The original developers behind Hotline Miami may be done with the ultraviolent, synth-throbbing kill’em’up for now but they’ve approved one modder to carry on the game’s story in a mod called Midnight Animal.
Taking place 20 years after the second game, in 2015, you’ll take over a new character, John, who works as a ‘cleaner’ for Fifty Blessings, the group who rose to power in the US across the two games. While carrying out murders for the organisation he stumbles across information that means he turns against his masters.
It sounds like plot from classic B-movie, pulpy action films but a good enough reason to run through a stack of levels killing everyone in your sight.
According to the Midnight Animal’s developer, Spencer Yan, the mod will be “roughly the same length as the first Hotline Miami in terms of levels, but in terms of content and depth, it is significantly longer. Just in terms of dialogue and interactable world objects (televisions, magazines, notes, etc), it outstrips both the first and second game – combined. Similarly, each mask significantly changes how levels can be played, increasing playtime through experimentation. The inclusion of high scores and actually challenging achievements will significantly boost playtime through a reward system.”
The mod will add a set of new masks and weapons to the mix. A couple of which are on show in the trailer above, including a flamethrower and sniper rifle. I’m a tad worried about the sniper rifle, though: a major flaw with the second Hotline Miami was that the team made larger levels with longer corridors. As you had no control over the camera there were some rooms where you couldn’t see all the walls and there could be an enemy stood in the distance who could see and shoot you but you couldn’t return fire against. A sniper rifle suggests Yan may have gone with large levels, too.
Best of all, when Midnight Animal is released this August, Yan is going to release it for free. It’s currently on Steam Greenlight to see if it can get put out through the Steam Store.
While we’re reminiscing about Hotline Miami, I can’t help but share that awesome, pulsing trailer that got everyone fired up for the game:
This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK, bringing you original reporting, game culture and humour from the British isles.
Comments
4 responses to “One Modder Has Got the Go Ahead to Make a New Hotline Miami”
God i hope they have the right music choice, and include a level editor
No editor, since Dennaton’s already made an excellent editor as is, and to infringe upon that would be really unfair. As for the music, here’s a sample of tracks being considered (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpE8pPO8aMA); I’ll be posting a full soundtrack list when all the stuff with licensing is settled.
I wonder if there will be any new music. If it’s free then it’s not generating any money to license music.
Do you need to own the game to get this? I have the first one but not the second