Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
1985
During 1985, America and the USRR went to war due to unknown reasons. Jacket was in the US Special Forces, part of an elite squad consisting of him, Beard (the leader of the unit), Barnes, and Daniels, directed by an unnamed US Army Colonel/General in Hawaii, America. Their unit, also known as the Ghost Wolves[1], were sent in for missions that no other units could pull off.
March 17th, 1985
Before their mission, Beard and Jacket take a Polaroid for Evan, which Beard holds onto for the next few months. Beard's Unit attacks several Soviet Military outposts later that night within the jungle and Capture several Soviet soldiers and a Soviet intel officer, who is killed at some point with a shot to the head. The unit acquired information for their forces to progress.
October 25th, 1985
The Colonel is promoted to General and says to the Ghost Wolves that America can't possibly win the war. Beard's Unit is assigned a supposed 'Final Mission', which is to capture a resort being used by the Russians as a base that local troops were unable to successfully take over in a previous siege. After Beard's Unit takes over the resort, D Company Commander congratulates and praises them for managing to take over the resort that his men couldn't.
October 30th, 1985
Beard's Unit receives another 'Final Mission' where they are tasked to take over a Power Plant by themselves whilst the local forces actively hold back, which they deem as an impossible mission. The General responds to this by killing a panther, skinning it and wearing its face as a mask as mockery of the foolish plan. On the next morning, Beard's Unit assault the Soviet controlled Power Plant and eventually reach the Soviet General, who shoots all the engineers in the room with his pistol, sends the Power Plant into meltdown and then shoots himself. Beard's Unit tries to escape the exploding Power Plant but Barnes is killed by an explosion, which also incapacitates Jacket, Daniels is left behind as Beard escapes the Power Plant carrying Jacket out with him.
Beard calls for reinforcements, ultimately saving Jacket's life. Beard gives Jacket the picture that Evan took for them as a reminder of his deed, telling Jacket "No need to thank me, kid, it's on the house. You'd do the same for me, right?". The two ultimately are discharged and retired from the military.
1986
April 3th, 1986
A few months later after returning to civilization, Jacket and Beard are talking on the phone, where Beard asks Jacket when he plans to send a copy of the Polaroid they took together. Moments later, a nuclear bomb drops on San Francisco, that ultimately kills Beard.
Hotline Miami
April, 1989
April 3th, 1989
Jacket wakes up on April 3rd in his dirty and notably two-bed apartment. He receives a call from "Tim's Bakery" telling him a package of ingredients has been sent to him. The package contains the Richard rooster mask and instructions to pick up a package at a metro and deliver it to a dumpster at "point F-32." Jacket dons the mask and does so, killing several Russian mafia enforcers on the scene, but at F-32 he is confronted by an old bum, who attacks him for interfering with the dumpster and is promptly killed. This provokes Jacket to vomit at the scene.
Jacket drives to a local convenience store where Beard is the cashier. Beard greets him and says he hasn't seen him in a long time and was worried about him. He comments that the last time they talked Jacket told him about his girlfriend dumping him. He quickly switches the topic and gives Jacket a midnight snack "on the house".
April 8th, 1989
On April 8th, Jacket's kitchen table features several 50 Blessings newsletters from a patriotic organization he's subscribed to. He gets a call from "Linda" to discipline naughty kids. He arrives at the given address to find it's a Russian mobster hangout and kills them. He proceeds to a local pizzeria, where Beard is the cashier. Beard gives Jacket his desired pizza before Jacket orders, telling him it's "on the house."
April 13th, 1989
On April 13th, Jacket's apartment contains several newspaper clippings of his April 8th job as mementos or trophies. "Thomas" at the methadone clinic leaves him a message to swing on by. Jacket again arrives to find a den of Russian mobsters, this time seeing the tied up corpse of a walrus-masked killer, Earl. He visits a local VHS store, where Beard is the cashier. He raves about the recent killings, saying that a bunch of "Ruskies" is no loss if you ask him, and that it all sounds like a cool slasher flick. He gives Jacket a movie, again "on the house." He encourages Jacket to enjoy himself.
April 25th, 1989
On April 25th, Jacket's apartment is cluttered with empty pizza boxes and more news clippings. Hotline Miami's dating service worker "Kate" tells Jacket they've set up a date for him. He arrives at the address to find it's an expensive villa guarded by several Russian mobsters and many security cameras. After dispatching them, the owner, a movie producer wearing a bullet proof vest, attacks Jacket, who retaliates by gouging his eyes out. In the media room Jacket finds a drugged Girl surrounded by cameras who begs him to kill her (or if it's done so by the player, Jacket starts to leave and the girl yells at him from the room, calling him an "asshole" and harshly encourages him to "finish the job." the player cannot leave until he goes to the girl). He instead takes her to his car. Jacket heads to a bar, where Beard comments that he looks sick. He makes him a custom drink for free.
May, 1989
May 5th, 1989
On May 5th, Jacket's apartment has more newspaper clippings revealing that he was recorded in the movie producer's villa (though he remains anonymous due to his mask). The Girl is on his couch next to a vomit bucket. "Blake" from an electrician service calls about fixing a power outage. Jacket arrives to find a large mafia hangout, where he finds and detonates the body of another masked killer, this one in a tiger mask which is presumably damaged and bloodied by the explosion. He visits Beard's convenience store, the inside of which is empty, and the outside of which features a group of Russian mobsters beating a wolf-masked killer to death. Beard comments that the streets are no longer safe and that he was worried about Jacket. He again gives him a snack for free because Jacket's his friend and his money's "no good here."
May 11th, 1989
On May 11th, Jacket's newspaper clippings and empty pizza boxes have been moved out of the living room and into the kitchen (away from where Girlfriend sleeps), as has the vomit bucket. Girlfriend is in the bathroom, looking in the mirror. "Dave" from pest control sends Jacket to a large house full of Russian mobsters. After killing them, Jacket inspects a nearby manhole cover and finds the mutilated dying body of an alligator-masked killer, Jones. Jones tells him that he finally understands that it's all a dream and dies. Jacket visits Beard's pizzeria, and Beard comments that Jacket looks worried and that business has dried up, saying "maybe they've lost their taste for pizza... maybe it's time to close up shop after all." As always, Beard gives him his order for free.
May 13th, 1989
On May 13th, The Girl is taking a bath, and pizza crumbs are present on her sheets on the couch. Jacket has further tidied up, moving all his newspaper clippings save the most recent onto the spare bed. "Don" from the Hotel Blue calls Jacket to come in as a back up receptionist, because their other one "went home due to stomach problems" (Biker instead uses May 13th to investigate the phone calls). On his way downstairs he meets a suspicious Janitor (Dennis) but continues to his car. The Hotel Blue is full of armed waiters, Russian mafia guards, and mafia-affiliated pro-Russian politicians connected to the Russo-American Coalition, all of which Jacket kills, but he spares yet another suspicious Janitor monitoring the job (Jonatan).
Jacket visits Beard's customer-less VHS store, where Beard excitedly asks him if he's following the news of the killings, and says that a friend of his in the police force told him about a rumor that there's a full group of masked killers. Beard comments that it fascinates him, like something from a movie. He tells Jacket to take whatever he wants on the house, because "that's what friends are for."
May 23th, 1989
On May 23rd, all kitchen clutter and clippings has been either thrown away or moved onto Jacket's spare bed. The Girl sits upright on her couch. "Harry" from condo management tells Jacket about a huge mess he needs to clean up. He arrives at a series of several Russian occupied condos, which he quickly clears out. Before returning to his car, the phone of the top level condo rings, informing Jacket that a prank caller needs to be dealt with at the phone company, Phone Hom.
Jacket arrives at Phone Hom headquarters to find a motorcycle parked outside and all the employees inside dead. In the manager's office he confronts a Biker hacking the manager's computer, who tells him he's "dead meat" and attacks him with a meat cleaver. After a long fight and multiple hits with a golf club Jacket apparently defeats Biker, seemingly destroying Biker's entire head with the golf club (It is revealed later that this event did not go as Jacket depicted it, and was the only job he ever failed).
Afterward, Jacket visits Beard's customer-less bar. Beard comments that Jacket doesn't look happy, and admits he feels pretty bad himself, "something in the air, like something terrible has happened tonight," and comments that he "hasn't felt this way since San Francisco". This foreshadows that Jacket's failure to actually kill Biker will have repercussions for him that will lead to loss of someone he cares about.
May 27th, 1989
On May 27th, Jacket's apartment is completely free of pizza boxes and newspaper clippings, and The Girl has moved to sleeping on his spare bed instead of the couch. "Pat" from the Club calls Jacket in as a spare DJ. Notably the phone call says beer "is on the house." Jacket arrives at the dance club to find the body of the grasshopper-masked killer Carl and several Russian mobsters, one of which has a cell phone.
Jacket visits Beard's customer-less convenience store, which is now marked in the same manner as all other targeted locations. Beard says he has to tell Jacket something important, gesturing to the exploded-head corpse of Biker and saying "that did not happen" and that all of this "is not happening." He sees that Jacket doesn't believe him, and demonstrates as the screen turns to surreal static. The corpse of Biker is gone, but a blood stain remains, revealing that Jacket merely wounded Biker. A mysterious man, Richter, appears in the bathroom of the convenience store. Beard seems to "reset" and tells Jacket it's nice to see him, that friendly faces are "few and far between these days" and to help himself to whatever he wants. The surreal static intermittently continues as Jacket leaves.
May 31st, 1989
On May 31st, The Girl is nowhere to be seen. Jacket's kitchen table has a new cloth, his NES system is gone, and his TV has been moved from his bedroom into the living room. "Rick" from the real estate office calls Jacket about an apartment showing. Jacket arrives to find the apartment full of Russian mobsters packaging cocaine. Halfway through dispatching them, the place is raided by a SWAT team and Jacket is forced to flee the scene. Jacket visits Beard's pizzeria, which has a zombie Russian and zombie guard dog out front who are hostile to Jacket. Behind the counter is the corpse of Beard with the new cashier being the mysterious Richter, wiping Beard's blood off his jacket. Richter tells Jacket to hurry up as they're closing soon, and Jacket leaves.
June, 1989
June 3rd, 1989
On June 3rd, The Girl is again nowhere to be seen, but pink and teal couch pillows are on Jacket's couch in the living room, as is a potted plant. "Thomas" from Downtown Relaxation Spa calls Jacket to come in as a back up receptionist, mentioning that another "employee" has "called in sick" (alluding to Jake's assassination in the spa). Jacket arrives at the spa and clears out the Russian mobsters in it, finding a cobra-masked killer corpse, Jake. Jacket visits Beard's VHS store, where again Beard's corpse is behind the counter, Richter toying with the hammer he apparently used to crush Beard's skull. Richter rudely asks what Jacket's looking at, and then seems to recognize Jacket and asks if he's seen him before. Jacket leaves.
June 8th, 1989
On June 8th, an untampered newspaper is open on Jacket's kitchen table, and a zombie bouncer is looking through his fridge. The two beds are now pushed together. Girlfriend is in the living room, watching TV. "Jim" from the office asks Jacket for his report, and hangs up the phone fourteen times. Jacket arrives at the office to see it full of Russian mobsters, which he dispatches largely with a silenced pistol. As he heads out of the lobby a van crashes through the entrance and disgorges several Russian mobsters and bouncers while a teal-haired Richter lookalike throws Molotov cocktails at Jacket. The surreal dream static returns as Jacket slowly mutilates and sets fire to the Van Driver. Jacket goes to Beard's bar to find a blood trail leading from the cashier, Richter, to the back room. Richter tells Jacket "VIPs only tonight, I think you'd better leave." In lieu of customers Russian mobster zombies are being served, implying that Jacket associates Richter as a servant of Russians.
