Hotline Miami and game mechanics versus narrative

A video analysis

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Have you played Hotline Miami yet? I hope so! For as much as I feel the satisfying gameplay is the primary draw, there are some interesting things going on with the story — enough to allow for multiple interpretations of what the game is actually “about.” Here’s one such analysis, by Chris Franklin. Warning: there are spoilers throughout.

While the over-the-top violence has perhaps taken the center stage of these discussions, Franklin offers an insightful examination of the hospital level and the contrast between the two playable characters and what they each represent in terms of game design. I played through Hotline Miami so quickly that I never stopped to think about these themes, but he brings up some interesting points I don’t find myself disagreeing with. Worth a watch.


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Jordan Devore
Jordan is a founding member of Destructoid and poster of seemingly random pictures. They are anything but random.