Overview
Guide on how to unlock the “Get A Life” achievement by using some mischievous methods >:D
Skippable Foreword
I’ll be blunt. Using this method is despicable. People earned this the hard and fair way. It took them dozens of hours and here I am, telling you how to do it in minutes and – pun intended – get a life and doing other stuff.
Why do I do this? Honestly, just because it’s possible.
I really and honestly tried to get the A+ myself. I consulted youtube videos and tried my best to do it exactly like displayed. And I swear I managed to pull it off… but the guys in the videos got A+, while I got… B? A-?
I consider the scoring system to be stupid. Give me “finish all levels with fists only” and I’ll do it.
But like this? Nope. Not worth it.
So I looked into the save files of this game and even found an entry about the save files content in the Hotline Miami wiki. It’s stupefying easy.
And let’s face it. Look at the names of this achievement and the final “get all achievements” achievement and tell me, that they don’t want you to do this…
This being said, here wo go:
Get A Life
What you first need to do is to start the game in the “original” version.
Done like this:
The game will warn you, that your save can’t be used in original. That’s okay. That’s actually exactly what we want!
Upon starting the game, it will ask you, if you want to enable “steamworks”. The answer is “YES”!
Now play the prelude regularly until you get your first score in the game.
After you’ve done this, close the game.
Now navigate to the following folder:
C:Program Files (x86)Steamsteamappscommonhotline_miami
(Path may be different for you)
Here you’ll find a “saves.dat”.
Right click and open it with notepad.
(I’ve only tested it with notepad++. Normal one may not work. If so, just google notepad++ and install it for free. It’s an incredible useful tool in general.)
It should look like this:
Line 5 and 26 will differ and show your score. Line 6 may differ as well, since 13 stands for A-.
Now, replace it with the following:
Save the file.
Disable steam cloud synchronization.
Library -> Hotline Miami -> right click -> properties -> Updates -> remove toggle at the bottom.
Restart the game in original version and enable steamworks.
Replay the prelude and score an A+. It’s easy enough. Especially since you have access to all masks now.
Continue playing into chapter one and kill the first enemy unit.
Congratulations, you’ve successfully got a life!
Note, that the achievement may NOT pop up on screen while playing. But it will be unlocked on Steam.
Achievement Wh*re
If Get A Life was your (second to) last missing achievement, then close the game and restart it in the updated version. This one will still have all your personal scores.
Start a random chapter and just kill another enemy unit. Congrats, you’re now an Achievement Wh*re!
If this doesn’t work, then follow this instruction by the Hotline Miami wiki: