The Sequel Hook is a double faced lie.
The surprise teaser for a Hotline Miami 3 is a multi-layered lie. On the one hand, it may be an obvious potshot at the tendency of games nowadays to suddenly give the player a Sequel Hook as a Stinger after the credits, no matter how necessary the need for a sequel actually is. As in the case here, the fact the story ended with the implication the United States at the very least gets nuked into oblivion shows the developers are ending the storyarc on such a down note its practically halfway under the planet's crust.On the other hand, however, the teaser is also lying that the next installment of Hotline Miami will actually be a game. The online prequel comic that comes with 2 is possibly Foreshadowing that the story of Hotline Miami 3 will instead be in the form of downloaded comics and/or a web comic, meaning while 2 is the final game in the series, it is not the end of the franchise yet.
- The devs always said that Hotline Miami 2 would be the end of the series. Hell, it wasn't even meant to have a sequel. Also Richard has always seemed to ALSO speak to the player, pretty much at all times... "Leaving this world is not as scary as it seems" might be deliberately Leaning on the Fourth Wall
Hotline Miami 2 isn't canon.
The immediate assumption of people playing the game is that the events in the game are canon, and that they are actually happening in the world the game takes place in. However, there are multiple clues hinting this is not the case.- Each of the levels come in the form of VHS tapes.
- The acts of the game are structured in a typical story arc. (Exposition, Rising, Climax, Falling, Intermission, and Catastrophe.) Catastophe is the Denouement of the story arc. Intermission is additional information about the story put into it before the ending.
- The final VHS tape is named 'Apocalypse' and is presented as a actual film unlike most of the other levels, sharing a scheme similar to Midnight Animal.
- The Nuclear blast comes from the same direction every single time we see it interrupt a scene. Unless the buildings are structured in a unpractical way with their western sides all facing the blast point, or all of the buildings are in a line, this simply isn't possible.
- We see Richard in the Hard Mode beginning sequence turning on the projector and watching the movie of Hotline Miami 2.
With all these clues in tandem, it appears that Hotline Miami 2 is in fact a film and never actually happened.
- Possibly Jossed, since before Richard plays the movie of Hotline Miami 2, he has a meeting with (the implied ghost of) every playable character (and Ash) as he calls (most of them) out for various reasons before they slowly 'die' the same way they did in the game. BUT, it's a bit unusual for Richard to suddenly appear to tell the main characters hints and taunts, to the point where he can possess other characters and take about events that haven't happened at that point, yet everyone who witnessed it (yes, even if they responded to him) acts as if nothing happened. Why? Because Richard tampered with the tape to further antagonize the character's ignored lessons to avoid evoking Draco in Leather Pants. Mark and the Writer wondering if their doing the right thing seem like subversion's, but they probably already had second thoughts, with or without the Richard meetings
Hotline Miami takes place in the same universe as Mother Russia Bleeds
The Russian government is completely taken over by the Bratva? Check. Stylized ultraviolence and synth soundtrack? Check. The drug that the Son takes at the end might even have been Nekro. Daniels survived the events of Casualties and became the Phone Hom manager
Both Daniels and the manager have similar faded orange eyebrows, heavyset frames, are bald, and we never do see Daniels’ mouth. Similarly, while we get confirmation of Beard getting nuked in San Francisco in 1986, Barnes being blown in half by an explosion, and Jacket going through the events of the first game before getting nuked as well, Daniels is left unaccounted for. Thus, it would not be a stretch to assume he aligned himself with 50 Blessings after quitting his teaching job and became a middle manager with their alliance with Phone Hom, only for Biker to come in and gut him while finding out who’s behind the calls.