Bully: Scholarship Edition

Tbh it runs VERY WELL on the steam deck! But I've seen many reviews not recommending it in general so all I've got to say is that..

It runs beautifully on the steam deck :D

This game is a hot mess scam. I have no idea how all these positive reviews are for a price like this you want something polished. Even all the community hub post modifications and anything reddit and internet has to offer didn't fix this game's sudden crashes and memory problems.

Yeah nah dude I contacted the support for a refund. Rockstar get your sh*t together before you scam people. Can't believe it's the same company making GTA and RDR... Stay away from this one at all costs dudes!

Great game, but my save file got corrupted mid playthrough. idk what it was, as I had the silent patch installed.

very fun game and also very nostalgic for me and maybe even for you

I LOVE this game, and I keep returning to play it, but it always hard crashes, and I stop playing it.
I've tried many fixes recomended online, but it's never enough.
ROCKSTAR GAMES, MAKE A FIX FOR THIS MASTERPICE!

The game is 10/10, but it is unplayable for WIN 10.

One of Rockstar's greatest games of all time. This game is a masterpiece from start to finish. The diverse cliques and gangs, they way they dress, their stereotypes, and the way they interact with you is so entertaining. Shawn Lee made an absolutely incredible soundtrack for this game. The story is super fun to play and it is so memorable. It reminds me of when I was in high school and how much I wish to go back. Amazing game 10/10.

Nostalgia from ps2 era. If you want to fully enjoy this game on PC, try install SilentPatch to fix framerate and other bugs as well, cheers.

this game is capped to 30fps making it unplayable

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☑ Bad (Music slaps, but some sounds are distorted (?) for whatever reason)
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind (The carnaval prizes require slight grinding, and nothing else)
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short (Maybe try to enjoy each chapter so it takes at least 20 hours to complete)
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs (There are crash errors for this game but after installing the Silent Patch I had only 1 crash, and it never happened again. Be careful either way)
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

Old but gold. Still very good and entertaining for a game that was made a while ago.

i was mid game and it crashed. FUCK YOU ROCKSTAR. But its fun...

Great game, however crashes each time after 10-20 minutes loosing progress every play. Makes me want to drop it entirely, which is a shame as it's fun when it manages to run correctly

Bully: Scholarship Edition is one of my favorite games, and I have fond memories of playing it back in 2016. It’s a fun and unique experience that truly captures the feeling of the early 2000s, from the humor to the world design. The game has an incredible atmosphere, a great story, and a school setting that makes it stand out from other Rockstar titles.

However, the PC version is plagued with issues. It’s nearly impossible to play smoothly without installing SilentPatch, which helps reduce (but doesn’t eliminate) the frequent crashes. Imagine completing a mission, only for the game to crash randomly, forcing you to redo everything. It’s frustrating and kills the immersion. On top of that, I had to install several mods just to make the game playable—one to remove the widescreen stretch, another to enhance icons and textures by bringing elements from the Anniversary Edition, and even a mod to unlock my FPS to 60+. Despite all of these fixes, the game still crashes during certain missions.

The audio is another major issue. Sometimes, multiple voice lines will play over each other, making dialogue hard to follow. In certain missions, some audio clips sound distorted and way too loud for no reason, which can be pretty jarring.

Rockstar should really patch this game properly instead of leaving it to the community to fix. Bully: Scholarship Edition is an amazing game, but its technical issues hold it back from being the definitive version it should be. If you’re planning to play on PC, be prepared to do some modding to get the best experience.

One of the masterpieces from the old Rockstar, 'Bully' is a standout title that I believe surpasses 'Hogwarts Legacy' in terms of storytelling and character development *COUGH*. However, to enjoy it on modern hardware, it's essential to use the silent patch, which fixes various compatibility issues. Overall, it's a must-play for fans of classic games

Good game and story under rated title
Keeping in mind this game crashing thousand of times During mission On windows 10 /11
Installing Silent patch or run as administrator or compatibility on windows xp service pack isnt Guarentee that it will prevent crashing .
Not recommended if you don't have patience to reopen and redo the same mission again this game has no auto save option 🙃

Rockstar continues to show their laziness by not fixing this game, it is unplayable since it always crashes. I could not get past the very first mission because the game kept crashing at the same point of the mission. If you want to play this game you need to install a silent patch or it is really not possible to play.

