Parents' Guide to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

This is very much a different sort of game from Hotline Miami. While the original was a bloody puzzle game, this is a slower, more methodical, and more frustrating shooter. For this sequel, the notion of "more" is taken to nearly every extreme: more characters, more masks, more everything. The most frustrating "more" here is the fact that every stage has so much more space in it, resulting in you being killed by things you can't see offscreen. Whereas the original had you navigating tight, cramped spaces and dashing through as quickly as possible, HM2 has you wandering slowly through sweeping, large rooms whose walls you'll have to walk for a while to even see. It sounds minor but actually makes this a different sort of game.

If you liked the original, you'll be thrown by what the sequel has to offer. If you have no frame of reference, you likely will be confused by the plot-heavy dialogue, and even though you can piece things together, the story just isn't that interesting. It's better to preserve the mystery and not understand it than have clunky exposition as characters explain why the serial killer in the original was so important to them and why they like getting phone calls. A lot of what's new here distracts and detracts from what was great in the first place. What you have here, ultimately, is another solid shooter that might be worth a look, but you should probably try the original one first.