Hotline Miami

Gather round for a tale of ultraviolence and failure.

I have a confession to make. I did not complete Hotline Miami. According to How Long To Beat, a website that crowdsources information about time taken to beat a game, it takes most people around five hours to beat the game’s main quest. Reviewers talked about sitting down and beating the game in one sitting. One person said they played it through and then dove right back in for a second go, beating it twice in one sitting. It seemed perfect for Quick Play.

I have come to realise that game length is quite a subjective measure, similar in a way to reading I suppose. When you sit down to watch a film, it just takes as long as the film is (barring interruptions), whereas books depend on your reading speed and games depend on two things: how thorough you are and your skill.

My failure to complete Hotline Miami in a timely manner is definitely a skill issue. Imagine this, for 11 hours:

After 11 and a half hours, I was still only at chapter 14 of 20. It was getting harder and harder and while I am no stranger to challenge (committed fan of Dark Souls and its ilk that I am), the challenge of Hotline Miami didn’t change or vary, it only escalated.

Let me tell you a bit about the game. It’s a top-down ultraviolence strategy game. You play a character known in the fan media as “Jacket”. Every level starts with answering an anonymous phone call where an unknown caller directs you to a location on some contrived pretence. They need a temp receptionist. They need a cleaner. They need a substitute teacher. You get in your car, and you kill until the building is devoid of life.

The first port of call – acquire a weapon. You might pick one up off the ground, where they spawn randomly, or maybe you punch an enemy to the ground and seize the knife he was holding, spinning quickly to slice the throat of your enemy before he can stand back up.

Every level starts with selecting the mask of an animal which has different abilities. One of them makes gunshots quieter, allowing you to move through the level methodically and stealthily rather than alerting the whole bunch of enemies to your presence. One of them lets you start the level with a weapon, getting you a possibly crucial leg up on the first few minutes. My personal favourite was Don Juan, the horse, which made the act of opening a door into someone a lethal act. Standing behind a door and slamming it painfully into foe after foe was very satisfying.

The start of one a level. I have no weapon beside my fists. Image credit: Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital

I was really very frustrated at some points during my time with Hotline Miami. When they introduced glass walls that enemies could see and shoot through was a real low point. The game also doesn’t allow you to stop partway through a level – you have to complete the whole thing in one go or start again at the beginning. Not good when it’s hard enough that early sections take an hour. More than once I had to stop in the middle and repeat sections. This is probably the game’s greatest weakness.

It's not like the whole experience was miserable. Especially early in the game, it was satisfying and rewarding to finally clear each level, though as time went on it was just a relief of tension and stress. I think if I was quicker, better at controls, speedier reflexes, I’d really enjoy figuring out the best way to clear levels – how to do it quickly, how to do it without guns. Making my own challenges is part of the fun for me in games. As it is though, I couldn’t even beat the game with all the tools available.

I can’t really talk about the story. I think I was beginning to reach a point where it would start to come together but up to this point it has been pretty incomprehensible. I did like how the style and music seemed to feed into the atmosphere, one of madness and disassociation, exemplified by the oppressive music and sound effects and the bright, flickering backgrounds to each level. Everything works in service of atmosphere. It truly feels like a game where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

“Have you also been getting those weird phone calls?” Image credit: Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital

Because it took me so long to not even complete the game, I really debated whether to write about it or not. For me, it is definitely not a short game. I set a soft cap of ten hours for games in this project and as mentioned, over 11 didn’t show me the end. But I thought it was important to detail the differing experiences people have with games. Word on the street (well, the internet) is that Hotline Miami is a short game but for me, someone who is kinda slow and forgets the buttons, it really outstayed its welcome. I’m sure it’s an exceptional five-hour game but it’s a frustrating longer experience.

• Game: Hotline Miami

• Developer: Dennaton Games

• Publisher: Devolver Digital

• Platforms: PC, Mac, Playstation, Xbox, Switch