Rockstar's Cancelled 'Bully 2' Sounds Like It Would've Been Amazing

New details on Rockstar Games' cancelled Bully 2 have emerged, and it sounds like the long-awaited sequel could've been something very special indeed. Sigh.

A fascinating new report from Game Informer dives into the project's troubled development and the circumstances surrounding its cancellation. But it also reveals much of what Rockstar had planned to include, from a massive open world to an all-new morality system.

According to the report, Bully 2 was quietly cancelled in 2010, at which point roughly "six to eight" hours of the game was playable.

The world itself was around three times larger than Bully, and players would've been able to enter every building - legally or... otherwise.

Bully 2 would also have allowed players to climb trees to scope out waypoints and other secrets. A complex new morality system was worked up, too. Rather than abandon this aspect of the game altogether, it eventually found its way into Red Dead Redemption 2.

There were around 50-70 to people working on the project at its height, with Rockstar New England leading development. Eventually, however, the game ultimately fizzled out as Rockstar bosses started pulling staff from the project to work on other titles, including Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3.

While Bully 2 was binned over a decade ago, there is hope that Rockstar has returned to it behind closed doors. According to recent reports, development on Bully 2 was recently restarted. It's even believed that it was close to being officially revealed during The Game Awards 2021 last month. That obviously didn't happen, of course, so keep your expectations in check until we hear something official. At the current rate, we should maybe get a Bully 2 trailer sometime in 2030.

Topics: Rockstar Games