Manhunt

Manhunt is a stealth game released by Rockstar North in November 2003, in which a death row inmate named James Earl Cash is spared execution and forced to murder his way through Carcer City while a director films it as a snuff movie. It is the darkest game Rockstar has ever published, and the most banned.

How Does Manhunt Actually Play?

It is a stealth game, played over twenty scenes plus four unlockable bonus ones. You hide in shadow, lure gang members with noise, then execute them from behind. Holding the attack button longer makes the kill more brutal and scores you more points, and each scene ends with a rating from one to five stars. Firearms exist but are scarce, so most of the game is spent waiting in the dark.

Why Was Manhunt Banned?

For the executions. Several countries blocked it outright, and in the United Kingdom the tabloid press linked it to a 2004 murder case. The police and the courts rejected that link, having established that the game belonged to the victim rather than to the killer, but the story stuck and shaped the game's reputation far more than any review did.

Is Manhunt Connected to the GTA Games?

Not by story, but by studio and by machinery. Rockstar North built it between Vice City and San Andreas, on the same technology, which is why the movement and the city geometry feel familiar. Carcer City is its own place, referenced later in GTA but never visited.

Can You Still Play Manhunt Today?

Yes, on PC and on PlayStation. Steam still sells Manhunt, at 9.99 EUR, and Sony re-released it on the PlayStation 3 in 2013 and the PlayStation 4 in 2016 through the PlayStation Network. The boxed 2004 PC release and the original Xbox version are long out of print, but the game itself never left Steam: our where to buy Manhunt page compares the store price with the key sellers.