Jacket arrives back to his home from his June 8th job to find it tagged for a hit. He sees The Girl's corpse riddled with gunshot wounds in the bathroom. He enters the living room where Richter is watching TV with a silenced submachine gun resting on his lap. For the first time, he's wearing an animal mask, revealing him to be a masked killer just like Jacket. Richter says "Well, let's get this over with then..." and shoots Jacket.
The dream static returns as Jacket wakes up in his own apartment and walks over to his body. Richter has been replaced on the couch by Richard. Don Juan and Rasmus have gone and Jacket is left alone with Richard. Richard tells Jacket none of this will have a happy ending, that what he does upon waking up will have no consequences, that Jacket will never see the full picture and it's his own fault. Jacket exits the apartment and his outfit changes into a hospital gown and head bandages; he opens the door to the apartment across the hall to find himself in a hospital bed, his head then explodes. The dream static erases his headless body, much like Biker's in Push It's outro.
July, 1989
July 21st, 1989
At some point during his coma, Jacket drowsily overhears a conversation between a nurse and a cop, informing him that he's recently out of surgery, The Girl's dead, and Richter's in the local precinct. The cop mentions Jacket is the prime suspect in a major case, and that Richter isn't talking.
On July 21st, Jacket wakes up in his hospital room. He shimmies out the window and dodges several nurses and guards to escape the hospital. He drowsily returns home, finding it a gang-trashed former crime scene. There seems to be blood near the fridge, implying Jacket walked over there or was dragged by Richter after being shot in the head, potentially explaining the June 8th fridge zombie in his dreams. Moving to the laundry basket in the bathroom, Jacket gets another burst of dream static before donning his clothes, implying he fell asleep and some time has passed, making it either July 22nd or July 23rd as he heads downstairs.
Jacket proceeds to his trashed Acado GT and drives it to the local precinct, where he proceeds to kill around thirty cops and a Police Chief to get to Richter and the evidence room. Richter confirms that he takes orders from the same mysterious phone messages as Jacket, prompting Jacket to spare him and turn to the police file on the case for clues (the player has the option of strangling Richter, but this has no bearing on subsequent events, as Richter is still alive in Hotline Miami 2). The police have traced some of the calls to a club of suspected Russian mafia ties (deemed the Golden Truck Stop in the sequel), but have insufficient evidence for a warrant.
July 23rd, 1989
On July 23rd, Jacket again heads out of his apartment and takes his Acado GT to the Golden Truck Stop. The place is lavishly decorated with golden floors and monster trucks and of course guarded by several Russian mobsters. A Russian mafia associate in the main office has opened the safe for Jacket and begs him not to kill him. He tells Jacket his boss isn't here today, and gives Jacket his address. He moves toward the desk with an open drawer with a magnum in it, but stumbles and falls over well out of reach of it. Regardless, Jacket bashes his head in for a solid minute and proceeds to the Russian kingpin's house.
Now at what he assumes is the source of the calls, Jacket kills his way through the Russian Father's home. In the main room, the Father remarks that Jacket is one of the assholes who's been killing his men, but then commends Jacket for his senseless bloodlust and looks forward to seeing his face. Jacket beats the Father's attack panthers and ninja body guard to death with nearby trophies, and uses the dead ninja's throwing knives to maim the Father from a distance. The Father, realizing he is defeated, denies Jacket catharsis by killing himself with the boss gun.
A dejected Jacket then hears the phone on the Father's desk ring. Jacket answers, and the elderly Grandfather asks what the noise down there is. When there's no reply, the Grandfather says "Goddamn phones! I hate these things!" Jacket takes the Father's revolver and heads upstairs, following the ever more tenuous idea that the phone-hating voice is behind the calls, where he finds a wheelchair-bound and unarmed Grandfather, who briefly wonders who Jacket is before deciding it doesn't matter. He expresses regret for all the wrongs he's committed and is resigned to his fate. "Nothing really seems to matter anymore, does it?" he asks before Jacket shoots him in the face with the Father's suicide pistol, killing him.
Stepping outside onto the balcony, Jacket throws off his mask and removes from his pocket the picture alluded to in the animal room in his coma dream. He lights a cigarette and throws it to the wind as the credits roll.