For my whole time in the video game world, I was told "Hotline Miami 1 is infinitely better than Hotline Miami 2." And despite that being the safe answer. However when I beat it, Hotline Miami 2 instantly became my favorite video game of all time, and one of my top 3 favorite pieces of art. Believe what people tell you. This game is brutally difficult. It takes a lot out of you, and the first was not as hard. However, I never found the overwhelming difficult nature of the game excruciatingly bad. I just wanted to keep playing to finish the story, because of how invested I was in the characters. The Narrative of Hotline Miami 2 is very confusing. Everything is in a loose order. Through this style of storytelling, you wanna keep playing the game to unpack it. And overall, I was mesmerized by the gameplay. It's so fun and intense, and this is one of those games where you need to plan your kills out. And I am not going to spoil the story of the game, nor the ending. You have to play it for yourself. Just letting you know, It does not end on a hopeful note.