History VideoGame / HotlineMiami

* InformedAbility: The Biker is apparently some sort of DJ or musician, or at least dabbles in music judging by the keytar and turntables in his apartment.
* ISeeDeadPeople: Following the battle with the biker, [[spoiler:Jacket's version of events becomes increasingly distorted, with zombies of the men he's killed beginning to show up around his home and in public]].

* MixAndMatch: 80s-style GenreThrowback with frequent GenreShift into PsychologicalThriller territory and even some optional elements of a PuzzleGame.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Wearing Phil (the fish mask) during a mission will play the dialogues in French. However, the translation figures many grammatical mistakes and literal translation being incorrect. This is due to the fact that the (Swedish) developers translated the dialogue [[StealthPun through an application named... Babelfish]]. Because of it, wearing the mask [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign may end confusing to native french players]], such as the instruction "Get to the bike" resulting in "Allez au vélo", which means "Go to the bicycle".

** Some of the masks have to be utilised in the right way in order to work. The George mask lets you see further than the average mask, perfect for strategy building but doesn't offer any offensive uses. The Zack mask lets you build combos but you need a strategy in advance for it to work properly. The Willem mask lets you disarm opponents and have a unique execution but it requires stealth in order to work effectively.

* GenreThrowback: To violent 80's action films like Film/{{Thief}}, as well as to films such as ''Film/Drive2011'' (to the point where Creator/NicolasWindingRefn is specially-thanked in the credits).

* NoDeadBodyPoops: Averted. Some melee kills result in a beaten, bloody mobster with an urine stain in his pants.

* NoodleIncident: On one night, Beard mentions that there's a chill in the air, briefly alluding to some mysterious event that he never elaborates on.
-->'''Beard:''' I haven't felt this way since San Francisco...

* NoticeThis: Using the [[TheOwlKnowingOne Rasmus]] mask adds a twinkling effect to hidden items, making them easier to find.

''Hotline Miami'' (''Горячая Линия Майами'' in the cyrillic alphabet) is a 2012 video game by Swedish game developers [[Creator/{{cactus}} Jonatan "cactus" Söderström]] and Dennis Wedin (known jointly under the studio name of "[[{{Portmanteau}} Dennaton]] Digital"), and published by Creator/DevolverDigital. Initially released for Windows, it was later ported to OSX, Linux, [=PlayStation=] 3, [=PlayStation=] Vita, [=PlayStation=] 4, and Nintendo Switch.

''Hotline Miami'' (''Горячая Линия Майами'' in the cyrillic alphabet) is a 2012 video game by Swedish game developers [[Creator/{{cactus}} Jonatan "cactus" Söderström]] and Dennis Wedin ([[{{Portmanteau}} Dennaton]] Digital), published by Creator/DevolverDigital. Initially released for Windows, it was later ported to OSX, Linux, [=PlayStation=] 3, [=PlayStation=] Vita, [=PlayStation=] 4, and Nintendo Switch.

* DegradedBoss: "Decadence" features the game's first boss, a ScaryBlackMan who can only be attacked with a shotgun and is able to take three blasts before going down. A few levels later, mobsters who look and behave almost identically to said boss, named Thugs, start appearing as regular enemies. They, too, can only be killed by gunfire, though this isn't limited to shotgun blasts, as any gun will affect them. They also can be finished off with a single shot if they're left alive bleeding for a while.

** The Thugs [[DegradedBoss succeed the game's first boss]] from a few levels earlier before their introduction; said boss behaves almost the same way as them, the difference being that he can only be damaged with a shotgun.

* MadeOfIron: All of the bosses are able to take quite a bit of damage before Jacket can finish them off. Even the third boss, who surrenders without getting into a straight-up fight, takes a ''very long'' beating during his defeat cutscene. Justified for the first boss, at least, since he wears a bulletproof vest.

* RuleOfThree: Rooster, Horse, and Owl, the three mysterious masked people who question Jacket's motives between chapters.

