Hotline Miami is a rather unique game where it successfully captures the 80s nostalgia in today's culture. It's a top-down classic-looking pixelated beat-em-up with the most violent depiction of combat a 2D game can generate.
The gameplay is simple, but addicting. You control Jacket, a silent protagonist wearing a variety of masks giving him different useful abilities. Your mission every time is to eliminate all enemies on cleverly constructed maps, and selecting the right mask is as important as having fast enough reflexes. The game is very fast paced, and high difficulty can make you die and replay the same level countless times.
Strangely enough, the trial and error approach in this game is immensely satisfying. This is probably due to the amazing atmosphere created by stylistically recreating the atmosphere of the 1980 the game takes place in. Both the synthesized music and the visuals create the feeling that you are in a criminal action movie from 1989, and you just keep trying to go deeper and deeper into this world.
