THE BAR OF BROKEN HEROES, also known as Hank's Bar, is a location, as well as an achievement in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Similar to the Table Sequence, it's a surreal area that houses most of the series' player characters.
Requirements[]
To unlock this achievement, the player must play 13th scene Subway with the intro. While you are in Evan Wright's house, click on the phone and Evan will listen to a message on answering machine addressing his paper ad in which he offered $200 for some sort of information, most likely regarding the Jacket's case and masked murders, left, as becomes evident later, by Biker, wanting to meet and talk about it in a bar at Hank's on 101st. Finish the chapter the normal way and when you leave instead of going away you will go in The Bar of Broken Heroes.
Characters[]
- Evan Wright makes his arrival at the bar to talk with Biker.
- The unmasked fans drinking bottles of beer.
- The Son and The Henchman sitting at a table, the Henchman regularly refilling The Son's shot glass.
- Jake sitting at a table, occasionally blowing on an American flag.
- Beard behind the bar cleaning some glasses.
- Biker sitting down waiting for Evan.
- Martin Brown sitting at the end of the bar, drinking a cocktail alongside what appears to be a script.
- Manny Pardo in the bathroom, staring closely at his reflection in the mirror.
- The Bum scrounging through a dumpster on the side of the building.
- Notably, Richter is not present here.
- H.M. Hammarin, who can be seen hanging out by the music player and flicking at his hair.[1]
Dialogue[]
Phone Message[]
YOU'VE GOT ONE NEW MESSAGE! *BEEP*
Uh, hello... I saw your ad in the paper. I've got some 'information' you might find interesting. ... It said two hundred bucks for information, right? Well, you better bring it. I'll be at Hank's on 101st all day, sitting in the bar. Just get here before I max out my tab, OK?
Hank's Bar[]
Writer: Excuse me, sir. Are you the one who left a message on my machine? You said you had some information for me, right?
Biker: You're that writer, huh? Did you bring the money?
Writer: Two hundred, yes. So, what do you have for me?
Biker: Right, I... Was it two years ago? You see, I was out of town for a while, lost track of time... Well, look... I was there, OK? The Russians. I killed a bunch of them.
Writer: In the War, you mean?
Biker: The War? Fuck no! Right here, in Miami. You know, it was before I went to the desert. I was young... It's only been two years, huh? I feel a lot older now. The Russians, they were Mafia, I think. I killed a bunch. You see I signed up for this... Y'know some patriotic bullshit. And I started getting these weird phone calls, you see...
Writer: Phone calls?
Biker: That's what I said! You listening or what? A lot of people were getting these calls, I think. I got fed up with it, wanted out. Tried to figure out who was calling. I think... there was something big behind it all. Real big. So I skipped town. Went into hiding out in the desert.
Writer: You think there was a conspiracy?
Biker: No, man. This thing was real! Not a fucking conspiracy... ... Anyway, out in the desert... that's where I met him. I've never been scared of anything. This guy gave me the chills. After that... I just lost it. I lost the will to fight.
Writer: Who do you think were making these phone calls?
Biker: Beats me. ... So, are you going to give me my money now or what? I need another drink.
Writer: I think you've had enough, to be honest. If you can't give me anything more substantial I can't pay you, OK?
Biker: Not substantial, am I? Well, screw you, pal. I'm risking my life here talking to you... And you're not gonna pay? Get lost, will ya. I'm through with you! ...
Trivia[]
- The Bar is a reference to a painting called Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Gottfried Helnwein, which depicts famous (and dead) music and film stars hanging out in a café. And perhaps to the game Fallout 2, which featured a similar area, containing several main characters from its previous title, fallout, named 'the cafe of broken dreams' in reference to the same painting.
- Hank's Bar's address on 101st is listed on the floppy in the Abyss (North East 101st street, the only other mention of 101st in the series), along with North West 27th Avenue, the location of the abandoned 50 Blessings bunker in the Abyss.
- "Hank" is the codename used by either Barnes or Daniels over the radio in the outro to Ambush. The Bar of Broken Heroes is followed immediately by Barnes saying he wants to open up a bar after the War in the Stronghold intro.
- Outside the bar, with faded paint and cracked windows stand the really weathered looking cars of Jake's, The Henchman's, Son's, as well as Biker's motorcycle and van of The Fans. The chapter Subway, in which this happens, takes place on November 11th, 1991, which contradicts with how the vehicles look in chapters taking place chronologically later, namely Death Wish (December 20, 1991), where we see that the van looks newer, or No Mercy (November 21, 1991), where we see that The Henchman's car has the hood still on and is also looking newer.
- This evidence, and the fact that Beard, Jake and the Bum are all dead by this point of the timeline, implies the bar is less an event in the series and more of a surreal way to show off the personalities of player characters, similar to The Table Sequence. However, similar to the Abyss , the actual content of the dialogue and impact (or lack thereof) on Evan's investigation doesn't conflict with series' events.
- Richter is the only Hotline Miami 2 playable character not present at the bar. This is likely due to the fact that at the current time of the game, he had yet to make his first appearance later in the game. Or logically speaking in terms of the story, Richter is still in Hawaii.
- In addition to Richter, Jacket is not present. So one playable character from each game is absent from the bar. Jacket's absence is explained by him being in prison at the time of this event.
- Alternatively, the lack of Jacket and Richter could also suggest (combined with the name of the achievement) that unlike the other characters present; they are not "broken" by the events of their stories; as Jacket allowed himself to be arrested after making peace with the death of Beard, and Richter hides in Hawaii to escape both violence and prosecution whilst continue to care for his mother (at this point; indirectly by sending her money) as well as later making peace with the incoming nuclear war, and his death at the end of Apocalypse.
- Jake's car outside the bar will always be his old green sedan, even if he took the money briefcase in Hard News and bought a black truck.
References[]
- ↑ Atlases/Spirtes/NPCs/BikerBar/sprHammarin.meta