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The Table Sequence[]

After beating Hotline Miami 2, players who decide to go to «New Game» and start again will be greeted with Richard (in Jacket’s clothing) sitting at the head of a table in a door-less projector room. All player characters from the game will appear sitting at the table. Richard questions why they’ve returned to the game even though they know they’ll all die at the end. Each person makes a comment characteristic of themselves and dies.

• Jake rudely and confusedly asks where he is and who everyone in the room is. He will then appear to be shot in the head. (Shot by Petrov or the 50 Blessings Manager in Withdrawal)
• Martin Brown questions if he’s dreaming again. Richard condescendingly asks «It’s all a dream, isn’t it?» and advises Martin to enjoy it while it lasts. He will then appear to be shot in the body vigorously as he is at the end of Final Cut (shot multiple times with a gun by Rachael).
• The Fans are all sitting together on the same side of the table. Tony is characteristically frustrated, just wanting to kill people, and tells his easily influenced friends «let’s get out of here.» Richard comments there’s only one way out of here, and they all appear dead the way they die in Death Wish (Golf club to the head, shot by Pardo, shot by The Son, and shot/possibly axe murdered by the Son)
• The Henchman will die on the table after the Son states that he’s not afraid of death. His head is bashed in a number of times. Aside from the non-Tony Fans he’s the only character who doesn’t get a word in, likely as his life and death was entirely a footnote to the Son’s.
• The Son says he isn’t afraid of death, and will appear dead on the ground, limbs broken apart as if he fell. (He dies by falling off his own building in Death Wish and Apocalypse)
• Richter mistakes Richard for Jacket and attempts to apologize for killing his girlfriend, but Richard denies that he is Jacket and tells him that remorse won’t get Richter anywhere. Richter then turns into a skeleton. (Atomic Blast)
• Manny Pardo will get aggressively defensive that he’s being judged even though he isn’t, which results in Richard questioning Pardo why he does what he does, and tells him that he simply doesn’t understand who Richard is. Pardo then turns into a skeleton. (Atomic Blast)
• Evan Wright will question who Richard is. Richard answers he’s «the opposite of why you’re writing your book» and «something you’ll will never understand,» as Evan was writing the book for a plethora of peripheral reasons (money, fame, concern for society’s well being, all at the expense of his family). Evan also turns into a skeleton. (Atomic Blast)
• Beard, as the last one left, wonders if they’ve met before. Richard answers that they did, and that he’s glad he remembers. He wishes that they could’ve met «under different circumstances». Beard does too, and dies as a skeleton. (Atomic Blast)

After everyone has finally died, Richard will play a projector tape, playing Midnight Animal and starting the game over (in the Hard Mode, the characters are depicted as reenacting Hotline Miami 2‘s events in dark blue nuked-out ruins).

Trivia[]

• The Janitors are both based on the game’s creators — Jonatan Söderström (brown hair) and Dennis Wedin (blonde hair).
• The only occasion The Janitors are seen not grinning is on the secret ending conversation of Resolution.
• In Hotline Miami, their sprites as seen from the top-down view are identical — if the player chooses to kill a janitor, Dennis will always be the one killed first. It’s possible to kill Dennis and spare Jonatan but not the opposite.
• Their names are revealed through the second game level editor.
• Their dialogue sprites aren’t available for the level editor through conventional uses, they can be used by hacking.
• If Biker kills Dennis, Jonatan may flip him off.

Alpha Features[]

NOTE: The alpha version of the editor is incomplete. As such, it is no longer updated and lacks features and bug fixes the beta editor has. Use at your own risk.

• Selecting Manny Pardo, Jake, Evan, and sometimes The Fans will result in the level completely crashing.
• A lot of items aren’t finished.
• Many Items will crash the game, when selected.
• Many Walls from the games are not available. (ie, white brick walls, or indestructible mirrors/windows)
• Corner wall textures for the Sewer Walls, Wood Walls, and Movie Set Walls will not be placed.
• If too many walls are added, the game will crash.
• Many tiles from both games are also not available.
• The guns tab does not have any weapons that can be placed.
• Triggers can not be made. (For example, the elevator explosion in Casualties, or the «Get the Girl» objective scene in Final Cut)

Biker, Jacket and H.M. Hammarin are unusable.

