Bully

Bully from 2006, released in Europe under the title Canis Canem Edit, is a title from Rockstar Vancouver, which transplanted the proven sandbox style of its parent series Grand Theft Auto onto the grounds of the fictional Bullworth Academy boarding school. The player takes on the role of troublemaker James "Jimmy" Hopkins, dropped off at the school for a whole year by his stepmother, who must survive living alongside five feuding cliques, from jocks to nerds to greasers, all while balancing attending classes through fun minigames, completing tasks, and classic schoolboy pranks like firecrackers or slingshots. Classes aren't just window dressing either: completed subjects unlock concrete perks, from better dialogue options to new equipment.

Although the game evokes an open world and mission structure similar to GTA, the tone is fundamentally different: instead of gangster violence, it offers a story about bullying, clique social hierarchy, and growing up, laced with Rockstar's typical dark humor but also unexpectedly human and empathetic moments. The day has its own rhythm: mornings mean school, evenings bring curfew, and prefects on watch will drag the player back if he wanders off, giving the whole little town a genuine sense of order that's worth learning to cleverly get around.

Even before release, the game faced heavy media controversy over fears of glorifying school violence, which proved overblown after release, since Bully is actually a surprisingly moral story about standing up to bullying. Likeable characters, a lively school-town setting, and a witty, human script made Bully one of Rockstar's most original and underappreciated titles on PS2. The open world of the school and the surrounding town of Bullworth ran on a technically adapted version of the GTA engine, but on a much more intimate scale with denser detail in character interactions. Despite the controversy, the game later received an expanded edition, Bully: Scholarship Edition.