''Hotline Miami'' (''Горячая Линия Майами'' in the cyrillic alphabet) is a 2012 video game by [[Creator/{{cactus}} Jonatan "cactus" Söderström]] and Dennis Wedin ([[{{Portmanteau}} Dennaton]] Digital), published by Creator/DevolverDigital. Initially released for Windows, it was later ported to OSX, Linux, [=PlayStation=] 3, [=PlayStation=] Vita, [=PlayStation=] 4, and Nintendo Switch.

* {{Foil}}: The Biker, the game's second boss, to Jacket. Both of them are masked killers with psychotic tendencies, but whereas Jacket invokes KillEmAll and is motivated by revenge, Biker kills only because he finds it fun, yet can spare a whole lot of people. Furthermore, Biker openly talks and is rather forward, while Jacket is silent. Most importantly, however, Biker [[spoiler:found out the truth about the phone calls and pulled a ScrewThisImOutOfHere upon getting his answer, while Jacket falsely concluded that the calls came from the Russian Mafyia and slaughters its leadership instead, further advancing 50 Blessings' goals]]. This goes further in the sequel, where [[spoiler:Jacket lets himself get caught by the police without ever learning the truth, dying in custody thanks to a nuking brought by an organization whose goals he advanced. By contrast, Biker may have survived the nuking while hiding in the desert, as he knew the implications of the truth]].

* AnAxeToGrind: The fireaxe is a great weapon for dismembering and decapitating enemies.

You wake up in the bathroom of a dingy apartment. The lights are out, and an oppressive atmosphere fills the air. You step out and are greeted by a trio of masked figures who begin to ask questions you don't know the answers to. The woman in the horse mask is concerned for you, and the man in the owl mask hates you - but only the man in the chicken mask knows who you are, and why you're here.

Problem is, you didn't order anything. The "ingredients" are rubber animal masks, the "recipe" a cryptic note instructing you to perform a hit on some Russian mobsters and await further orders on your answering machine, threatening consequences if you don't follow through. From then on, it's a downward spiral as you continue killing at the behest of the voicemails, struggling to stay sane and survive, all the while hoping that maybe - just maybe - [[MindScrew you'll find out what the hell is going on.]]

Gameplay is simple - it is a top-down 2-D action game with movement by WASD and a few other buttons for killing. All you have to do is kill all enemies and not be killed, although this is easier said than done. Why? You die within one hit. And [[NintendoHard you will die plenty of times.]]

Following its release, the game received widespread acclaim, and was widely considered one of the best indie games of its time. It gained a substantial amount of attention from development company Overkill Software, makers of ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/{{PAYDAY 2}}'', whose love for ''Hotline'' has resulted in numerous [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] to it into the latter game. This culminated in a series of collaborations between Dennaton and Overkill, including a {{crossover}} heist featuring the Miami [[TheMafiya Mafiya]] and the appearance of [[FanNickname Jacket]] as a GuestFighter.

* TheAllegedCar: After Jacket [[spoiler: wakes up from his coma and goes back home]], his car's been trashed beyond belief.

* AnachronicOrder: Subtle, and more as a way to represent Jacket's increasingly obvious psychosis than anything else. The missions in the first three parts appear to take place in chronological order, but the after-mission sequences (during which Jacket drives to a supermarket, pizzeria, video store, etc.) don't line with such order, with characters in some of these sequences referring to events that don't take place until missions later. For example, after the first mission, Jacket chats with a supermarket clerk who laments [[spoiler:his loss of his girlfriend]]. It turns out that the reason this happens is because [[spoiler:Jacket has been in a coma]] up until the events of Part 4.

* AnimalMotifs: The killers wear animal masks. Each unlockable mask, after the default "Richard" one, grants the player a perk: good, bad or just plain weird.

** One that isn't explained until [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber the second game]]: every time you meet Beard, he gives you something from the store he's working at, saying that "it's on the house." In the second game, it's revealed that [[spoiler:those words are what he said to Jacket when he saved Jacket's life during their tour of duty in Hawaii.]]

