Former Rockstar devs reveal details on cancelled Bully 2

For years now, Rockstar has been rumoured to be working on a sequel to one of its few one-and-done games – Bully. According to former developers, the game was originally in the works back in the late 2000s, and some of that work ended up contributing to the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. 

Speaking with Game Informer, several former Rockstar developers confirmed that Bully 2 was in development over a decade ago at Rockstar New England. At one point, the entire studio was working on the project, with plans for a much bigger map/open world to play in, as well as deeper mechanics and gameplay systems.

Some  of those systems would involve NPCs remembering you based on good or bad actions. It would essentially be an Honour System, similar to the one found in a more recent Rockstar title – Red Dead Redemption 2. There were also plans for the player to be able to “build relationships with characters in the world”, so conversations with characters would play out differently based on whether or not they liked you.

Other mechanics included the ability to climb and scale obstacles to better explore the open world map, the ability to break into houses, new side activities and more.

This version of Bully 2 was ultimately cancelled in 2010 after two years of development. There have been more recent reports that Rockstar has revived the project but for now, not much is known.

KitGuru Says: Bully is a cult classic at this point, but any game Rockstar puts out now in the wake of GTA V is going to get much, much more attention. If Rockstar were to revive Bully 2, would it be as successful as Red Dead Redemption 2 or GTA? 

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