The following review contains spoilers.

Hotline Miami 2 is very good.

Hotline Miami 2 feels different from the first one gameplay wise, and IS different due to you playing as a bunch of different guys instead of Jacket. Fans of Jacket, an MDPD detective, a writer, a movie director, Russian mafia, a Soldier, and other members of 50 Blessings who aren't Jacket .
These characters aren't mere copies of Jacket that just look different, they also function differently. A good example is the unarmed execution: some get on top of them like Jacket, and some curb stomp them. You have to not only plan your run as per usual, you also have to factor in who exactly you're playing as.
One character stands out the most: Evan Wright is a pacifist by default.

The game has its unfair moments. Most of the time it's the same situation: enemies with firearms that are way out of your vision (Scene 14: Stronghold is a good example of this) , but once you know where the enemies are by dying over and over again, it becomes much easier and also more bearable.
The game has a LOT of open areas, and quite a few pesky window placements, so you have to use doors as walls occasionally, as well as baiting enemies to your location with gunfire. Not a whole lot of that in HM1.
It is a harder game compared to the first one, but that's to be expected from a sequel in my opinion.

Here be spoilers (duh)
It also tells the whole story of Hotline Miami, and that story's incredible given how little dialogue and things to read there is. Environmental storytelling is masterfully used to fill in the blanks that remain.
The first game asked you "Do you like hurting other people?" - Hotline Miami 2 knows the answer is "yes" in one way or another. Richard the Rooster is here to give you a wake up call, and ultimately, to show where a road paved with bloodshed takes you.
The rooster obviously also questions the playable characters themselves. The people have differing motives behind their partaking in violence, with Richard even outright saying that he does not get a certain character; why the person does the things that they do is perplexing to the rooster.
The story is also a critique on politics, but even that ultimately is commentary on violence, which the state has a legal monopoly on.

The soundtrack, without a doubt, is phenomenal. I have no education in music theory, so I'm not going to even try to be boring and technical here.
It is a collection of different types of tracks from different artists bundled up well, leaving you, the player, with a package that makes you wanna roll like Corey.

Altogether, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a game that I cannot stop thinking about. It deserves the rent free luxury apartment in my head.