Shäd-base – All Risks Reserved!

Wendy having a late night party with the other teens at the lake. Too bad it had to by Crystal Lake.

Decided to try a more custom take on Wendy while still staying close to the original design. You can see a version of her looking more like she did in the show here.

Thanks for hanging out in the long Sunday Stream we did while I was drawing her.

Ive also been playing Hotline Miami 2 this week alot, but didnt finish it till right now. I originally wanted to post some detailed personal opinions on it, but Procrastination Dude (Who also happens to be the guy who got me into Hotline Miami by gifting me the first one back in 2013, and gifting me the new one aswell HUGE THANKS FOR THAT MAN!) wrote a far better summary  here in the comments of Shadbase, that says everything I wanted to say (but better) and more!

Short review of Hotline Miami 2 by Proscrasination Dude:

HM2 was after finishing it at first a Disappointment for me for 2 Reasons.

1) The Reward structure was broken for me. You know in HM1 after beating a level or A+ – ing it made me (and most others) feel like a dark God. That didn’T happen to me once in HM2.

Now that I have dicked around a little bit after finishing it, playing hard mode and S and A+ ranking some of the harder levels I have a considerable amount of Fun but still not THAT moment that I hoped for.

This Might is connected to the fact of how much I already played HM1 becomming extremely good at it. HM2 wasn’t that much of a challenge for me.

The Level Design at first annoyed me as it supports a very gun heavy approach to playing and I liked beeing a baseball bat swingin knife wielding Ninja in HM1 but that isn’t to much of a loss for me. Also the off camera shotgun sniping that happend isn’t that much of a deal because in HM1 most strategizing was based on remembering enemie movements and position. It is harder then HM1 and if the light inconveniences above are the Price to pay I am down with it.

Mechanicly through the introduction Of the Fans, Jake, Evan, The Son and the Soldier alot of different Playstyles are possible,encouraged and even necesarry giving a twist to HM1s gameplay.

Overall it is gameplay wise extremely well made and I think most people who didn’t play as long as I did are having massive fun with it (well so do I, I get more and more into it with time)

2) The Story.

Lets compare the tone. HM1 felt more ambiguous and alienated then HM2 while HM2 is darker and somewhat melancholic in nature.

In HM1 the Story was so much less present (in the Jacket(the Silent Protagonist) part). We enjoyed the destruction with him while watching his psyche slowly deteriorate never knowing who he was. The blanks could be filled by ourselves with anything we want but in my case (and most often) with our own personality. The Biker part did something else instead of focusing on the Player personal relationship with violence it serves to make commentary on violence (or narrative overall to an extent) in videogames. The self insertion of the developers at the end argued that as-long as
Mechanics are good Narrative doesn’t matter saying “we did it for fun”.

HM2 instead focuses on a more varied cast with different ambitions. We can see How they each effect their lives and are allowed to see how everything plays out while building our opinions about them. We consider what they all are supposed to represent. And then comes the End. The Developers way of finishing the series for good. It felt so unsatisfying.

But that is part of the commentary that HM2 makes. It is about expectations in sequels and ends. HM1 through It’s ambiguity left much open and so the Fanbase expected a sequel. The developers with their promotional material setup these Characters (marting Brown, Jake and the Fans especially) that in the end we barely even see. It hides it’s end (cover: beard beeing nuked; collecters edition cover: the Son drugged up fighting Tony; The games Menu: Literally Miami as it is nuked) in plain sight and laughs at you for expecting anything else. At the beginning Richard (the rooster) told you “there is a pretty big twist at the end and I doubt you will like it, I doubt anyone will like it”. If you start a new Game it opens up with an alternative start where Richard sits on a table with all the Protagonist around it. He tell each one of them (and the Player) that they know how this ends. There is no alternative end this time; this was it; stop trying to change it.

I think HM2 was great. I love it for all that it does well and I hate it for killing the Series. It is as if I had lost somebody.

It was a good time.

But you know what they say about good times dont you?…

They never last!

For those who have played it, let me know what your views are.