itch.io

Plus i imagine youd get to mess around with a bunch of cool ass post processing effects

Id be interested in seeing where the project has to go from here though! Maybe you could tie the drug mechanic to the players ammo or health? or maybe the more drugs you take the less accurate your character becomes or certain parts of the level become wonky or weird such as visual hallucinations that might end up in you shooting someone whos surrendering or accidentally doing actions that are dirty. The action of using performance enhancers themselves shouldnt make you dirty but maybe they make it harder to make good decisions, yknow decreased accuracy means you might accidentally shoot a civilian etc.

I do hope you find some time to work on the game because it is genuinely an interesting take on the gameplay loop of hotline miami. 

Ayy nice to see ur working on it again!

The games way too early on in the process for me to comment on anything so far, but i think the biggest issue for me is that using the drug mechanic makes me dirty. Because it actively disincentivises me with experimenting or using that mechanic which i think sucks.

I dont think that makes sense, and i think it will if implemented into a full game lead to players not enjoying the game to its fullest and likely just outright possibly ignoring the mechanic

In hotline miami 2, the writer has unique gameplay by default and to not engage with it actively changes somewhat his narrative in a negative light. It also makes the game easier which feels bad on a fundamental level (sorry im a bit tired hence why this is a chalky explanation and argument)0

It'd be better to tie corruption on things like not pacifying enemies which might require skill to do, or make the game harder (sort of like score) which might actively encourage being dirty.

Melee weapons deal too little damage. 

I had a weird ass bug where the ai turned off and enemies just didnt react to bullets (sorry i wasnt recording and i haven no clue what started it, though i was in the cargo area)

the reloading losing magazine mechanic isnt explained well

and during the tutorial it isnt immedietly obvious that going in that room will kill you and that ur supposed to hang back and let the roof fall

Visually i think the levels are too bright especially in the cargo section. The eyes feel hurt and this makes combat disorienting (which might be good if thats what ur going for) but this does hurt gameplay, i also think guns feel weak, the pistol especially feels ineffective, i think it'd be better to have a lower time to kill

melee weapons arent incentivised enough, blocking takes too long and it doesn't reflect bullets additionally ammo is way too plentiful. i think reworking melee so it has it's uses (look at hotline miami) where you may want to pick it up off the floor etc to maybe knock a gun out of an enemies hand or throw it hell even use it as a shield, would be nice and add more variety to the game.

also the parkour feels to weighty, i feel like im constantly jumping with a bag of rocks attached to me, firstly not sure if this is implemented but id implement coyote time, id also look at maybe making parkour more smooth somehow and making jumping feel less like a chore, especially since you seem to utilise it (it feels hard to tell where i can and cant jump sometimes)

Melee enemies hate it if your inside of them or in walls, maybe have them either push you out of them or just move away so they can hit you

Suggestion:

to add to the more chaotic flow of the game, if you get damaged a lot in a short span you should add a hitman blood money esc effect where the screen slowly gets more and more red, the music intensifies and time slows down. I think that would genuinely fit the vibe your going for (as evidenced by the music) and help out with this sort of weird grimey gruesome atmosphere

Also theres 0 indication when i cant not shoot someone. like bullets seem to just get eaten? and i cant really see where they go in low light environments which only makes the issue worse (would be nice if bullets when leaving the gun either lit up the environment or where brighter or  you just indicated the spread of shot or something on those lines)

Enemy ai seems weird and just gets stuck especially melee enemies, it also seems to just not react all too well, it isnt uncommon for a pistol enemy to just stare at me like he's just had the biggest weed in his life, i think enemies just dont react how you'd expect them too and this makes combat while yes sometimes tense with you having to take cover, sometimes also way too easy

also there was a bug where a circular barrel just did nothing

Actually now play testing more i think a push mechanic would be great for the player as well, maybe it could ragdoll enemies who arent melee (since they can sometimes get stuck inside of you) and deprive them of their weapon adds another layer of combat, you can also then ahve it so you can push after a block as an easy way to take down a parried enemy, idk just seems useful

During the bunker level i got shot off screen and i think im going to stop playing from there, this has potential but i think a lot of mechanics just dont work yet, high time to kill isnt very satisifying and the enemy ai isnt too smart