Iconic. A masterpiece in storytelling.

Unfortunately the game crashes on modern systems without patches/ fixes. i haven't tried it yet after downloading the patch.

why not fix your game before selling it?

Edit, review changed back to positive after SilentPatch seems to have fixed the crashing. Still pretty annoying how games can just be sold broken.

This port is pretty much unplayable without downloading a third party patch from silent and alerting a .txt file to get it to run at 60 FPS instead of the default 30 FPS. Otherwise it will crash randomly, audio files will play over each other and shaders will just pop in and out of existence. It's honesty shocking that this is even for sale on steam because after all the issues I had with this version, I got my hands on another port from an abandonware site that plays beautifully. So I have no clue why rockstar is even selling this.

Greatly recommend, if you like the old Rockstar (GTA 3, San Andreas & Vice City gameplay loops). Rockstar England nailed it for the fantasy of American education.

Love this game super nostalgia. basically GTA teenager at school edition. The controls are pretty shitty and it does crash alot! that being said. If that is not a deal breaker for you then get it. just save alot. 7/10 would be higher but controls and the crashing.

Funnest school game you'll ever play! Highly Recommend! Also good if your a fan of Rockstar Games.

Great game. Holds up well on Steamdeck. use FSR for more crisp graphics.

This game has aged incredibly well and clearly inspired the interactive systems of GTA IV and RDR II. It really stands out in Rockstar's catalog and nails both tone and atmosphere.

another masterpiece from rockstar. i was played bully in 2008. but never finished the game before. until 2025 i finally made it.
+ graphic is good for a 6th/7th gen game
+ music is amazing
+ rockstar humor
- be aware [ game is not playble in windows 10 / 11 ] and [ only runs at 30 fps ] but you can fix it with mods

classic, you do need to download a mod to fix the broken port of this game.

great game, just get the silent patch (don't change the frame rate) and run in windows xp sp3 compatibility mode to avoid crashes

Game is amazing. Port sucks but it's easily fixed with a single mod download. So many people here too stupid to realize that and giving a negative rating.

Game keep freezing and cutting out back to steam. I have a pc that's capable of running cyberpunk on 10 instances

this edition got so many bugs smh, 3/10 for the nostalgic feeling

Hard to run on modern devices, but EASILY the best game Rockstar has ever put out. Give it a try, download the silent patch and start beating people up. Also, change the controls on the game.

Bully is an amazing game and the Scholarship Edition adds some fun extras, but it constantly crashes. I've played this game on PS2, PS4 and Xbox 360 in the past and never had any issues. It's very frustrating. I wouldn't buy the Steam version of Bully, unless they patch it. Which they won't do, because if they were ever gonna patch it, it would have happened by now.

I've played this game in the past like most people and wanted to 100% it for nostalgia... the game isn't difficult to 100% but the PC port is actual ass. Your game will crash all the fucking time. Sometimes every 5-20 minutes. You will have to redo missions sometimes up to 3 times because it keeps crashing. I downloaded every patch available and edited the files the way people online say to and it will still crash. If you play the copy on steam it will rot your fucking brain and by the end, end up strongly disliking it. If you want to play the game I highly encourage you to emulate the game. How this copy is still available to purchase is mind blowing!

Yıllarca severek oynadığım Bully, Rockstar tarafından unutulmuş ve sorunlarıyla yalnız başına bırakılmış. Her girdiğimde oyun belli bir süre sonra beni atıyor ve oynamama izin vermiyor, bu da oyunu önermemi engelliyor.

Pretty shamefully bad release that requires a bit of work to even get working consistently on modern machines, and this includes a fan patch because of course the fans care when Rockstar couldn't care less. Which, to be clear, is very disappointing. I love this game, it's so unique and well-realized. Make a sequel, cowards.

