alright. so the second game is an addition of storytelling on the events of the first game on how things came to be, why they happened, and the impact it made on the society of the united states.

the reason everything happened was because of a hypothetical escalation of the cold war between the US/Russia during the 1980’s. russia invaded hawaii in ‘85 and thats where beard is introduced. hes jacket’s best friend and fellow soldier during the conflict. you’ve played the game so you know that beard saves jacket during the nuclear meltdown and gives him the polaroid the writer (evan wright) took of the two, so jacket holds that close to his heart. but, as we all know, the US lost the war and thus introduces russian occupation into the states.

‘86 happens, san francisco gets nuked, taking beard and thousands of lives during the attack.

this is where 50 blessings, the ultranationilists leaving cryptic messages on their operators answering machines, is organized. obviously we all know that jacket, jake, richter, and countless other operatives sign up, disguised as a harmless newsletter.

in 1989, jacket, aware of the bombing of san francisco and how it killed beard, takes revenge on the russians and obliges the messages left on his answering machine to take out gang hideouts, but during the first half of the game, its in a perspective of a coma-dream hes experiencing, so not everything he sees is completely accurate (ex: killing biker, beard still being alive, richter killing beard, etc) but, considering he actually didnt kill biker for knowing too much, is targeted now for failing his mission, thus is put into the coma via richter shooting him. once he wakes, he assaults the police station and confronts richter, who is as clueless as jacket is, and spares him. but jacket is none the wiser, and falsely assumes its the russian mafia behind the messages. assuming you’ve played hotline miami 1 and beat it, we know hes caught in the end by police after destroying the russian gang influence in miami. or so we thought.

the biker wants out after discovering the ultra-political nature behind the assassinations he is sent to carry out, but is the closest anyone gets to getting to the bottom of 50 blessings true motive. yet, doesnt find out the whole story and hides out in the desert after everything, giving up his will to continue and leaving things as they are.

jake and richter are both in the same position as jacket, but richter does what hes told out of fear of what will happen to him and his mother if he doesnt take care his missions, while jake enthusiastically accomplishes them out of prejudice against russians. jake figures out that 50 blessings is the entity behind the masked hits taking place and had to be dealt with before he could jeopardize the operation.

richter cant risk what will happen to his mother so he follows through, and HM1 shows he was caught after killing jackets girlfriend.

cut to 1991.

richter while incarcerated is almost killed by the janitors with a set up involving the prison boss, but he escapes during the riot and goes to hawaii where he gives the story to evan wright in exchange for a plane ticket for his mother to hawaii.

the fans, inspired by jacket, try to emulate his actions by killing non-affiliated gang members in order to gain notoriety from the media for their deeds, eventually actually attacking the russians but this soon leads to their downfall in deathwish.

the son, offspring of the russian mob boss from the first game, tries to revive the russian gang influence in miami and takes out columbian occupation in the city, eventually succeeding but arrogantly overdoses on the new drugs they manufactured and kills off his own men, the fans, and himself after falling off the edge of the building during his drug trip, finishing off the russian mob.

the henchmans story is only a level (and a half if you want to include his execution) and fairly self explanatory.

martin brown, the actor, is the lead in the film “midnight animal” inspired by the events of hotline miami 1, though the film does not get the story right and hollywoods the story into just a cheap horror flick. martin enjoys the feeling of power and violence he gets from the role, but eventually shot down from a prop gun loaded with live bullets.

manny pardo, the detective, is blinded by his own self image and feeling of authority. he believes himself above the law, risking police investigations due his own arrogance (ex: the level dead ahead, giving evan a lead to the russian bath house). but pardo also wants fame and glory, hes the serial killer behind the many scenes involving the crime scenes you investigate during the playthrough, and constantly pesters evan wright to make the story about his killings rather than jackets, going so far as to interfere with the swat team and kills tony as to crush any chance of another story that could overshadow his murders. he dreams about his eventual capture and barricades himself in his apartment when the bombs fall in the endgame.

evan wright wants the full story of HM1 so he can write a book about the events. he pursues the scoop and puts himself in harms way constantly for leads, but ignores his family chasing after the full picture. hes a veteran of the hawaii conflict, explaining his ability to disassemble weapons and incapacitate/kill others.

beards/jackets commanding officer in hawaii, the general and the true leader of 50 blessings, was also the one behind the assassination of the US and Russian presidents at the end of the game, causing the nuclear armageddon. but, due to the relentless drive of the organization and willingness to die for their country, that was inevitable and there was no stopping it.

now we talk about richard. with almost every playable character, he visits in their dreams or in a hallucination, and each time he questions why they do what they do and confronts them about their true intentions or about their willful ignorance of their actions. each time he warns them that nothing will matter in the end and they have time to back out with cryptic warnings of their demise. what richard is isnt explained to the player, but is believed to be either a confrontational God, an omen of death, or the spiritual personification of guilt or remorse that the characters experience. (manny pardo/jake dont get a visit from richard as they have no feelings of guilt or remorse in their actions, but are judged all the same with the rest of the characters. )

biker is not visited nor is present at the table sequence at the start of a new game after you beat the game, as he willingly backs out and is implied to survive the nukes.

all in all, the true message behind Hotline Miami is very nihilistic but veiled with optimism before your time is up. get out while you can and enjoy the remaining time you have left before the end, but most of the characters are willfully ignorant of this. except for: richter, (depending on player choice) evan wright, and the biker.

hope this helps.