* ArtificialStupidity: Enemies sometimes '''don't react at all''' when someone gets killed right next to them. They also won't react to corpses on the floor. If you knock them down and then get out of their sight, they will get back up and continue patrolling like before instead of pursuing you. Finally, they will gladly rush into a situation that is getting their comrades killed en-mass. Lampshaded in one of the level opening screen tips: ''"Enemies are Predictable"''.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:The janitors relied on hitmen who'd be easily recruited - such as the Biker, whose idea of fun is 'violent murder' - and would keep them in line by tricking them into believing there would be consequences if they don't make a hit.]]

* BossArenaIdiocy: The two water fountains in the room provide cover from the final boss' [=MP5s=]. He will periodically reload and will be vulnerable for a few moments while he does. [[spoiler:Upon her death, the mob boss' lieutenant (Ninja Girl) drops 3 throwing knives that are required to defeat him]].

* CampStraight: The biker wears a pink vest [[spoiler:and has interesting choices in furniture.]] However, [[spoiler: he also seems to have female lover(s) at his apartment between missions.]]

* ChekhovsGun: A very subtle one: [[spoiler:the pamphlets for the "50 Blessings" organization, that can be found in both the protagonists' apartments.]] Most players won't even notice them, but in the GoldenEnding they turn out to play a pivotal role in the plot.

* ContractOnTheHitman: The Biker has the same employers as Jacket; when he wants out and begins to sabotage their plans, Jacket is sent to clean up the mess. [[spoiler:Later on, a rat-masked killer is dispatched to off Jacket. It doesn't stick.]] It later turns out [[spoiler:this technically wasn't the case - they sent Jacket to Phonehom to kill the Biker when he was interfering with his employers' plans, but the Janitors outright admit that nothing but empty threats keep the hitmen in line.]]
* CopKiller: [[spoiler: Jacket kills dozens of cops in an assault on a police station, in order to find Richter and gain information on the people who've been sending him phone calls.]]

* DecoyProtagonist: The story is first centered around Jacket, his madness and his quest for revenge. However, [[spoiler:the answers for what's going on belong to the Biker's storyline]].

** Jacket must kill the Biker in the course of the storyline, which results in a series of chapters in which the player plays as the Biker near the end of the game - in one of which the Biker kills Jacket. [[MindScrew Um... what?]]
*** This is somewhat explained in the sequel; [[spoiler:Biker wins, but Jacket managed to pull a miracle survival.]]

* {{Determinator}}: Jacket, to the point that [[spoiler:even after he wakes up from a coma, he still manages to sneak out of the hospital ''while barely conscious'' and go all the way back home. He jumps straight into his old clothes and gets right back to killing.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: The events of the game are orchestrated by two janitors.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Biker, despite joining the hotline for violent thrills, is baffled at the senseless killings. [[spoiler:In the GoldenEnding, the Biker's still not impressed: he dismisses the 50 Blessings as a bunch of "nationalist scumbags," and if the player decides to kill them, it's certainly this]]. He also [[spoiler:can choose to spare the workers at Phonehom and leave the people who gave him information on the conspiracy alive]]. Compare Jacket, who spares a grand total of one person and would have shot his way out of [[spoiler:the hospital, if he wasn't half-dead]].

* EvilVersusEvil: [[spoiler:Russian mobs vs. the two janitors. The former are made of thugs and TheMafiya, who engage in criminal activities and slave rings. The latter are ultra-nationalist thugs who recruit psychotic hitmen - if they don't intimidate them - and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dispose of them and their loved ones when their job is finished.]]]]
* ExcusePlot: A critical examination of this concept. The only context the protagonist receives for the murders he has to commit is a series of disjointed messages left on the answering machine on his phone. As the game goes on, it starts to point out how crazy someone would have to be to commit so many murders at the behest of messages on an answering machine, and suggesting that the protagonist doesn't really care about ''why'' he's committing the murders - he just enjoys the violence for its own sake. And yes, these observations are directed just as much at [[YouBastard the player]] as the protagonist. An alternate reading proposed by [[http://www.errantsignal.com/blog/?p=424 Errant Signal]] argues that the ExcusePlot is the entire point of the game, and that the game is built upon stating by implication that narrative is meaningless to gameplay.