I'd honestly just say you'd be better off emulating a console version of this game if you're capable, because it will certainly be more stable than this. But with XP Service Pack 3 compatibility mode and the Silent Patch, it's decently stable and only crashes occasionally. It's certainly playable as long as you remember to save somewhat often.

Great old game, really a classic.
You absolutely HAVE to download the silent patch if you want to play it though - otherwise it'll crash so often it's really unplayable.

here everything you need to know if want to play bully for the first time

1, when you buy the game, install a mod asap, especially silentpatch. bully are known because of it crashing especially if youre at window 10 & 11. just search on youtube how to install silentpatch mod

2. the story of this game is very good but its kinda short, if you didnt do any side quest you can finish this game within a day

3. if you ask me "is there a bug in this game?". i would say yes, and there are so many bug. but this is a normal thing for a 2006 games

4. "is it worth it?". if you like story games and chill, its a big yes yes for you.

5. make sure you have a controller to play this game, i would recommend having an xbox controller because if you're using ps controller you need to install PS controller icon because the game would show xbox icon if you're using ps controller

Overall, should you buy it? : yes if you the person like number 4 and if you like combat games this is the game for you

thanks

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ could be better
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a backyard of bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

words cannot describe how much love i have for this game, i played it once on ps4, and once on xbox 360 as well, i had a great experience on both, and now i get the chance to play it on my computer! 10/10

Its an old game. Buyer beware.

If you think this is gonna run out of the box on your windows 10/11, think again. You will spend hours googling fixes and constantly tinkering with the game files to make it work. For me all that effort is not worth the time.

For some of you it might be and in that case this is a purchase well worth the money. It is a good game at its core, however Rockstar have made no effort to make it compatible with the newer operating systems.
You will need a controller for this, playing it on keyboard and mouse is just insanity. Make sure you have a task manager open, if you plan to tab out ( the game might freeze all of your monitors when doing so)
There are tons and tons of bugs which are non game breaking, but just make the game unintuitive and impossible to play naturally.
I got into 5 fights even before i entered the school. Its like everyone is trying to get me into trouble while im just trying to enjoy the game world.

I got past the resolution fix, but the audio is just way off and its impossible to even understand a basic conversation with all the constant shouting from every single NPC that is nearby.
I cannot describe the frustration i felt when there is a cut-scene where 2 people are having a dialogue and 10 NPCs are just shouting over it in the hallway. Non of the audio sliders are doing anything for me.

The game just feels like its on steroids all the time. Everyone is constantly trying to attack me and fight me and shouting any random catch phrase that has been put into the game. Completely obnoxious and without any rhythm or reason.

Not my cup of tea, i watched a play-through of this on YouTube and i think it has satiated my appetite for old rockstar games.

Growing up, I never had the chance to play Bully, so experiencing it for the first time now has been interesting. It's a fun game—if you can get it to work. Like Max Payne, running Bully on modern hardware requires downloading mods, which I think is ridiculous. If you’re like me, you wouldn’t know that beforehand!

Needless to say, I’m still new to playing games on PC, and I’ve come to the conclusion that if it’s an older game, you may run into compatibility issues. This can be discouraging, especially if you expect a game to just work after buying it. So, my advice? Do some research first!

At first, I was skeptical about downloading mods, but after watching several YouTube videos, everything pointed back to a guide by BadInfos on which fixes to install. If you're comfortable with modding, I’d recommend getting the game on PC. Otherwise, playing it on a console might be the better option.

Once I figured out how to fix the technical issues, I felt confident moving forward with the necessary downloads, and I was finally able to run the game in 2025! That said, while Bully itself is a great experience, I can’t ignore the frustration of having to rely on community-made fixes just to play a game that Rockstar still actively sells. It honestly feels like a bit of a scam to charge for something that doesn’t natively work on modern systems.

Major kudos to the people who worked hard to make this game functional, but ultimately, Rockstar should have been the one to ensure Bully runs smoothly for PC players.

