Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
File:Hotline Miami 2 logo.jpg
Developer(s)	Dennaton Games
Publisher(s)	Devolver Digital
Designer(s)	Jonatan Söderström Dennis Wedin
Engine	Game Maker
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release	TBA 2014
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is an upcoming 2D top-down action video game, and the sequel to Dennaton Games' Hotline Miami. Wrong Number takes place before and after the events of Hotline Miami, and focuses on the aftermath of the protagonist Jacket after killing off the entire Russian mafia on the behalf of mysterious messages on his phone. Dennis Wedin (one-half of Dennaton Games) says that Hotline Miami 2 will be the last of the saga.

Story

Hotline Miami 2 will take place before and after the events of the original, but focus more on the events that occurred after. The game suggests that Jacket's interpretation ending is the canonical end of the game. As the main protagonist 'Jacket' is killing off the Russian mob for the Janitors, a movement of masked vigilantism is started and scours across Miami, Florida. The story is told through different factions of characters.

The Pig Butcher

Following the events of Jacket's massacre, a slasher film is inspired by the story, but instead features Jacket as a cold-blooded serial killer called the "Pig Butcher". The levels are set up as scenes for the film Midnight Animal, in which the Pig Butcher 'kills' the 'victims', but ends as the shoot is done and the actors get back up.

The Fans

Though most people view Jacket as a murderer, other people became swept into the idea of masked vigilantes, and obsess over the phone calls Jacket received. The "Fans" are four citizens who believe Jacket to actually be a hero, and want to follow in his steps and receive the same calls that he did. Unfortunately for them, Jacket was able to kill off the entire Russian mob, in which the Janitors have no reason to call anymore. The objective now for the Fans is to kill off random thugs they find in order to get the media to notice them, then hoping for the mysterious calls to reappear.

Dennis Wedin has said that the Fans symbolize those who wanted Hotline Miami 2 to be exactly like the original Hotline Miami. Like in the original game, players will receive phone calls, kill thugs, and collect masks when playing as the Fans. Gameplay footage suggests that each mask is worn by a single member of the Fans, unlike the first game, where all masks were utilized by a sole protagonist, Jacket. Because the Fans only consist of four people, each of their masks' abilities were designed to be very different from each other.

Gameplay

Gameplay will function mainly like in the previous game, but now Hotline Miami 2 will feature new hard mode for all levels, player has to beat a level in a ranking of C+ or higher, to unlock hard mode in the specific level. In hard mode, enemies will be more difficult to take down and some abilities may be taken away from players, such as enemy-locking in the console versions.

Hotline Miami 2 Demo Reaction

The demo shown off at Rezzed and the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo featured gameplay in the tutorial that had players appear to attempt to sexually assault a woman as the Pig Butcher. The player character lowered his pants and straddled the woman before the scene is interrupted by the director of Midnight Animal, revealing the whole sequence to be fake. Video game journalists, including Cara Ellison of PC Gamer, spoke out against the usage of sexual assault imagery. In response, Dennis Wedlin stated that Dennaton cut the scene from the demo, and that they were reconsidering putting the scene into the final game. Dennis also stated that they had not put the scene in to trigger players, nor for controversy, and that they cut the scene short to show that that type of violence is not what the Hotline Miami series is about.

External links

• Official teaser trailer