Hotline Miami: Senseless Violence?

When discussion turns to video games it’s often easy to centralize the topic around violence, American fascination with the subject as entertainment, how it distorts the lives of our children or caused this or that murder, etc. Some games, are of course, more prone to such discussion than others, yet a general sentiment that the video games are a realm ruled by violence, where gore sells, permeates through advertising as well as fear mongering news reports, looking for something to blame for a tragedy rather than focusing on alleviating the devastating results of tragedy itself.

Enter Hotline Miami a top-down gore-filled extravaganza.

In a minute there will be blood. Lots of it. 
Now, you’ve likely heard about Hotline Miami and how violent it is at some point. Maybe you’ve played it, maybe not, but the game is undeniably fun. If any mantra can be applied to the gameplay of Hotline Miami it’s “Be quick or be dead” death in the game comes only in one form, instantaneous, and enemies are just as vicious killing machines as the player. The game requires a wiring of reflexes—effeciency and discretion, a delicate blend of frantic execution with examination of one’s surroundings and knowing when it’s optimal to strike, and when a speedy retreat is necessary, combine this with the intense gore, and the game is an undoubtedly visceral, heart pumping experience.

Of course, here the perennial question arises; frantic muscle movements, great; shifting gameplay elements by way of masks and weaponry, fine; ultra violence, why?

Those subject to the game’s bloody aesthetic may wonder if it’s all necessary—did the frantic gameplay really need the gore attached? And, while it may not be entirely necessary, I’d like to point out that the gore in Hotline Miami is not senseless. It serves a clear, and in fact necessary purpose.

The gore in Hotline Miami serves as a fundamental visual indicator to the player—it says, basically, ̦“hey, you’ve executed the task successfully!” it becomes an integral and effective part of the fast paced gameplay. Given that game-over can be instantaneous—as soon as the player misses a beat and is caught by an enemy—the results of the player’s actions need to be conveyed just as rapidly. Bright red splater is a very noticable and popping visual cue that allows the player to move on, wasting no time wondering if he was successful in completeing the task. The visual gore not only augments the speed of the gameplay, it supports it, and becomes a part of its foundation.

Take for instence the aesthetic of Adom (one of my favorite rougelikes) and posit that for a moment to the frantic pacing of Hotline Miami.

The Rougelike: Classic, Text Heavy, Turn-Based

Imagine how difficult the game might become if we replaced the immeddiate, striking visual cue of red splatter (warm colors pop) with a text message indicating the player was sucessful, all while keeping the pacing of the gameplay the same. It would, at best, add an unecessary curve to the game. The player might attempt to read said message at first, but, realizing taking time to read will result in a speedy death, will begin to treat them as simple visual cues—the extravagant, in your face gore indicators in Hotline Miami are not only part of the plot, but part of the gameplay.

Now, of course, it’s still heavily debatable if the indicators need to take on the aesthetic of violenece—for instance why not have yellow colors splash out from squares rather than humanoids, this too would get the job done. This is of course where aesthetic consideration comes into play, and given the integral role of violence in the game’s plot it makes sense. Now of course, wondering if violence should be a part of video game plots or aesthetics at all is a much longer, and complex debate, but the goal of this breif essay is to merely point out that the violence isn’t senseless. The violence in Hotline Miami and the violence in many video games isn’t tacked on simply because it can be—it is almost always a visual representation of a fundamental part of the game, in most cases and indicator of the player’s sucessful victory over an enemy, indicating that it is safe to move on. To claim that developers simply add violence to a video game because they can would be foolish—the decision to include violence is thought over, and included if it is aprorpriate to the story and gameplay elements. There is too of course considerations that perhaps, violence is what gets products flying off shelves in certain regions—this is another dimension regarding the subject, and out of reach for this discussion which aims only to be preliminary. 

An interesting thing to consider too, is that visual representations of violence are far more demonized than abstract concepts of violence present in media. Take for instance Adom, pictured above. Violence too, is an integral part of this game; the player roams around slaughtering creatures of all sort from man to beast and back, yet I highly doubt many would be up in arms over the violence present in the game for it isn’t displayed—the most we see are two characters adjacent to each other, and, after some dice rolls, one of the characters transforms into an item as the game informs the player he has defeated his foe. And ultimately, that is what occurs in Hotline Miami when one defeats an enemy, only the depiction is amped up tenfold in sensuality—red pixels flood the screen. Ultimately arguing against such gore is to argue against exposure—the theory that, if exposed to a representation of something, our society may find it fascinating and attempt to repeat it in real life—the ability to separate fiction from reality, which thankfully the vast majority of men and women have. 

In sum, if we take a look at things, representations of violence, while perhaps not an agreebale part of any medium, serve some sort of purpose. 

A bloodbath? Yes. Necessary? Probably not. Pointless? Not in the slightest. 

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