Fixes That Worked for Me:
To fix Bully, check out "How to Fix Bully on PC [Windows 11 Installation Guide for Scholarship Edition]" by BadInfos on YouTube.
For Max Payne, I followed "Max Payne Steam Fix Tutorial (2023)" by Hidden Machine Annex on YouTube.
Watching these videos helped me get these games running. Disclaimer: Download these fixes at your own risk—I’m just sharing what worked for me!

Also, I used ChatGPT to help make this review more cohesive and to better explain my experience, since my writing and punctuation aren’t the best. But I really wanted to help people make a more informed purchase decision.

Final Verdict: I'm giving Bully a thumbs down—not because of the game itself, but because Rockstar is still selling it in a state where it’s technically unplayable without mods. The constant crashes I experienced before installing these fixes made it a frustrating experience, and that’s just not acceptable for a paid product.

Solid game but crashes frequently, turn off most video settings to reduce this as much as possible and save after every mission.

Wouldn't say it's an essential Rockstar game but it definitely puts a fresh light on sandbox games (especially at the time it was released)

I didn't experience any crashes until 5 hours in and was too late for a refund. So really consider how much you're willing to put up with the crashes. Or just wait for a sale.

P.s Steam refund support team are skanks.

It's a good game and got it as I missed out on this during the PS2 days. I got over 5 hours into it and the crashes were constant to the point of replaying missions again. I would steer clear from this version of the game.

I love this game. I have since it was originally released...however...the crashing...honestly...

I have the crash patch, but for some reason, the game keeps crashing. I'm too lazy to go in and tweak things because I purchased the game and don't feel I should have to program something because I don't work for Steam...that being said, this is my second purchase of the game, years apart, and I'm a little disappointed that this hasn't been fixed yet.

I don't usually rant, but I just finished a go-kart race, and completed the date with Pinky at the Carnival and I have to do that over again, because the game froze and died.

Steam: fix this!

I love this game and have since I played in originally years ago, and I even suffered through the hourly crashes to get to the end of the storyline in this version, but by that time I wasn't having much fun with this game I enjoy a lot. It's a shame that Rockstar hasn't fixed this so it's actually playable for more than an hour at a time... smart move would probably be to get a refund but I'm holding out hope they'll make it work. In the meantime though, it just doesn't

Bully – A Fun, Mischievous School Adventure!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5)

Bully by Rockstar Games is an unforgettable adventure set in the chaotic world of high school life. As Jimmy Hopkins, a rebellious teenager, you’ll navigate the quirky halls of Bullworth Academy, dealing with bullies, making friends, and taking on a variety of hilarious and sometimes intense missions.

The game offers a great open-world experience where you can explore the school, participate in mini-games, attend classes, and even cause a little trouble. The story is engaging, with a nice balance of humor and heartfelt moments, and the characters are wonderfully unique.

While it may not have the same level of polish as some of Rockstar’s other titles, Bully still offers a fantastic time with its charm and creativity. Whether you’re getting into pranks or trying to rise to the top of the school hierarchy, Bully is an experience that stands out.

The most evil thing Jimmy Hopkins could do is not be an Eagles fan IMO

This game is the definiton of a "boy's dream".
Every man once wanted to do these things and day dreamed about it.

Definitely Recommend it

This game is really fun, but this port is kind of trash. You need to install a custom community made patch to properly allocate the game's memory to prevent it from crashing. Even then, the game still crashes pretty frequently. The controls are also pretty rough on PC port. That being said, the missions in this game are extremely fun and it is very entertaining to interact with the environment. The best mission is helping homeless drunk Santa sabotage a real Santa and beat the sh1t out of his elves. It's worth buying if you have the patience to deal with some of the BS.

Classic Rockstar story-rich character-rich game. good to layback and enjoy

This game is a piece of art, but the PC port they did is awful.
If you do get mods to fix things like the widescreen, silentpatch to reduce crashes and cap make you go up to 60, and some other things like I did, its a incredible game, In my 28 hour playthrough I crashed ONCE.