[$5 on Steam's weekend deal, must buy]
A haunting guitar drones on in the background while chilling synths straight out of Blade Runner pulse through like your own manic heartbeat.
You're in a decrepit building, bat in hand. There's four mooks ahead, unaware of your presence. If you time it right, you can get it all in one go… As one of the goons rounds the corner, you sprint ahead. You bash in his skull and keep flying forward in a single motion, timing it just right so that the next grunt is in your path. He meets a similar fate.
The guard at the end of the hall sees this happening and is about to fire when you throw your bat across the room and knock him out. You run ahead and stomp his face open with your foot. Suddenly you're shot in the back, dead. All in the span of four seconds.
Press R to Restart
This is Hotline Miami, an 80s, neon acid trip massacre of a wonderfully balanced difficulty, tightly controlled gameplay, playing out like a top down arcade shooter but with the calculating plotting of a puzzle game. With a highly flexible way to go about killing and defeating the levels, there is no wrong way to go about it. Unless you die. And die you will.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
