If you’ve been missing Jimmy and still long for a Bully sequel, we may have the next best thing. While Rockstar hasn’t delivered Bully 2 yet — and where there’s life, there’s hope — a dedicated team of modders has created an entire online mode to keep you occupied in the meantime.
“IT’S HAPPENING!” developer SWEGTA announced on YouTube. “We finally have an online mode for Bully that allows you and your friends to play minigames, roleplay, compete in racing, fend off against NPCs, and much more!”
“It’s a project me and my team have been working on for a very long time,” SWEGTA added, “and it’s finally at a point in development where we can announce it and show it to the public.
“Bully Online runs on the DSL script loader, which is a plugin for Bully that essentially allows for a more versatile approach to modding. A lot of the things we thought were impossible just a few years ago can now be done, including making an online mode. We do have an official server for Bully Online, and we plan on making that available to the public to enjoy in due time.”
Starting in December, the team will be making the server available to people who support the project on Ko-Fi, along with previews, videos, screenshots, and developer commentary. The server itself is described as a “bit of a mix” between minigames, free roaming, and role-playing, and has a “fully fleshed out” inventory system that permits players to earn money in-game and spend it on a “wide variety of different things like housing, weapons, vehicles, and items.”
As for if there’ll ever be an official follow up? Dan Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder and the writer behind the studio’s biggest games, including the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with IGN, revealing Bully 2 didn’t happen because of “bandwidth issues.”
Bully — also known as Canis Canem Edit in some parts of the world — was a humorous action game that put players in the role of high school outcast Jimmy while attending a pretentious private school. “Bully is a great, well-crafted action game that’s been made even stronger with one of the best senses of humor around,” IGN’s Bully review read. “Expect dozens and dozens of hours of fun.”
Fans have long called for a sequel, which was once in development at Rockstar’s New England studio in the late 2000s. While Bully 2 was obviously never released, some of its ideas made it into other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.