Hotline Miami is a top-down action game with a very mature theme. The player’s unnamed character receives missions through messages, usually tasking him to create mayhem. Players select an animal mask to wear, each providing a unique gameplay advantage.
General Gameplay
The player controls their character by moving up, down, left or right to traverse levels. The character can punch, swing weapons, shoot guns and throw weapons. He can also deliver a finishing move as well as use an enemy as a human shield. Players have access to several melee and ranged weapons such as shotguns, throwing knives and crowbars.
Hotline Miami consists of several stages within chapters. There are 20 chapters in the game, including the prelude, in addition to a bonus chapter and a special chapter. Most chapters begin with the player’s character receiving a mission on their answering machine, then choosing a mask to use in the subsequent level. There are 25 unlockable masks in the game, each granting a special trait for the player from added protection against bullets to the ability to walk faster.
Most levels are very straightforward, but some contain items to collect such as hidden masks. Levels require a combination of stealth and brute force, with the perspective allowing for strategic planning before confronting enemies. The player’s character is also as easily defeated as his enemies, but the game allows them to restart each stage right upon dying, making it easier to learn the best approach in dealing with particular situations.
The game grades the player’s performance at the end of a chapter. Kill multiple enemies quickly and you’ll build combos, which will reward more points that unlock more weapons, and potentially, more masks.
Story Perspectives
The game’s story comes to a point where it splits into two paths from two different perspectives: One from the game’s main character and, for the last four chapters, one from a Biker character whom he encounters during one of the missions. Depending on whether or not the main character collected a series of secret letters throughout the levels previous to their meeting, the Biker character’s story has two different endings.
Masks
Masks are one of the important aspects to the game, and are an unlockable item as well. There are a total of 25 masks to be found in the game, and are either unlocked by getting high scores or are hidden within the actual stages themselves. Each mask grants a unique ability to the player, such as Graham (Rabbit) giving the ability to walk faster, or Carl (Grasshopper) giving the player a drill to use. The player will get to pick which mask to wear at the beginning of each level.
Weapons
Throughout the levels, the player will stumble upon weapons that they can use to kill their enemies. These weapons come in one of three different categories, which are melee, firearms and thrown. They are unlocked via a progression system based on score, starting with 50,000 points and ending at 800,000 points. Once unlocked, players will only be able to find the weapons in the individual stages.
