Hotline Miami And The Rise Of Techno In UltraViolent Video Games
This deep desire made MOON's songs perfect for Hotline Miami . Created primarily in Ableton by tweaking presets and loops, its contribution to dissonant melodic passages and heavy bass raises the player's heart rate, a key component of soundtrack effectiveness. A song like "Hydrogen" helps increase players' attention while increasing anxiety and the desire for revenge. In difficult levels, just repeat the technique to stop worrying about hitting someone in the skull with a baseball bat or aiming at a guard dog with an assault rifle before they attack you. Hotline Miami's soundtrack isn't just cool; it is an elegant aesthetic thought that deliberately helps players get rid of the problems around them.
"Instead of encouraging you to actively explore, techno actually tries - as one neuroscientist put it - to free you from the 'rule of reality' and let your mind go elsewhere without worrying about missing something. " , Professor Berkeley and the researcher explained. music. psychologist dr. Susan Rogers. Combined with the game itself, the musical effect becomes a delicate balance of repetition, cross-modality, and synths that force players to shut down convincingly as a unique neural reward for the imagination. “In the case of electronic music, it's not educational,” he continues. "We don't need to think to enjoy it."
In addition to the indie gaming boom of the 2010s, Hotline Miami started the trend of pairing adrenaline-inducing electronic music with fast-paced combat, vibrant colors, and stylish kills. In recent years, this combination has appeared in games like Rollerdrome from 2022 or Project Downfall from 2019. It may be because they have already signed with Hotline Miami , but video game publisher Devolver Digital is particularly well versed in high-octane games with such dynamics. Ruiner is a brutal 2017 cyberpunk shooter set in the future, while Katana Zero is a 2019 neo-noir about an assassin who must kill enemies and manipulate time to avoid attacks. Both games feature chilling techno soundtracks printed on vinyl. Then there's My Friend Pedro , a side-scrolling creative director from 2019 who went viral with his innate GIF skills. This game's eerie soundtrack sounds like Trent Reznor is waiting for the Blades to rumble.
“All of these games elicited strong emotions, whether it was laughter, excitement, or the occasional scream,” Robbie Patterson, a Devolver spokesperson, recalled. The cross-modal experience that permeates all of these games tends to reward sensory overload - bright colors, quick movements, loud music that keeps you on your toes, keeps you focused - it's what gives games that relentless hype. particular. Patterson elaborates further: "Usually when a game comes out that looks great and is fun to play, we're interested."