| Hotline Miami | |
|---|---|
 Cover art by Niklas Åkerblad, featuring Jacket, the Girlfriend, the Biker, and the three masked personas | |
| Developer(s) | Dennaton Games |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) | Jonatan Söderström |
| Artist(s) | Dennis Wedin |
| Writer(s) |
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| Engine |
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| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 23 October 2012
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| 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, players take on the role of an unnamed silent protagonist—known outside of the game as "Jacket"—while committing massacres against the local Russian mafia. In each level, the player is tasked with defeating every single enemy through any means necessary, ranging from firearms and melee weapons, to more specific methods such as knocking enemies out with doors. At the beginning of each level, the player chooses from a variety of masks, which offer unique abilities. The game is set in Miami in 1989, and 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 both faced financial difficulties following past failed development ventures. Using a scrapped prototype developed by Söderström years prior as a basis, the team developed Hotline Miami throughout the course of nine months. The game was released in October 2012 for Windows, with the game being ported to OS X and Linux the next year in March and September respectively. Versions that were partially developed by Abstraction Games were released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita that year in June. A version for PlayStation 4 followed in August 2014.
Hotline Miami received generally positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise focused on its atmosphere, soundtrack, and gameplay. The game's themes and storytelling were also a point of discussion, with critics commenting on the games "anti-violence" message by making the player feel guilt. A sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, was released in March 2015. Hotline Miami was re-released alongside its sequel 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 ported to Xbox One, Stadia, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Since release, Hotline Miami has been considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as one of the most influential indie games. Its success inspired many to begin developing games themselves, contributing to a rise in indie game releases during the 2010s. Many of the games created during this period had elements influenced from Hotline Miami, ranging from gameplay to its soundtrack and narrative. It has considered the "breakout title" of its publisher Devolver Digital, and many of its published games have been inspired by Hotline Miami.