r/HotlineMiami Mar 04 '18

No. There will never be a "Hotline Miami 3".

2.9k Upvotes

The Hotline Miami games are very peculiar for a reason that not a lot of people seem to realize. They are games about games. They shine almost entirely thanks to the medium they were created in, and they try to say something about it.

While the first Hotline Miami reflected upon the usage of violence and storytelling in videogames, the second game did so in regards to sequels and finales. When Hotline Miami 2 was released, a reviewer described the game as "a game about the difficulty of making a sequel to Hotline Miami" which the main artist of the game, Dennis Wedin, agreed with. But Hotline Miami 2 is also a game about ending things, and the description used by online stores where you can buy the game explains this:

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is the brutal conclusion to the Hotline Miami saga, set against a backdrop of escalating violence and retribution over spilled blood in the original game. Follow the paths of several distinct factions – each with their own questionable methods and uncertain motivations – as unforeseen consequences intersect and reality once again slips back into a brilliant haze of neon and bloodshed. Blistering combat against punishing opposition will require intense focus as new variables, weapons, and methods of execution are introduced throughout the struggle. Let the striking colors of an unmistakable visual style wash over as you meticulously cut down those that would stand between you and the ultimate meaning behind the massacre. This is the finale, this is the unquestionable end.

The game advertises itself as a finale, and it's not just because of marketing reasons, it's because the game is about being the ending of a series.

Dennaton has stated, even before Hotline Miami 2's release, that they were done with the series, here are some examples of them doing that:

E3 2014: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Interview "But yeah, [The Level Editor] is a nice finish for us 'cause Hotline Miami 2 is the last Hotline Miami that we are gonna make, so it's like, 'okay, we're done, you can take it and do whatever you want with it'"

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Interview - TGS at E3 2013 "Because this is the final game and this is the grand finale so we wanna build more on sadness and 'the end' and what that means"

GC 13: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Dennis Wedin Interview "Like, all the characters and the story we've had it in our minds since the first game so it always felt like 'we wanna tell the whole story, the complete story' that's why we're saying that this is the final one because now you will see the whole picture, almost, it's going to be vague, so we're not gonna answer all questions, but yeah, this is it"

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - EXCLUSIVE Interview - Eurogamer "The pressure on us, from us, is to make the end of Hotline Miami as good, as challenging as we can" "I guess we can say there will be snow falling when we are finishing"

E3 13: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Interview "What we want to change is give the soundtrack a more 'sad' feeling to it because this is the end, this is the final game"

Dennis Wedin: The Sequel A MAZE. / Berlin 2015 -"Hotline Miami 3, when is it coming?" -"It's not, if you play the game you can see that we made Hotline Miami 3 but it sucked so we taped it over with Hotline Miami 2"

There will never be a Hotline Miami 3 or a continuation of the series, there is nothing for a continuation to be made, everything that Dennaton wanted to explore within Hotline Miami's formula has been explored, and the level editor was added so that people could explore what can be done with the formula themselves.

I've made this sticky to put a stop to any threads claiming that Dennaton is making an HLM3 and threads asking if there will be a continuation. Please, do not leave comments stating that you are sad because there won't be another sequel. If you're that big of a fan of this series to be sad that there won't be a new Hotline Miami game made by its developers, then you should be enough of a fan to understand what Hotline Miami 2 means to them. Hotline Miami 2 represents the end of Hotline Miami, but not the end of Dennaton Games, they are working on a new title which will be announced some time in the future, so look forward to it if you love their work.


r/HotlineMiami May 03 '26

MODDING After 10 years in development, Bloodlife, the biggest Hotline Miami total conversion mod yet is finally out!

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81 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 5h ago

Is it implied that Jacket is as dumb as Jake?

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199 Upvotes

In Hotline Miami 2 Jake seems to be unemployed and lives in a very messy apartment. If in the end of Hard News he grabs a bag of money, he then spends them on a ping pong machine and a cool car without changing his living conditions a bit. The reason for that is simple, he is a character with low intellect and blind rage as everyone in the community knows.