Lethal knife throws will automatically turn the sprite into a mobster.

• No outro/intro/sprite editors.
• No cutscene editor.
• No campaign editor.

If you use The Pig Butcher, Richter or The Soldier, you won’t be able to finish the level.

Saves made in the alpha build will not carry over to the full version.

• The floor tiles tend to disappear while using the Rewind function and while renaming the level.
• Some songs are unlisted, such as iamthekidyouknowhatimean’s Run. Other songs are incorrectly labeled; for example, selecting Jasper Byrne’s Voyager will instead play Carpenter Brut’s Le Perv, and Scattle’s Bloodline is listed as Pursuit.
• If the player lowers the volume while in a level, the game will crash.
• Adding doors will occasionally result in a crash.
• If player replays the level the floor tiles will disappear, leaving only walls, items and enemies.

Reception[]

The game received generally positive reviews from critics. It received an aggregated score of 75.90% on GameRankings based on 40 reviews and 76/100 on Metacritic based on 61 reviews.

Danny O’Dwyer from GameSpot gave the game a 9/10, praising its techno and intense soundtrack, entertaining, engaging and challenging gameplay, well-designed controls, striking and vibrant visuals, improved enemy placement, lengthy story, as well as the huge variety of characters, levels and locations. He also praised the game for allowing players to use multiple approaches towards a single objective. However, he criticized the lack of weapon customization. He summarized the game by saying that «This is a confident follow-up which improves upon the original in almost every way. This is a tremendously stylish game which entertains throughout, and delights in forcing you out of your comfort zone.

Chris Carter from Destructoid also awarded the game a 9/10, praising the open-ended gameplay, engrossing story, accessible interface and level-creator, as well as the game for allowing players to utilize creativity and strategy in every level. However, he criticized the poor AI. He summarized the game by saying that «Hotline Miami 2 may not be as «profound» as its predecessor, but it’s still a bloody good time.»

Chloi Rad from IGN gave the game a 8.8/10, praising its high replay value, engaging story, sizable maps, rich characters’ backstory, character-specific abilities, the improved lock-on system as well as the level-design, which demands players a new and more cautious approach towards dangers. However, she criticized the occasionally frustrating levels. She summarized the review by saying that «Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a great game and a worthy sequel. It’s more confident in its style, storytelling ability, and level design than the first game.»

Steven Burns from VideoGamer.com gave the game a 7/10, while praising the narrative as well as the brutal violence featured in the game, which he stated «has tread a fine, sophisticated line between titillation, power, and reflection, an integral part of both narrative and mechanics.», he criticized the over-sized maps, as well as the game for being overly difficult, frustrating as enemy attack players where they can’t be seen from the camera angle. and restrictive as the game enforced players to play on certain way very often.

Comics[]

The dates corresponding with the Ghost Wolves storyline and Jake’s storyline are inconsistent and generally hard to reconcile with or deduce from the events of the games. For these reasons they’re excluded from the game timeline above.

July

The Waipahu Prison is assaulted by the Ghost Wolves, who kill ~350 men and destroy seven attack helicopters. They then steal an attack helicopter and «nuke» the Russian base.

Unknown

A Russian controlled base near Midway Atoll is captured by the Ghost Wolves. 10 days later another base is taken over by the Ghost Wolves.

August

10th — The captured Paradise Resort is taken over by the Ghost Wolves. It is very similar to Stronghold, which takes place in an unnamed Hawaiian resort.

May

2nd — Jake attends an American pride protest rally which breaks into a riot. Jake kills a Russian woman before returning to his apartment to find a 50 Blessings package containing his Jake Mask.

July

• Mid July — The comics re-date Assault as occurring «last week» from Showdown instead of a day prior.
• 23rd — Jacket is apprehended by police on the morning at Lebedev’s mansion. The filming of his arrest is broadcast during a news report about his series of crimes, which are viewed by Daniels and the Fans.