* ExecutiveSuiteFight: Against [[spoiler: the Russian Mafiya boss]], the last fight of [[spoiler:Jacket's storyline]]. He unleashes his pet panthers against you, then his [[{{Ninja}} kunoichi]] bodyguard, and then he starts spraying bullets everywhere.

* EyeScream: The finishing move on the first boss is to gouge out his eyes. Using the scissors or dart as a melee weapon gives you the option of knocking an enemy down and jamming them into their skulls through their sockets. [[spoiler: Jacket also starts hallucinating corpses whose eyes are missing.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: A few of the [=NPCs=] certainly do: namely, [[spoiler:the hitman who killed your girlfriend, the two Mafiya leaders, and the janitors.]]

* TheGenericGuy: Richard the Rooster, who is the only animal mask to have no special abilities. [[spoiler: He probably represents Jacket's true self.]]

* GoldenEnding: Finding all puzzle pieces in each level will unlock an ending, where it turns out [[spoiler:the two Janitors are part of a conspiracy to break up a Russo-American alliance]]. [[WMG/HotlineMiami Player interpretations of the ending differ]]. %%Save interpretations of the ending for WMG page, please.

* GuideDangIt: Getting Jones the alligator. [[spoiler:That crowbar in the first room of Full House? You use it to open up the manhole outside of the building after finishing the level.]] There isn't any indication of this unless [[spoiler:you pick up the crowbar and go back there to see the red arrow.]]

* HeroicResolve: Right after he seems to be almost on the verge of death and wakes up in a hospital, delirious and tired, [[spoiler: Jacket escapes from the hospital, dons his old jacket, and shoots out an entire police station and Mafia headquarters to massacre everyone he believes is responsible for the death of his female companion.]] HeroicResolve indeed.

* HowWeGotHere: "Does April the 3rd mean anything to you?" [[spoiler:The story ''apparently'' begins in the eleventh chapter, after Jacket has been hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head.]].

* ISeeDeadPeople: Following the battle with the biker, [[spoiler: Jacket's version of events becomes increasingly distorted, with zombies of the men he's killed beginning to show up around his home and in public.]]

** [[spoiler: As Jacket gets closer to remembering his girlfriend's death, quick flashes of static start appearing. Then there's the hospital level.]]

** The hospital level throws in even more screen sway, static interference and occasionally has your character lock up and be unable to move for a few seconds while a shrill squeal blares over everything, simulating the effects of his head wound.
* InvincibleMinorMinion: SWAT officers appear unexpectedly at the end of one of the missions, and you have to escape from them. Thanks to their body armor they're immune to most attacks, and the few attacks that do work on them will only knock them down for a couple seconds.
* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: In fact, Jacket starts to suffer mentally as a result of his work. His first mission results in him puking his guts out. Halfway through, he begins hallucinating his victims, mutilated corpses, and has no idea what reality is. Unless [[spoiler: he's not hallucinating because of guilt, but rather because his dreamscape is starting to fall apart.]]

** [[spoiler: The final boss shoots himself with a revolver, whose bullets pierce multiple targets. And you can't move while he does it. Position yourself carefully.]]

* LongSongShortScene: The music that plays in the main menu, apartments, and after the "chapter complete" sign all last a very long time. Of note is the main menu theme, "Horse Steppin'" that lasts ''10 whole minutes.''

** The headless corpse of [[spoiler:the Biker]] is still fully-conscious.. at least in Jacket's hallucinations.

** [[spoiler:In the Biker's playthrough]], during the fight at [[spoiler:Phonehom]] he ensures [[spoiler:Jacket]] is dead by stomping it into a red puddle.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: There ARE many masked hitmen on the loose, as evidence by the masks you find in levels being next to dead bodies. [[spoiler:Then you have Richter sent to kill Jacket via phone message. Both Biker and Jacket have newsletters for 50 Blessings; if the GoldenEnding is canon, then everyone who signed up for that newsletter agreed to "die for their country" and anyone who thought about about backing out were given--empty--threats. Even without the canon ending, the janitors still imply there being many more operatives that the handful we saw during the course of the game, not to mention the box of masks in their sewer lair.]]

