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Rockstar Games are no strangers to controversy, with the developers having become the subject of infamous scandals ranging from Grand Theft Auto’s Hot Coffee mod to the banning of Bully in several countries. However, despite decades of shocking conservative parents by taking gaming to the next level, I think no one would disagree that the project which best represents the company’s dedication to the extreme is 2003’s video game Manhunt, a gritty snuff simulator that takes stealth games into a decidedly terrifying direction.
Borrowing from horrific urban legends and schlocky exploitation flicks in equal measure, the title became a disturbing cult hit that’s still cited today as one of the most gruesome games ever made. And two decades after its release, I think that it’s time to look back on the origins of this strange little experiment in order to find out why there’s never been another horror game quite as infamous as this one.
Despite often being regarded as a small-scale successor to the 3D GTA titles, Manhunt was actually developed concurrently with those larger games. In fact, it was something of a pet project by Rockstar North, with the team wanting to craft a never-before-seen urban horror experience that wouldn’t rely on supernatural monsters or aliens to disturb players. While the Running Man meets 8mm premise of the title led to backlash within the studio itself, with several developers complaining that the project was headed too deep into “Adults Only” territory, the game would ultimately release without a hitch the very same year that it was first announced.
In the game, players take control of James Earl Cash, a death row inmate who finds himself coerced by a mysterious figure known as “The Director” into participating in a large-scale snuff film. Naturally, this results in an interactive grindhouse flick where players are forced to violently murder a wacky collection of psychos and criminals as they attempt to sneak through a dark and gritty gauntlet prepared by the Director’s organization.
With influences ranging from The Warriors (which is fitting since Rockstar would later adapt Walter Hill’s iconic movie into one of the best licensed games of all time) to Michael Mann films (with the game even benefitting from the sultry sounds of Brian Cox, who played Hannibal Lecktor in Mann’s Red Dragon adaptation, Manhunter), Manhunt was Rockstar’s first foray into serious adult-oriented entertainment – lacking many of the satirical elements that first put them on the map.
This more serious approach to storytelling and atmosphere likely played a part in the controversy surrounding the game’s release, with the title even being banned in a handful of countries due to its explicit nature and a supposed “glorification of cruelty.” In fact, it was only this year that New Zealand finally decided to release the game after a thorough re-examination, though it still remains unavailable in places like Germany and Australia.
However, looking back on Manhunt after decades of virtual blood and guts (especially of the high-definition variety), most players will likely come to the conclusion that the original game isn’t as violent and mean-spirited as its reputation makes it out to be. The lack of visual fidelity and some clever camera angles and editing usually mask the game’s crueler executions, and it’s never implied that Cash actually enjoys all this killing, as the protagonist is simply playing along in order to guarantee his freedom.
It’s really the context that makes Manhunt disturbing, with the implication that this secretive group has been hustling homicidal movies with impunity while transforming human beings into impromptu slasher villains making this the murder emulator that parents originally imagined Grand Theft Auto to be. Sure, it can be fun to role-play as a knock-off Michael Myers and stealthily massacre all your opponents, but the game usually makes it quite clear that you’re the one being hunted here.
These thrills are also intensified by the game’s oppressive environments, which all feel appropriately grimy despite the low-poly aesthetic. This is partially due to a genuinely unnerving score by Craig Conner, which could very well serve as the in-game soundtrack to the Director’s snuff masterpiece, featuring distorted tunes that wouldn’t feel out of place in a shot-on-video gore-fest.
Manhunt would later spawn a stand-alone sequel in 2007, with the developers upping the ante on every single aspect of the game and including even more vicious kills (though the Fight-Club-inspired plot was nowhere near as interesting as the snuff conspiracy of the first title). Unfortunately, that would be the last time that Rockstar would dip their toes into serious horror, with their more experimental games becoming a distant memory once the studio realized that they could simply milk the GTA franchise ad nauseum well into the future.
And while I’d argue that Manhunt’s legacy can still be felt in indie titles like Christmas Massacre and Hotline Miami, there’s never been a proper successor to the series – and I don’t think there ever will be. After all, a slow-paced single-player murder-fest would be too niche of a project to be banked by a major developer and would also probably restart the entire violent videogames debate in mainstream media. While I’d love to be proven wrong, it sounds like fans should get used to replaying these sixth-generation titles instead of expecting a modern return to their stealth horror thrills.
Even after 20 years of ever-evolving horror games, Manhunt continues to stand alone as an interactive video nasty that has to be played to be believed. It may not be the digital bogeyman that the media once made it out to be (and it has its fair share of rough edges during the shoot-out levels), but it’s still one hell of a disturbing experience that deserves revisiting in 2023.
At the very least, you’ll never look at a plastic bag the same way again.