September

• 23rd — The Pig Butcher is shown being filmed while «killing» a store clerk with a hammer on 196th Street.
• 24th — The Pig Butcher is watching horror movies in his apartment before being told by the Pig Phone to go to 188 63rd Street, where he «kills» a family. Several cameras and boom mics are visible in many comic panels. He returns to his apartment to eat beans and is again told by the Pig Phone to go to 188 66th Street, where he «kills» a group of teenagers. After he does, he removes his mask and is congratulated by the movie crew.

October

• 9th — A cargo shipment of Russian prostitutes is discovered by the Miami Port Authority. Ash and Mark express a desire to acquire a police radio.
• 9th — The Fans are on a patrol around a warehouse district. Ash discovers a warehouse that had its gate lock cut. The Fans decide to investigate and run into a group of masked thieves raiding the warehouse, before being killed by the Fans.

The Abyss[]

Intro

Evan Wright, having taken the floppy disk he obtained with Manny Pardo’s help (and exiting the evidence locker to a burst of dream static) to a Copy Flash to print its contents, goes to retrieve the documents found on it from the Copy Flash store. The employee hands him a print out of the documents found on the floppy, which turn out to be a list of addresses (…NW 27th Ave… …NE 101st St…). Before leaving Evan asks the employee for a map of Miami, but is told they don’t sell maps and to try a tourist center a block away.

Abandoned Building

Evan meeting several hobos wearing 50 Blessings masks by a candle-lit 50 Blessings logo.

Evan arrives at NW 27th Avenue to find the abandoned 50 Blessings headquarters visited by Jake in Withdrawal. Several ruined beds, a water purifier system and a gym are now visible. The building has lead lined walls and a vault door, implying 50 Blessings planned to survive the nuclear war in there. Whether those plans ever panned out is unknown. It is possible this building in particular was abandoned because of the unwanted attention brought onto the organization by Jake.

He goes through the building, littered with 50 Blessings paraphernalia and various graffiti. Evan goes through the bunker until he reaches the back room, which contains several squatting hobos. The hobos are wearing many of the masks from the first game, including Richard, Don Juan and George; a large candle-lit 50 Blessings symbol is painted in the middle of the room. The hobos apparently mistake Evan for a 50 Blessings representative or other official come to kick them out, and he is told to leave or be killed. After exiting the back room, gang members have now occupied all the rooms and Evan must fight his way out to leave.

Playstyle[]

Mark starts with a pair of MP5s. Similar to The Son’s technique Bloodline, he is able to aim in separate directions. By holding down just the right mouse button he will fire the guns while holding down both the right mouse button and left shift will spread the guns horizontally.

He has a full magazine of ammo for each gun in reserve. After his ammunition is depleted, he mounts his firearms on his back and reverts to using other weapons normally.

Without his machine guns, he plays similarly to the other «fat» characters, Martin Brown and Jake. His executions without a weapon have a long build up but are single hit kill.

Mark’s playstyle features a «burnout» aspect with his abilities drastically limited after the opening volley of bullets runs out. This could parallel his lack of endurance due to an easy going life and largely pizza diet.

Questions[]

Don Juan: Oh. It’s you again. It looks like you’ve been busy since we last met.

Richard : I see that you remember me now. Don’t you? But you still don’t know who I am. You don’t even know who introduced us, do you?

Rasmus : Why did you come back here? You’re not a nice person, are you? You make me sick!

Don Juan : A picture is starting to take form here… I wonder if it’s accurate. Some pieces don’t quite seem to fit. Or maybe I just don’t like the way it looks. 

Richard: I think our time is up… But we’ll meet again. Before you go, here’s four questions to ponder. Question number one: Do you like hurting other people? Question number two: Who is leaving messages on your answering machine? Question number three: Where are you right now? And the final question: Why are we having this conversation? That’s all for now. See you soon…

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number[]

• The Fans drive the Attack Van, a Phone Hom van stolen from police impound that has been redecorated with the 50 Blessings logo and the word «Attack.» The floor of the Attack Van is littered with beer bottles and pizza boxes. Mark has his own grey blue sedan which is seen in the introduction to the scene Death Wish.
• A stolen police car tagged Cinimod appears in Down Under’s intro.
• Manny Pardo can retrieve a shotgun from the trunk of his purple sedan during his first scene, Homicide. Pardo also rides in a golf cart during his nightmare sequence. The opening screen of Dead Ahead

  Martin Brown also uses a golf cart as his primary source of transport in the Level Editor.

  features a forklift.

