After slamming my head against a wall and playing through the game 3 times and once again for the hard mode, Hotline Miami 2 is undoubtedly a weird game where comparing it to the original or trying to play it like you played the original will only hinder your enjoyment of it. Think of the game as something completely different, relax and try to get used to the spike in difficulty and you'll probably find yourself enjoying the game way more than you would otherwise. When I first played it I thought it was awful but after understanding what the game wanted from me, I was having way more fun than I did in HM1 and it actually made it harder to go back to the first game