| Hotline Miami | |
|---|---|
 The game's cover art, designed by Niklas Åkerblad | |
| Developer(s) | Dennaton Games[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Programmer(s) | Jonatan Söderström |
| Artist(s) | Dennis Wedin |
| Engine | GameMaker |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Top-down shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Hotline Miami is a 2012 top-down shooter game developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital. In the game, the player takes on the role of an unnamed silent protagonist—dubbed Jacket by fans—while committing massacres against the local Russian mafia. In each level, the player must defeat every enemy through various means, ranging from firearms and melee weapons to more specific methods like knocking enemies out with doors. At the beginning of each level, the player chooses from a variety of masks, which offer unique abilities. Set in Miami in 1989, the game primarily tells its story through cryptic dream cutscenes where masked figures berate Jacket for his actions and foreshadow upcoming events.
Hotline Miami was the first commercial release of developers Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, who created the game after failed development ventures. Using a scrapped prototype Söderström made years prior, the team developed Hotline Miami throughout the course of nine months. Söderström programmed the game and wrote the narrative, while Wedin designed the graphics. The game was released in October 2012 for Windows. It was later ported to OS X and Linux in March and September 2013, respectively. Versions for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita released in June 2013, followed by a PlayStation 4 port in August 2014.
Hotline Miami received generally positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise focused on its atmosphere, soundtrack, and gameplay, though some criticized its controls. The game's themes and storytelling were also discussed, with critics commenting on its anti-violence message. It was nominated for several awards and was a commercial success, selling 1.5 million copies by May 2015. A sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, was released in March 2015. Hotline Miami and its sequel were rereleased as part of the localized Hotline Miami: Collected Edition in Japan that same year. Another compilation, the Hotline Miami Collection, released for Nintendo Switch in August 2019, and was later released on Xbox One, Stadia, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Since release, Hotline Miami has often been considered one of the most influential and successful indie games, as well as one of the best video games ever made. Its success inspired many to begin developing games, contributing to a rise in indie game releases throughout the 2010s. Many of the games created during this period had elements influenced by Hotline Miami, ranging from gameplay to its soundtrack and narrative; the game's soundtrack has also been attributed to the popularization of synthwave. It has also been considered Devolver Digital's "breakout title", and many of its games have been inspired by Hotline Miami.
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