10 March is a busy old day in PC world, with Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, Cities: Skylines and now Hotline Miami 2 all popping up on the very same day. If you like animal masks, trendy future-80s-synth music and the potential for endless score attack rivalry, though, there’s really only one choice.
Hotline Miami 2 is said to be the “brutal conclusion” to the series, so this is (probably) the last one we’ll be getting. There was a bit of character-swap stuff going on in the first game, but this time it seems like playing as members of multiple antagonistic factions will be more central to the plot.
That’s if you’re here for the plot. You might just be showing up to Hotline Miami 2 with the pureness of intent to A-rank every level, no matter what levels of “Boldness” or “Exposure” are required.
Hotline Miami 2 is being sold in regular (£11) and ‘Digital Special Edition’ (£15) forms, with the latter including a six track remix EP featuring stuff by M|O|O|N, Scattle and Carpenter Brut. The game is available through Steam, GOG and the Humble Store.
If you get it through Steam (and own Payday 2,) there are also some Payday 2 pre-order tie-ins. You can read about this in more detail here, but in short the standard edition gets you some Hotline Miami style masks to wear in Payday 2, and the Special Edition adds Jacket as a playable character. As pre-order guff goes, that doesn’t sound too horrendous.
Edit: In fact it’s not even pre-order only. The FAQ on the page says it would be “mean” to do this, so you can expect it to be available to all in some fashion. There are also special instructions at the bottom of the page for Australians who can’t buy Hotline Miami 2, but who still want this Payday 2 stuff. Well played, Overkill.
Here’s what Hotline Miami 2 looks like, in case you forgot.
