Hotline Miami 2's Level Editor Finally Arrives

What do Hotline and Miami and Super Mario Brothers have in common? Both involve stomping on heads, true, and mushrooms keep showing up, but the answer I’m looking for is level editors! With the phenomenal success of Super Mario Maker, it only makes sense that others would want to copy the formula—especially if they had promised to release a level editor well before the release of Super Mario Maker. Such is the case with Hotline Miami developer Dennaton Games, which promised way back at the start of their development of Hotline Miami 2 to create a level editor to give fans a chance to make their own psychedelic, psychotic adventures, and give the game, theoretically, endless replayability.

Well, now it’s finally here. Yay!

It’s a complicated tool, as it was the same used by the developers in the creation of all the official levels, and thus there are several tutorial blog posts explaining how to use it. It has everything the full version will have, including the ability to create levels, rooms, enemies, weapons, and even cutscenes. What it’s missing, which is arguably one of the more important features, is integration with the Steam Workshop… which means you can make all the marvelous levels you like, you either won’t be able to share them until the level editor gets out of beta, or you’ll have to send the files manually to interested parties. Quite the headache.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, this only applies to the PC version of Hotline Miami 2. There is no way to get these files onto PS4 or PS Vita version of Hotline Miami 2, and no plans for them to get their own version of the Level Editor. That makes sense, it’s hard to design using a controller as opposed to a keyboard, but still, likely a disappointment for our console-playing brethren.

Still, it’s here, it’s functional, and it’s quite cool. If you have the inclination, check it out!