be available for what would be a flagship title.
Even if the original's top-down perspective is retained, a third Hotline Miami could make use of a graphical upgrade to distinguish itself from previous installments. The visuals might also benefit from an increase in enemy variety, and despite the impressive array of weaponry on display in its predecessors, fans would undoubtedly like to see Hotline Miami 3 feature an even more expansive arsenal of creative ways to murder its legions of goons.
Whichever direction Dennaton chooses to take the game, a third entry in the Hotline Miami series is certain to generate headlines and big sales if handled correctly. But with publisher Devolver receiving a high-profile cash injection, the developer will be operating under a bigger spotlight than ever. Time will tell if its “passion project” proves to be a return for the neon-drenched, blood-soaked shooter, but if so, fans will hope the new release can live up to the original game’s gruesome glory.
Hotline Miami is available now for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.