In Hotline Miami 1, being a war veteran, Jacket seems to be unemployed as well. He lives in an apartment somewhat even worse than Jake's that he isn't trying to keep clean, and he also feeds on pizza and beer. That makes sense, however he drives a sportcar that doesn't look cheap.

So is it implied that after retiring from army he spent almost all his military payments on a cool car at the cost of living in poor conditions, and didn't try to get a new job ever since? Both characters also have blind (kinda) hate towards russians, which serves as their motivation to be 50 blessings operatives. What do you think?


r/HotlineMiami 7h ago

.

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53 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 9h ago

ART For the Tony fans, have a 3d model of his mask

46 Upvotes

Not gonna lie i wanted to make it more mask like but it looks goofy, if anyone have good actual masks references for me i would appreciate


r/HotlineMiami 13h ago

HLM2 MGE Alex

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33 Upvotes

Translation: Come on then, you little snot-nose. Jerk your little dick to some good genes.


r/HotlineMiami 10h ago

Help me understand how to create advanced effects on levels in the editor.

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9 Upvotes

Often, while playing through other people's large campaigns, I saw effects like shadows, rays of light, and so on, which were created specifically for the level, taking into account walls, windows, and so on. For example, this can be seen in the REDLINE campaign or The Backrooms level. Many locations there feature similar things. Even the floors in the levels are essentially objects that were drawn, not built in the editor. I wanted to know how to do this. I realized it seems to involve editing .meta files, but I don't fully understand how to do it properly. Does anyone know how to do this right? This feature makes levels more beautiful and realistic and can sometimes help optimize levels.


r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

Made a fuckass tier list based on how well I think I’d personally get along with the protagonists

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399 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 23h ago

DISCUSSION Hotline Miami main to semi important males testosterone tier list

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80 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 23h ago

HLM1 Rasmus "An eye for secrets" (Animation)

69 Upvotes

Made a quick animation for this mask


r/HotlineMiami 21h ago

LEVEL EDITOR okay i think i fixed it

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42 Upvotes

they don't even look like the same person, anyway, i'm having some trouble, i don't know how to add shine to the hair in this style and that, but i think it's a little bit better.


r/HotlineMiami 19h ago

HLM1 Bum doesn’t have a talking sprite in the intro

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32 Upvotes

In the outro to the metro bum has a talking sprite, however he doesn’t in the tutorial of the game, why?


r/HotlineMiami 5h ago

HLM2 replayed casualities on hard mode Spoiler

2 Upvotes

how did i miss first time playing that beard fucking dies wtf


r/HotlineMiami 21h ago

HLM1 Finally did it

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36 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

.

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157 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

Cool drawing I made

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43 Upvotes

Js finished hlm1 and made a coolass drawing for it

What y'all think


r/HotlineMiami 16h ago

ART Gotta get a grip-gonna add the colors in soon!

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7 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

Here are some Payday Gang masks in Hotline Miami style

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97 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 20h ago

QUESTION What do i do now in HLM games

7 Upvotes

So i 100% both games i don't know what to do after


r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

Trump Jake

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233 Upvotes

He's gonna build a wall across the Bering Straight, make the Russian Assholes pay for it, then give $5 Billion to Israel, and enact the H1B Visa Plan with his techbro buddy to make America "Great" Again.


r/HotlineMiami 19h ago

HLM1 Oscar mask is a liar!

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3 Upvotes

In my Oscar only play through, once I got to the van part of deadline the ability stopped working. It’s not like jacket took off the mask. This game is officially unplayable!


r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

QUESTION Eu pareço ser gay?

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44 Upvotes

O jacket não para de me encher o saco me chamando de gay, tipo, eu pareço ser gay por acaso?!


r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

HLM1 jacket poster sfm

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28 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

funny how 50% of hotline Miami players don’t know about Russel

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328 Upvotes

r/HotlineMiami 1d ago

corey sketch again

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273 Upvotes

Looong time without posting nothing here hehe, wanna do more artworks with diferents characters from the game and make more hotline's stuff these dayss

, meanwhile here a is corey sketch :)