The Hotline Miami series is nothing short of excellent – a tight, focused top-down shooter polished to a mirror sheen to send you into exactly the kind of neon-soaked, synth-pounding bloodlust its colorful cast of animal-masked characters is experiencing. (And the devs are really cool.)
Unfortunately, the Hotline Miami series also ended with nuclear Armageddon, the only logical endpoint to the escalating violence the games both present and critique. While this naturally makes a Hotline Miami 3 that's not also a Fallout spinoff unlikely, other indie games are starting to pick up the slack – and Transhuman Design's recently-announced Jackal looks to be leading the pack.
Although it swaps the 70s for the 80s, Las Vegas for Miami, and stylized 3D models for intricate pixel art, Jackal still has that brutal, frenetic vibe – and more importantly, it still has the endless legions of mobsters in white suits. Every bit of the presentation is dripping with style that evokes Hotline Miami without outright aping it… and did you see that alligator boss fight?! Jackal has no release date yet beyond 'this year,' but by all accounts it's one to keep an eye on.
