Manhunt 2

Manhunt 2 is Rockstar's 2007 stealth horror game and the most heavily censored title the studio has ever released. You play Daniel Lamb, an asylum inmate with no memory, escaping into the night alongside another patient.

It was refused classification in the United Kingdom and Ireland, rated Adults Only in the United States, and only shipped after Rockstar cut it.

Official Trailer

Manhunt 2: The Final Trailer

Why Was Manhunt 2 Banned?

The British Board of Film Classification refused it a certificate in June 2007, calling its tone unrelenting, which made it illegal to sell in the United Kingdom. Ireland banned it too. In the United States the ESRB gave it an Adults Only rating, which the console makers would not licence. Rockstar submitted an edited version, and it eventually released with the executions obscured by heavy visual filters.

How It Actually Plays

It is a stealth game before it is anything else. You move through shadow, distract guards with noise, and are punished quickly in a straight fight. The tension comes from waiting, and the Wii version mapped the executions to motion controls, which drew most of the coverage at the time.

Daniel Lamb and the Story

Daniel escapes the Dixmor Asylum with a patient named Leo and pieces together who he was and what was done to him. The plot is deliberately unreliable, and the second half calls into question much of what you were shown earlier. It is closer to a psychological horror film than to anything else in the Rockstar catalogue.

Can You Buy Manhunt 2 Today?

It is hard to find. The game was never released in some territories, and it is not sold on current storefronts. The PC version through older digital libraries is the most common way people still play it.