• Jake drives a green sedan and can get a new black truck if he takes the briefcase on the third floor of Hard News. His new truck will appear in Withdrawal if the briefcase is taken.
• The 50 Blessings Manager drives a fresh Phone Hom van (possibly the future Attack Van) in the successful outro to Withdrawal.
• Evan Wright takes a taxi in First Trial and The Abyss and he uses the train in Subway. He also takes the bus when arriving at and returning from Rosa Berg’s home. The bus stop is tagged with «THE END.»
• The Henchman drives a plain gray Fiat which he parks next to the Son’s black and gold Trans Am. During the dream sequence of No Mercy he drives a bright red convertible car. As the dream becomes a nightmare the husks of several sedans and Fiats litter the highway. The chop shop he raids in the level itself has a number of cars:
  • Purple and green Lamborghini Murcielagos, identical to the ones from Showdown.
  • Red Ferraris, some with the engine and roof removed (possibly set up for Henchman’s dream convertible)
  • Yellow Mustangs, and Mustang frames being painted green.
  • A black version of the Acado GT
  • A tan mobile home.
  • The destroyed husk of a sedan tagged with the word «DIE»
• Beard uses a military jeep once in the intro to Ambush. In the actual level, a Russian Military Helicopter can be seen in one outpost. The outro to Stronghold features two wrecked Fiats outside the hotel, one gray one red. The level Casualties’ first screen features a fresh, untampered with grey Fiat identical to Henchman’s. The second screen of Casualties features a Russian military jeep in the parking lot.
• Richter’s car was burned as a warning from 50 Blessings, but appears to have been a Fiat. Richter takes the THE END Bus used by Evan in Subway to all his levels except Release. He leaves most scenes on foot, with the exception of Release, where he enters a SWAT van. The Level Editor lacks the ability to leave screens on foot, and forces a THE END Bus stop exit to his levels.
• The Son drives a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that is the same from the 1977 film, «Smokey and the Bandit». He also uses a black Van in Blood Money. He apparently owns or is looking to buy a Helicopter as his new building is shown to have a Helicopter pad.

Transcript[]

Evan: «Hold on a second, gotta fetch another notepad.»

After getting the notepad, he returns to his seat.

Evan: «Alright, I’m back. Continue.»

Richter: «So, I’m in there, just waiting for the trial to start… And I can tell you, Time moves slow when you’re locked up.

This one day, I get a visit.»

Cut to Richter in the visitation area. Dennis and Jonatan enter the building. Jonatan picks up the phone.

Jonatan: «Good Afternoon.»

Richter: «Who are you guys?»

Dennis: «I told you he wouldn’t recognize us.»

Richter: «Why are you here?»

Jonatan: «Tying up some loose ends. Just a little precaution. Seems like it wasn’t really necessary.»

Richter: «I’m afraid I don’t understand.»

Dennis: «Oh, we didn’t expect you to. While we’re here, we might as well say our goodbyes.»

Richter: «Goodbyes?»

Jonatan: «Yes, after all you served us well. But it looks like your time’s up now.»

Richter: «What are you talking about?»

Jonatan: «You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.»

Dennis: «It was nice seeing you again, but I’m afraid it’s time for us to leave. You take care now!»

Both leave.

Richter gets up, leaves the visitation area, and enters the basketball court, where he meets the Prison Boss.

Prison Boss: Say your prayers, asshole.»

