Hotline Miami is one of my favorite games ever, that's probably both a good and a bad thing. If Hotline Miami is a murderous fever dream, Hotline Miami 2 is a never-ending nightmare. When Dennaton games said that Wrong Number would be the conclusion, they really pulled it out. Hotline Miami 2 answers all the questions. It's got a (somehow) way, way better soundtrack that only amplifies the games greatest moments, an extremely competent (and interestingly told) story, and a ton of great action. It's got some jungle setpieces, a prison break, missions for/against the mob, a heist, a hallucination freak-out. It's Hotline Miami fully realized. I really think it's a marvel.

Hotline Miami wasn't anti-gun, it just was a much smaller game, and melee weapons made more sense. I don't know if I was using guns any more than melee weapons in Wrong Number, I was just using them a lot more in the sequel, which was fine! The levels are bigger, there are way more enemies to encounter, and it would feel a little bit kung fu-y if fifty Russian mobsters in a warehouse were all equipped with lead pipes and shards of glass.

Hotline Miami 2 is magic. I went into it super hype, and ended up being super impressed. I can't wait to write more about it, really. I think it's a lot more than a worthy sequel.

Has anyone else played the 2nd game to completion before playing the first like me? I mostly see people saying the 2nd one is harder and not as good. But, me, going from 2 to 1 I feel the complete opposite. The first game seems to have way more cheap deaths in levels. Like I'm on this one level now with one big square room with 4 small square rooms in it which all have windows with shotgun guys in it. And the moment you open the first door you automatically knock an enemy down which alerts him but knocks him into the sight of other enemies so you can't kill him. Super cheap level.

Basically I'm saying 2 >>>>>> 1.