Manhunt 2

Players primarily assume the role of Daniel Lamb in a third-person perspective, with Leo Kasper also playable in certain missions. Although different in appearance and personality, both have similar controls. As with the original game, the primary gameplay mechanic is stealth execution, whereby the player character must approach an enemy from behind, undetected, and kill them. There are three 'levels' of execution, with each level progressively more violent and graphic than the last; Level 1 (Hasty) executions are quick and not very gory, Level 2 (Violent) are considerably more gory, and Level 3 (Gruesome) are over-the-top.

The player is in control of which level they use; once the player has locked onto an enemy, the lock-on reticule changes color over time to indicate the level; white (level 1), yellow (level 2), and red (level 3). When playing on PC or Wii while doing the executions, there is a quick time event which lists down certain moves that either the mouse or Wii Controller must move or by pressing a certain button at a specific time in order to finish the execution. If it does not finish in the specific time, it will stop the execution and skips it entirely, although the player still kills the person.

Manhunt 2 takes place circa 2007, with flashback sequences set six years prior, within the fictional city of Cottonmouth, which is inspired by several southern US cities, mainly New Orleans. Like its predecessor, the game is part of the same shared universe as the Grand Theft Auto series also created by Rockstar Games.

In 2007, at the Dixmor Asylum for the Criminally Insane, a severe thunderstorm causes the security system at the asylum to momentarily go offline, opening the cell doors throughout the facility, resulting in the populace wandering freely through the corridors. Two somewhat saner inmates are Daniel Lamb (Ptolemy Slocum) and Leo Kasper (Holter Graham). Daniel, who suffers from disorientation and is partly amnesiac, is unable to remember how or why he was admitted to Dixmor. Under Leo's guidance, they escape the facility and make their way to the ruins of Daniel's old home.

Development on Manhunt 2 commenced shortly after the release of the first Manhunt. Rockstar North, who had developed the first game, were working on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, so development was handed over to Rockstar Vienna. From Q1 to Q3 of 2005, German developer Rabcat Computer Graphics assisted them in the creation of 350+ 3D assets. However, on 11 May 2006, Rockstar Vienna was closed, and the main development of the game was handed to Rockstar London.

Rockstar Toronto was tasked with developing a Wii version and Rockstar Leeds was tasked with the PSP version. The game was officially announced by Take-Two on 6 February 2007, scheduled for a worldwide July 2007 release. Despite working on the game for two years, members of Rockstar Vienna received no credit in the final product.

Manhunt 2 received "mixed or average reviews", according to reviewer aggregator Metacritic. Positive reception came from the game's presentation of graphic violence and its psychological horror-based storyline. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd said the game was "not as shocking as you'd expect, but Manhunt 2 still satisfies your primal instincts", and that the game was better to play on the PSP platform. Mikel Reparaz from GamesRadar stated that "if you're in the mood for something creepy and horrific that'll leave you feeling a little dirty, Manhunt 2's still-shocking murders and eerie, is-it-real-or-am-I-just-insane storyline won't disappoint."

75/10, saying "Manhunt 2 is every bit as grim and brutal as the first [...] the writing, as is typical of Rockstar's games, is top-notch, and Daniel and the rest of the characters do come off the screen as very real and human [...] It's a testament to this quality that I was really driven to see the tale out to its end." 5/10, stating that while the game does deliver for the most part, they were disappointed by the way external influences led Rockstar to change the game, and that the story, while interesting, is "highly predictable".