Trivia[]

• She has no lines of dialogue after Decadence and cannot be further interacted with until her body is discovered by Jacket in Deadline. In each interlude between chapters until that point she is seen moving about the apartment, and sometimes absent from the apartment.
• It is believed that The Girl could in part resemble one of the creator’s girlfriends as he said that once he met her his apartment started becoming cleaner, the same as The Girl’s influence on Jacket’s apartment.
• The Girl appears posthumously in the digital comic after Jacket’s arrest after Showdown. A news report detailing the various murders Jacket has been party to mentions that he «kidnapped» her during the events of Decadence and that she was later found dead in Jacket’s downtown apartment. This shows that the press did not have insight into their true relationship and how they had met, and it is unknown but presumed unlikely that Jacket opened up to investigators when asked about her. It is also worth mentioning that given dialogue between police officers upon Jacket beginning to awake from his coma in Trauma, that they refer to Richter as having shot Jacket and his girlfriend, meaning that the police are aware that Jacket was not her killer.

  The Girl in the digital comic.

Events of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number[]

1985

Mark is shown in the military bar on March 17th. He’s sitting facing away from the bar and using the counter as an arm rest. He appears to be either hiccuping or laughing. He’s holding a large red bottle and is seated between a seated, pizza-eating Corey and a standing beer-drinking Tony. Mark and Corey are the only ones in the group wearing sunglasses.

Late October and November 1991

At the Halloween party, Mark is again seated drinking out of a large red bottle and using the back of a couch as an armrest. After Tony and Ash verbally express their hatred of the party, and Corey awkwardly pauses, Mark asks what they think about tonight. Both Ash and Tony agree to go out, and Mark asks if the weapons are in the car, but Corey expresses reservations and awkwardly pauses, leading Mark to also awkwardly pause. After the job, Mark retrieves and pays for several pizzas and brings them into the van.

On November 11th, Mark can be seen in Hank’s bar again with his large red bottle, in a chair backed away from the table, seemingly for lack of leg room.

On November 22nd or shortly after, Mark helps execute the Russian Henchman by stomping on and crushing his right hand.

December 1991

On December 2nd, Mark is inspecting an Uzi (of which there are now several on the Fans’ 50 Blessing logo table, implying Mark brought in a new shipment of them) and sitting on a couch with Ash. Ash advertises a location his friend Jack gave him as being full of junkies and lowlives, to which Mark replies «Kinda like this place, huh? …,» eliciting a Fuck-you-Mark from Ash.

On December 9th, Mark is player-controlled and starts in the garage with Ash, who is tuning up the van. Mark goes inside and reads movie news on Galaxy Film’s upcoming controversial picture. He joins the Fans in looking at floor plans of buildings on their table. He asks them if they caught Channel 6 last night and says «looks like we’re famous now. …» Alex missed the story, and asks Mark to call in to get a copy because she’d pay big bucks to see it. Tony sarcastically asks Mark to also call the police and turn himself in, to which Mark replies that wouldn’t be very smart. Mark says the Fans will get another story eventually, but Tony disagrees, saying they’d need to kill more people first. After they settle on a location, Mark says he «wouldn’t mind going for a ride» and that «we can always grab pizza later if we don’t find anything.» He goes to the van and Ash starts it from inside. Notably, Mark is unlocked on Into the Pit and the VHS art depicts him in the sewer. The mission has an uneasy atmosphere to parallel Mark’s reservations and Level Clear fake out apparently to highlight Marks finite ammo supply.

On December 20th, Mark has a hallucination of himself happily delivering Richard masks to the Fans from the trunk of his grey blue sedan. The table is covered with both guns and empty pizza boxes. Corey, Tony, and Alex don the masks in the order of their floors and give their walkie talkie messages about meeting on the roof. Mark is confused, and the world flashes back to reveal the delivery wasn’t real.

After the Swans enter the tower, Corey reminds Tony and Mark to keep in touch with walkie talkies and enters. Mark is given an unprecedented double ellipses to express his reservations about the roof plan, commenting that the gap between buildings looks too far to jump across. Tony comments that it isn’t that far, but that «you might have some difficulties with it though, big guy,» prompting the nervous Mark to say «fuck you too, man. …»

Mark spends all of his ammo clearing his floor and radios that he’s heading upstairs. Mark is then attacked and killed with a golf club by The Son. While Mark’s death is only seen through the eyes of The Son while he is hallucinating, his corpse is found later by Detective Pardo with a wound to his head.