** In the course of the game, we go from a slightly weird but twistedly fun scenario involving a nameless anti-hero who kills nameless mobsters, to said main character [[spoiler: slowly going insane from a bizarre combination of Schizophrenia and PTSD]] and [[spoiler: finding his female companion's dead body in his apartment]]. We then go to the main character determinedly [[spoiler: hunting down his girlfriend's assassin by taking out an entire police station and destroying every last one of the mobsters]]. This is all followed by [[spoiler: The Biker's psychotically upbeat and energetic attitude]], followed in turn by his [[spoiler: ultimate disappointment at finding out that the entire set up was a game created by janitors, who were basically trolling]]. So yeah… we go from exciting action to mind-bendy weirdness and back again.
** Invoked at the end of every level, where the music abruptly stops after you've completed the objectives. [[spoiler: On some levels, after this has happened, an additional objective can occur. Which result in another dose of Mood Whiplash as a new song starts playing as you're thrown into the mayhem again.]]

* MoralityPet: The hooker Jacket rescues and takes care of, with no apparent motivation other than pity. Watch the game from chapter to chapter and notice how Jacket's apartment gets steadily nicer and more comfortable, more like something a well-adjusted person would live in [[spoiler: up until the point she gets StuffedInTheFridge.]]
* MultipleEndings: Determined by [[spoiler:whether or not you investigate the {{Big Bad Duumvirate}}'s computer before confronting them.]]

* NoGearLevel: The hospital. Making matters more difficult: The camera angles are loopier than usual, and the overlay is mimicking poor cable TV reception. [[spoiler:This mirrors the pain and disorientation of Jacket, whose head is still swathed in bandages]].
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Woe betide whoever Jacket has to take down with his bare hands. [[spoiler: Even worse for many of the bosses.]]

* NonstandardGameOver: [[spoiler: Getting caught in the hospital level results in mundane things like getting put in restraints, and being sent back to your room.]]

** The significance of this line is [[MindScrewdriver revealed]] in [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber the sequel]]. It turns out that [[spoiler:in 1986, Beard died there.]]
* NotSoDifferentRemark: [[spoiler: The rat-masked killer sent to kill Jacket and his girlfriend says this to Jacket later on, when Jacket comes to seek revenge, though it's more of a confession than a taunt.]]

** Jacket and most mooks are effectively this whenever weapons are involved. There is a very small bit of leeway when it comes to ranged weapons, though - [[RandomNumberGenerator occasionally]], bullets will only graze Jacket or the mooks, allowing them to continue as if nothing happened.

** Jacket rescues an abused working girl, The Hooker, who he then shares his apartment with. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for her.]]
** As the [[spoiler:Biker]], he spares his interrogation targets, and unlike the main game, it's possible to [[spoiler:just ignore all the Phonehom workers instead of chopping them up.]]

* PsychoForHire: Jacket's motivations are unknown, [[spoiler: save for revenge in the ending]], but [[spoiler:the Biker is ''definitely'' this.]]

* PsychoticSmirk: [[spoiler:The two janitors]] never stop grinning when [[spoiler:Biker confronts them]]. They do, however, stop smirking when [[spoiler:Biker tells them he bypassed their computer.]]

** Don Juan is soft and compassionate, being very permissive of whatever Jacket wants to do. Rasmus, on the other hand is angry and rebuking, and shows a hatred towards Jacket.

