Hotline Miami is a 2012 top-down shooter game developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital. The player assuming the role of an unnamed silent protagonist—dubbed "Jacket" by fans—while committing numerous massacres against the local Russian mafia at the behest of anonymous messages he had received. In each level of the game, the player is tasked with defeating every single enemy through any means possible, ranging from simple firearms and melee weapons, to more specific methods such as knocking enemies out with doors and executing enemies brutally. Before beginning each level, the player can choose from a variety of different masks, which offer unique abilities. The game is set in Miami in 1989, and primarily tells its story through cryptic dream cutscenes where mysterious masked figures berate Jacket for his actions and foreshadow upcoming events.

Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilson, five executives who had been involved with Gathering of Developers and Gamecock Media Group, which published games on developer-friendly terms, but due to the high cost associated with releasing retail games saw themselves acquired and dissolved by larger companies. To avoid this, Devolver Digital instead turned to digital distribution channels.