Trivia[]

• According to the Unlock Image, the Uzi, is based on the IMI Micro-Uzi with An Extended Magazine size of 30.
  • This can be told by the smaller barrel, and grip. However Unlike the Actual Micro-Uzi, the Uzi in Hotline Miami has no Stock.
  • The Uzi resembles the Uzi Pistol, the semi automatic civilian version of the IMI Micro-Uzi, this can be noted by its lacking of a stock which the military version would have, this is likely because it was modelled off the Micro-Uzi version used in Films, which where originally Uzi Pistols that where converted to fire fully automatic by the prop armouries, however they still would be missing a stock after this which the military versions would have.
  • According to Dennis Wedin, when asked about what the Silenced Uzi was he responded with «..When I Saw it, I thought of *Link to a Picture of a Full Length Silenced Uzi*»

Members[]

Corey (Zebra)

Corey’s Roll Dodge.

The first of the playable fans. She is extremely agile and has the ability to Roll Dodge. This allows her roll and dive, becoming temporally invulnerable, rolling under gunfire, avoiding melee attacks and knocking enemies back when entering a room. Corey wears a Miami Dolphins jacket along with khaki pants and purple knee protectors.

Tony (Tiger):

His punches are lethal, but he cannot — or rather, doesn’t want to — use any weapons other than his fists. He is able to kill fat enemies by first knocking to the floor and then performing a ground execution, as well as being able to catch dogs mid lunge, albeit with a protracted execution animation. He wears a black t-shirt along with tan body armor, knee pads, and cowboy boots. His mask consists of nature’s «danger» colors, red and orange, and may have been a pillaged mask from the first game’s «Tension» chapter.

Alex (#1) and Ash (#2) (Swans):

Sister and brother, respectively; she uses a chainsaw while he uses firearms. The player controls Alex while Ash (ideally) follows close behind, and both characters’ attacks are in complete control. They wear green football padding as body armor (with orange shoulder pads for Ash) and Alex wears an orange backpack. Alex is the only one of The Fans to be seen without a mask over the course of the game; her face is a color swap of The Henchman’s girlfriend. Alex and Ash can be seen outside Jacket’s trial protesting.

Mark (Bear):

Starts with a pair of MP5s. He is able to aim in separate directions by holding down the right mouse button (holding down just the right mouse button will spread the guns horizontally, while holding down the right mouse button and left shift will spread the guns vertically), and has a full magazine of ammo for each gun in reserve. After his ammunition is depleted, he mounts his firearms on his back and reverts to using other weapons normally, effectively giving him a quick-burnout mechanic. He wears a blue shirt and a teal kevlar vest.

1985[]

March

• 17th — The Fans are eating at a military bar in Hawaii while Evan Wright, a war reporter, interviews their Commander outside. Barnes and Daniels have a drinking contest that Beard and Jacket duck out of to leave the bar and return to camp. Evan then requests his photographer to take a Polaroid picture of Beard and Jacket which Beard takes a copy of.
• 17th (night) — At camp, Beard is standing near an emptied-out personal possessions case near a stripped fifth bunk in his unit’s tent. Jacket is chain smoking and the Colonel seems visibly drunk. Beard’s unit attacks several Soviet outposts in the jungles of Hawaii and wipes out all enemy forces. Jacket and Barnes handle Russian prisoners, and Barnes severely beats one that reminds him of Daniels. Beard talks to Daniels in an intel fort featuring the corpse of a Russian intel officer, who has either been executed or committed suicide with a shot to the head. Daniels sighs that it’d be easier to let Barnes kill the Russian prisoners. Their fate is unknown.

