Hotline Miami

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 97%2012

The verdict

A brutal, stylish one-hit-kill top-down shooter with a legendary synthwave soundtrack and an addictive retry loop. Skip it if you hate trial and error or janky controls.

Great for

Players who enjoy fast, hard trial-and-error action, synthwave music and chasing A+ ranks

Main risk

Inconsistent enemy AI and clunky controls, plus the updated version may not launch or may crash

What players love

Amazing synthwave soundtrack

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews

“this game has some absolute bangers”
Steam review · 7.4 h played ↗

“The music is literally an ear-orgasm, I won't even single out tracks, they're all great.”
Steam review · translated · 20.2 h played ↗

“amazing sountrack probably one of the best in the genre”
Steam review · 1.1 h played ↗

Fast, addictive one-more-try loop

Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews

“Good game, very fast paced and you respawn quick enough for the arcade feel to stay constant.”
Steam review · 4.6 h played ↗

“you might rage quit the game after numerous failed attempts but you'll definitely launch it again in sometime since the gameplay is that addictive!”
Steam review · 18.5 h played ↗

Satisfying challenge and puzzle-like levels

Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews

“This is a puzzle game in disguise.”
Steam review · 33.7 h played ↗

“finally getting that perfect run felt incredible and immensly rewarding”
Steam review · 8.9 h played ↗

Stylish neon pixel art and atmosphere

Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews

“The sleazy neon haze, garish colors, and hypnotic soundtrack pull me into a trance.”
Steam review · 6.8 h played ↗

“the game’s pixel art style remains timeless, looking just as sharp and stylish today as it did over a decade ago”
Steam review · 22.5 h played ↗

Thought-provoking story about violence

Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews

“it also serves as a deconstruction of violence in video games as a whole”
Steam review · 3.8 h played ↗

“It builds you up on violence then immediately strips away the adrenaline”
Steam review · 12.3 h played ↗

Cheap and worth the price

Mentioned in ~1 in 25 positive reviews

“Great short game, very simple yet very good. Its cheap too.”
Steam review · 11.4 h played ↗

“The game is great for its price, I got it on sale for 80 rubles.”
Steam review · translated · 3.2 h played ↗

What players complain about

Inconsistent enemy AI and off-screen deaths

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“enemies can see you from beyond one screen away which you cant”
Steam review · 2 h played ↗

“The enemies are simply unpredictable a large majority of the time.”
Steam review · 5.8 h played ↗

Clunky controls and no settings

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“The mouse moves dependently of the character.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

“there's no settings to change the controls or sensitivity”
Steam review · 7.1 h played ↗

“No settings to adjust the mouse, and the crosshair keeps flying around the screen.”
Steam review · translated · 5.5 h played ↗

Bad hitboxes and janky doors

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Fun game hidden behind poor hitboxes, inconsistent AI and jank doors”
Steam review · 2 h played ↗

“Terrible enemy and door hitboxes: bullets can pass through enemies.”
Steam review · translated · 3 h played ↗

Won't launch or broken updated version

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Simply does not open anymore, when I manage to get it open? Riddled with bugs and is unplayable, shame.”
Steam review · 14 h played ↗

“around a week or two in of me playing it the game refused to boot up in the updated version”
Steam review · 15.6 h played ↗

“The game launched badly: it either crashed with no error or only the original version would run.”
Steam review · translated · 0.3 h played ↗

Repetitive, frustrating trial and error

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Throw yourself at a wall again and again until you happen to do the precise series of actions that clear the stage.”
Steam review · 1.1 h played ↗

“the game becomes pretty repetitive afterwards, very similar level designs, same enemies, and underwhelming bosses”
Steam review · 4.4 h played ↗

Crashes and bugs

Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews

“Just a janky thing that crashes constantly. CONSTANTLY!”
Steam review · translated · 17.5 h played ↗

“on certain hardware, a memory leak can happen at approximately 15-30 minutes”
Steam review · 12.7 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7

Processor1.2GHz processor

Memory512 MB RAM

GraphicsDirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory

Storage250 MB HD space

Recommended

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7

Processor1.4GHz processor or faster

Memory1 GB RAM

GraphicsDirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory

Storage250 MB HD space

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7

Processor1.2GHz processor

Memory512 MB RAM

GraphicsDirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory

Storage250 MB HD space

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