Synthwave’s Memetic Aesthetic in Hotline Miami - Rowena Chodkowski

A little over a decade ago, indie developer Dennaton Games released the world’s most unlikely “reality simulator,” Hotline Miami.  A visually striking pixelated bloodbath set to hypnotic, pulsing Synthwave music, the game quickly ignited public fears about the connection between violent games and acts of violence. Concern about the games resurfaced with its sequel, Hotline Miami: Wrong Number, banned in Australia in 2015.In 2024, the game’s re-release on the Sony Playstation Network was quickly withdrawn from the Australian market. Yet after a decade of global availablity, Hotline Miami has yet to inspire a single documented act of copycat violence. Decades of longitudinal research studies have credibly shown no conclusive link between video games and violence. Why do these fears persist?