October

• 25th — Jacket is sunbathing next to Beard while Barnes and Daniels play cards. The group discusses life outside war: Barnes was a bartender, Daniels a schoolteacher, and Beard expresses a desire to run a convenience store. A dejected Colonel has made the 50 Blessings logo out of animal bones in his room, and maligns his possible promotion to Lieutenant General as he believes America can’t win the war. The unit’s final mission before going home is to finally take a resort serving as a Russian stronghold that has been sieged for weeks by local troops. Beard and the squad take the Stronghold, finding a swimming pool full of body bags. The D Company Commander congratulates them on doing what his men couldn’t.
• 30th — Beard’s unit is given yet another «final mission» where local forces will actively hold back and let them capture a power plant by themselves. This prompts a cracked Colonel to kill and skin a panther, donning its face as a mask and drawing the 50 Blessings logo on the American flag’s stripes in its blood. The next morning, Beard and his squad attempt to take a power plant in Hawaii from the Soviet military forces in a seemingly suicide mission. Barnes is killed in an explosion and Daniels stays behind with him, while Beard rescues a wounded Jacket and gives him the Polaroid picture during the evacuation, saying «it’s on the house, you’d do the same for me, right?»  

Events in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number[]

The Janitors are the ones leaving messages on Jake and Richter’s answering machines, although neither of them discover this.

Regardless of their fate in the first game, they will be alive, implying that Biker sparing them is the canon choice.

July 28th, 1990 (Release)

The Janitors reappear a year later in Release, where they visit Richter in jail who doesn’t remember them. They say that they came to tie loose ends and wanted to see him one last time, and leave before Richter is confronted by a murderous prisoner (bearing a «50» tattoo) and eventually a riot. They have also changed their look by dyeing their hair and growing their beards, and wear regular clothes instead of their janitor suits.

The Janitors’ dialogue is a continued fourth wall break about the nature of the sequel, explaining that they’re «tying up some loose ends» and that it «seems like it wasn’t really necessary» and that «we didn’t expect you to » but that «you’ll figure it out.»

Their fate remains unclear, but they are likely alive, being aware of the ensuing nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia. Whether or not they were killed in one of the several nuclear blasts that occurred is unknown.

Parallels in Other Media[]

• The Fans and their van are very similar to the characters from Contra Hard Corps.
• The Hotline Miami 2 poster strongly resembles the poster to Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs.
• Themes of the ambiguity between media and reality are explored in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, which is also the title of the ambiance after a level is cleared.
• Martin Brown’s solid pink phones are references to the solid colors of surreal items in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and surreal phone calls in David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
• Surreal phone calls and an escape to Hawaii are featured in Punch-Drunk Love.
• The alternating focus between vast areas and detailed often ugly faces, as well as sparse brief dialogue, is a style often used in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns such as The Man With No Name Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West.
• The tracks over Homicide and First Blood are both direct references to James Cameron’s The Terminator.
• First Blood is a reference to the original Rambo movie First Blood.
• The organization and goals of 50 Blessings are very analogous to the fight club from David Fincher’s Fight Club.
• The idea of cycling through a vast array of characters and criminals in a city with themes of violent media is present in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
• The Son’s blaring white suit during Apocalypse is similar to John Woo protagonists such as Ah John / «Shrimp Head» from The Killer.
• The Colonel is a double reference to Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now and Lt. General Jack D. Ripper from Dr. Strangelove: or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
• The bags of money acquired by the Russian Henchman and Richter are both references to the 2011 movie Drive, as is the fact that both these characters are on the run with a woman to lose.
• The idea of different characters all meeting a surrealistic entity, reacting differently to it, and dying is present in The Seventh Seal.
• Manny Pardo, while based on a real person, has parallels to Dirty Harry from Dirty Harry and Cobra Cobretti from the movie Cobra, the latter of which subsequently inspired the Driver from Drive.
• Evan Wright is based on the writer of Generation Kill and American Desperado, the latter of which’s cover seems to be the source of his appearance.
• The idea of extremely violent outlaws dying in a climactic suicide mission can be found in The Wild Bunch.
• The Son has a scar on his face, does cocaine and is a mafia head in Miami with animosity toward South Americans, similar to Tony Montana from Scarface.
• The concept of using both a gun and a chainsaw and a character named Ash is found in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy.
• Ash is also the name of the condescending techie scientist from Alien.
• The concept of a writer who alienates his family writing about killers is found in the David Fincher drama Zodiac.