* RewatchBonus: Completing this game a second time after finishing the sequel clears up a lot of details and makes several plot points a lot more apparent. One of the biggest is [[spoiler: the knowledge that Jacket knows exactly who is calling him and for what purpose, and is doing it willingly instead of being coerced.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Jacket fights his way through an army of police in order to kill the imprisoned murderer of his girlfriend, then fights his way all the way to the local head honcho of TheMafiya.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: Jacket's rampage against the Russian mob after he [[spoiler:destroys the police station]]. In the non-linear PlayableEpilogue, it is shown that the evidence folder turns out to be [[spoiler:a RedHerring to draw suspicion away from the actual organization]] who organized the hits on him and his girlfriend. In the final dream sequence, the Rooster Mask straight up tells Jacket [[spoiler:that nothing he does from that point on will make any real difference.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: Attempting the final level ''without'' discovering the hidden password dumps you in the basement of a nondescript building, whereupon the Biker confronts the two janitors who were behind all the killings]]. They don't respond to interrogation and taunt you into killing them, leaving all the questions unanswered. It's lampshaded by the Chicken-mask-wearing man at the start: "You will never see the whole picture."

** The rat-masked assassin who [[spoiler:murders Jacket's girlfriend.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Hotline Miami'' has a ''{{VideoGame/Hitman}}''-like premise for the fact that you have to restart a lot, learn the levels, learn enemy patterns and so on. If you enjoyed ''Hitman'', you won't have any problems.

* SteelEarDrums: Averted, being one room away when a massive bomb goes off leaves your character temporarily hearing nothing but the screech of tinnitus.

* StuffedInTheFridge: [[spoiler: Sure enough, Jacket's new girlfriend doesn't last long.]]

* SuperReflexes: The second boss can dodge anything and will also instantly-kill Jacket at close range [[spoiler: unless he is busy getting his cleaver unstuck from the wall.]]

* TacticalSuicideBoss: Played with. The Biker is a cleaver-wielding man who kills you instantly if you get close, but mostly keeps his distance. He occasionally lunges at you, which is easy to dodge, and eventually tosses his cleaver at you—it gets stuck in a wall, and he tries to pull it out while you're free to bash his skull open. But [[spoiler:in the final chapter you get to relive the battle from the boss's perspective. When the protagonist comes in, you can kill him simply by walking up to him and ending his life with a single cleaver slash, as opposed to engaging in overtly complex and suicidal tactics.]]
* TakeThat: The game has a hilarious TakeThat to its players. If your play style involves a lot of hiding and sneaking, the game will refer to your play style as "COWARD" when the score screen appears at the end of the level. [[InsaneTrollLogic Yeah, that's right.]] The game calls you a coward for being careful [[NintendoHard in a game where]] [[OneHitPointWonder one minor, even negligible, mistake can end your life.]]
* TalkingYourWayOut: Subverted during the outro of "Tension". When entering the grocery shop, you can see an already wounded man wearing a Dennis Mask outside, trying to hold at arm's lenght a group of russian mobsters cornering him, possibly bargaining, or [[AintTooProudToBeg begging for his life]]. He manages to hold them off [[BattleDiscretionShot until you start talking with Beard inside the store]]. Once you walk back outside, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the poor guy is now but a bloody corpse]], and the mobsters are nowhere to be seen.

* ThisIsADrill: Carl the Grasshopper gives you an electric drill as your starting weapon. Using it as a finisher on downed enemies gives you an large point bonus every time, [[AwesomeButImpractical but the longer-than-usual animation leaves you vulnerable.]]

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Throwing a bladed weapon normally has an equal chance of either landing handle first and stunning the enemy or landing blade first and killing them. The ''Jake the Snake'' mask combines this with MadeOfPlasticine by making it so ''any'' thrown bludgeon, blade, or gun will mow through multiple enemies like a hot blade through butter, even if it's lost some of it's momentum and can be perceived as ''sliding across the floor''.
* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: [[spoiler:Even a headshot can't keep Jacket down. However, he is still woozy from surgery, and only escapes the hospital through sheer luck and pluck]].

* {{Tuckerization}}: Several masks are named after real people, such as Dennis (co-creator Dennis Wedin), Rami (Rami Ismail, fellow IndieGame creator and friend of the devs) and Nigel (Nigel Lowrie, Devolver Digital employee).

