Blood, Bullets, and Bros: Hands on With "Hotline Miami 2" and Devolver Digital at SXSW 2014

More guns, more masks, and more games with Devolver Digital.

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"Do you enjoy hurting other people?"

It's hard to imagine a legitimate way to improve upon the deliciously violent outing that was Hotline Miami, but Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games have done just that. We got to play a PlayStation 4 build of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number at this year's SXSW Interactive component, and we're happy to report that everything that made the first title the brutally elegant success it was is back - and multiplied by bloody thousands.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number serves as the viscous conclusion to the series as players are once again forced to engage in some of the most gruesome, and satisfying close quarters combat ever realized. The sequel follows the increasing level of violence via multiple factions carried over from the events of the original title.

Hotline Miami 2  will see several different playable characters, each with completely unique motivations and distinct modes of execution, enter the neon soaked backrooms of Miami. The most important addition to the title is the new ability to roll as a means of evading enemies. This new dodge ability completely reshapes your strategy going into combat, offering players a split second chance to live before possibly being separated by a shotgun blast. Storylines will intersect and weave into one another as you watch reality slip further and further away. An expanded and completely new soundtrack scores the bloody, 2D visuals in a way that is still massively satisfying. Dennaton Games and Devolver Digital drop Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number on PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS4, Vita Q3 2014.

LUFTRAUSERS

Don't be fooled by the highly stylized, retro aesthetics of LUFTRAUSERS, this is one of the most brutal aerial combat titles we've ever played. We died. A lot.

Vlambeer’s gorgeous arcade shooter emphasizes millisecond twitch reaction speed in order to avoid being shot from the sky. Players will choose from over 125 combinations of weapons, planes, and propulsion systems for some of the sickest aerial dogfighting we've ever seen. We were turned into flaming fuselage in turn by enemy fighter planes, battleships, submarines, and rival pilots. 

And even though we died (a lot) LUFTRAUSERS never once felt frustrating. As a matter of fact the game made us feel like unstoppable World War I badasses, even though we very clearly weren't. Fans of arcade shoot 'em ups like the 1942 and R-Type series, this one's for you.

Vlambeer adn Devolver drop LUFTRAUSERS  on PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, and Vita Summer 2014.

Broforce

Equal parts Metal Slug and literally every action film from the 80s and 90s, Broforce might've been the game we lost the most time playing. The title delivers tongue in cheek satire that cribs from classic action films such as Rambo, Predator, Die Hard, Commando, Blade, Judge Dredd,and literally everything in between. As some nameless terrorist organization threatens the world's freedom, there's only team that can ensure the 'American' way of life, Broforce. A pixelated 2D platformer, the game boasts an environment that is literally 100% destructable.

Your rotating cast of Bros (we played as caricatures of John McClane, Rambo, Mr.T, Blade, and Dutch from The Predator) are ridiculously over-powered freedom fighters that are capable of inflicting carnage on a massive level. At one point, playing as the Schwarzenegger doppelganger, we accidentally set fire to a fuel dump and the entire left side of the screen went up in pixelated flames. This run-n-gun platformer is going to be huge, offering online and local mulitplayer modes to bro down with your friends.

Broforce drops on PC, Mac (and possibly console) this summer. The beta is available now.

Gods Will Be Watching

Indie developer Destructeam released a browser version of Gods Will Be Watching, last summer. It was a short, ethically horrifying game that challenged your moral compass and forced players to face ethical grey areas not normally seen in games.

The browser game challenged players to survive a crash landing for 40 days. Players had to weigh how resources were allocated in the middle of a desolate wasteland. Disease, famine, jealousy, and madness greeted you as resources dwindled. Who to save? The doctor, who could cure diseases, or the engineer, who could fix the radio in order to send a distress call?

Destructeam has taken Gods Will Be Watching and created a full fledged title. Six gut-wrenchingly tense scenarios await players as they must make choices that will affect the characters around them. In order to survive you'll be faced with the decisions of cannibalism, amputation, and torture all in the name of survival. Gruesome and challenging, the game will force you to think beyond the binaries of good and evil

Deconstructeam and Devolver drop Gods Will Be Watching  on PC, Mac, Linux, and Mobile Spring 2014.

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