Hotline Miami & Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number — Psychedelic gore and lore

This week, we take a peek at 2012's Hotline Miami and 2015's Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number: the crew this week is Brian (hosting), Will, and Nate. Both of these games are incredibly twisted and violent gore-soaked 16-bit top-down depictions of Miami across a variety of retro timeframes, tied together by wicked soundscapes and rad driving electronic/nu disco beats. Both games employ unreliable narrators a la a certain movie whose first rule is that it is not to be spoken of; set in a lush vaguely-alternate history where the Russians are every bit as much of a concern as all those Cold War action films would have made you believe, both of these games are clearly inspired by Nicolas Refn's Drive. We delve into both at length and examine just how splendid they are, and whether 2 should really get a '2'. Release dates: 2012-10-23 / 2015-03-10 (2) Developer: Dennaton Games (Jonatan Söderström & Dennis Wedin) Country: Sweden Publisher: Devolver Digital Genres: action, shooter: top-down Relevant linkage: Hotline Miami soundtrack on Steam ($9.99) Devolver's Hotline Miami OST on SoundCloud Caustic Soda podcast: Heroin (pt1&2) R.I.P. Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis DBOYD - Sunset For A Lonely Heart - theme!