* VillainousFashionSense: The Biker in particular, The Father's female bodyguard also qualifies - though both may be viewed as a FashionVictimVillain if you find their style too gaudy.
* VillainsWantMercy: Upon their defeat, the first and third bosses beg for Jacket to spare them. Neither attempt works, as Jacket pulls a finishing move that ends with their lives.
* VirileStallion: Implied, the horse mask is called "Don Juan" and is in the reference to the Spanish nobleman who was famous for his high sex drive and seduction of women. The mask is also worn by The Girl in Jacket's meetings, who was a sex slave of The Director.
* WeHaveReserves: [[spoiler:The janitors of 50 Blessings don't care that they'll be killed - there's many more like them. All they need are five more years.]]

* WesternTerrorists: [[spoiler: The organization of the animal-masked people, unknowingly under the employ of an ultra-nationalist organization breaking to disrupt US/Russian relations]].
* WhamEpisode: The fifth part, titled "Answers." In it, [[spoiler:the game unexpectedly rewinds by a couple of months and has you play as the Biker whom Jacket killed at Phonehom]].

** Subtly done with the ''gameplay and atmosphere'' themselves. The game plays deliberately like an adrenalin-fueled haze until you kill everyone - then, the music stops, leaving the player to ponder their carnage.
** Outright thrown into the [[spoiler:Biker's face at the end of his play through by the janitors]], if you haven't found the puzzle pieces. They mock his blind need for violent fun. Given that his primary reason for hunting down the conspirators was because he was bored and sick of his job...
** They also insult Jacket's blind following of orders - there would be no real consequence if they refused, besides threats, and never once in Jacket's playthrough do you find out who you're killing or why - nor do you slow down to do so. The three animal-masked people that predate each chapter also question the violence that the protagonist partakes in, "Do you like hurting other people?"
** The Biker rebels against the evil conspiracy - not because of any sense of morality, or guilt, but because ''he's bored'', and wants to kill some more. Given that the last levels of the game will most likely become repetitive, due to the OneHitKill, NintendoHard nature of the game, this may be a potshot at gamers who are frustrated with the gameplay and care nothing for the virtual mayhem they cause - only that when it stops being fun, they want it to go away.
** It's also been theorized that the [[spoiler:secret ending]] is a mockery of gamers who want story to their gameplay, by [[spoiler:suddenly tacking on an international conspiracy plot that's out-of-genre and doesn't really answer any more beyond that.]]

* AnAxToGrind: The fireaxe is a great weapon for dismembering and decapitating enemies.

* KnifeNut:
** Jacket can be this if you mostly play with the BoringButPractical knife. The Dennis mask lets you start each level already armed with a knife.
** [[spoiler:The Biker can only use a meat cleaver and a trio of throwing knives.]]

* TalkingYourWayOut: Subverted during the outro of "Tension". When entering the grocery shop, you can see an already wounded man wearing a Dennis Mask outside, trying to hold at arm's lenght a group of russian mobsters cornering him, possibly bargaining, or [[AintTooProudToBeg begging for his life]]. He manages to hold them off [BattleDiscretionShot until you start talking with Beard inside the store]]. Once you walk back outside, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the poor guy, is now but a bloody corpse]], and the mobsters are nowhere to be seen.

** The final boss, who relies on two panthers, a ninja bodyguard, and then dual uzis.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Jacket's arsenal includes [[PipePain lead pipes]], [[CrowbarCombatant crowbars]], [[GrievousBottleyHarm glass bottles]], ''beer cans'', and ''pans of boiling hot water''. The Don Juan mask allows you to kill enemies by slamming doors into them.

* ArtificialStupidity: Enemies sometimes '''don't react at all''' when someone gets killed right next to them. They also won't react to corpses on the floor. Finally, they will gladly rush into a situation that is getting their comrades killed en-mass. Lampshaded in one of the level opening screen tips: ''"Enemies are Predictable"''.

* AnachronicOrder: Subtle, and more as a way to represent Jacket's increasingly obvious psychosis than anything else. The missions in the first three parts appear to take place in chronological order, but the after-mission sequences (during which Jacket drives to a supermarket, pizzeria, video store, etc.) don't line with such order, with characters in these sequences referring to events that don't take place until missions later. For example, after the first mission, Jacket chats with a supermarket clerk who laments [[spoiler:his loss of his girlfriend]]. It turns out that the reason this happens is because [[spoiler:Jacket has been in a coma]] up until the events of Part 4.

* AnachronicOrder: Subtle, and more as a way to represent Jacket's increasingly obvious psychosis than anything else. The missions in the first three parts appear to take place in chronological order, but the after-mission sequences (during which Jacket drives to a supermarket, pizzeria, video store, etc.) take place out of chronological order, with characters in these sequences referring to events that don't take place until missions later. For example, after the first mission, Jacket chats with a supermarket clerk who laments [[spoiler:his loss of his girlfriend]]. It turns out that the reason this happens is because [[spoiler:Jacket has been in a coma]] up until the events of Part 4.

* AnachronicOrder: Subtle, and more as a way to represent Jacket's increasingly obvious psychosis than anything else. The missions appear to take place in chronological order, but the after-mission sequences (during which Jacket drives to a supermarket, pizzeria, video store, etc.) take place out of chronological order, with characters in these sequences referring to events that don't take place until missions later. For example, after the first mission, Jacket chats with a supermarket clerk who laments [[spoiler:his loss of his girlfriend]]. It turns out that the reason this happens is because [[spoiler:Jacket has been in a coma]] up until the events of Part 4.

* AnachronicOrder: Subtle, and more as a way to represent the protagonist's increasingly obvious psychosis than anything else. The missions appear to take place in chronological order, but the after-mission sequences (during which the protagonist drives to a supermarket, pizzeria, video store etc.) take place out of chronological order, with characters in these sequences referring to events that don't take place until several missions later. For example, after the first mission the protagonist chats with a supermarket clerk who laments [[spoiler:the protagonist's loss of his girlfriend. It turns out the reason this happens is because Jacket's in a coma.]]
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: [[spoiler: The final levels have you controlling the helmet-wearing boss you fought in "Neighbors", discovering the truth behind the answerphone messages.]]

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Any sufficiently-long blade can cut mooks in half, lop off their heads, etc. Shorter blades can still eviscerate and disembowel mooks with one slice, and a thrown knife will instantly kill anyone it hits, regardless of its speed, should it land blade-first.

!!''Hotline Miami'' contains examples of:

* ButThouMust: When you reach the FinalBoss, Jacket will throw away any weapon he has, even if you used a mask that gives you a weapon from the start like Dennis or Richter. You have to use the weapons around the area to fight the boss.

%% NOTE TO EDITORS: Examples for Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number belong on their own page. Please keep them seperate.

* BloodierAndGorier: Jones the alligator mask leaves lakes of blood after killing enemies, no matter which weapon you'll use.
* BodyguardBabes: After Jacket kills the panthers in "Showdown," the Ninja Girl tells the mob boss to "Leave him to me," and a fight will commence. She uses throwing knives at range and a sword for close quarters.

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Playing as [[spoiler: the biker]] restricts you to using only a meat cleaver and 3 unique throwing knives.

''Please be discrete!''\\

* RoleReversalBoss: [[spoiler: In the level "Neighbors", the player character (Jacket) fights and kills Biker, a cleaver-wielding BullfightBoss. Near the end of the game this fight gets revisited, except now ''you'' are the Biker and have to kill Jacket. Ironically, the proper way to complete this fight is ''not'' to act like a BullfightBoss, but simply run up to Jacket and kill him with one swipe.]]

''Hotline Miami'' (''Горячая Линия Майами'' in the cyrillic alphabet) is a 2012 game by [[Creator/{{cactus}} Jonatan "cactus" Söderström]] and Dennis Wedin ([[{{Portmanteau}} Dennaton]] Digital), published by Creator/DevolverDigital. Initially released for Windows, it was later ported to OSX, Linux, [=PlayStation=] 3, [=PlayStation=] Vita, [=PlayStation=] 4, and Nintendo Switch.