Bully
LumiScore
Growth
34/100
Growth Value
- Problem Solving
- Spatial Awareness
- Hand-Eye Coordination
Risk
LOW
Engagement Patterns
Minimal pressure to spend or play excessively.
Heads up
Parent Pro-Tip
Co-play the first few hours to discuss the game's satirical tone and Jimmy's moral choices - use missions as conversation starters about real bullying, authority, and ethical behavior versus the exaggerated fictional scenarios.
Top Skills Developed
Development Areas
Representation?How diverse the game's characters are in gender and ethnicity. Higher = more authentic representation. Display only — does not affect time recommendation.
Bechdel Test?The Bechdel Test checks whether a game has at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. A simple measure of representation.— Fails the test
While female characters exist in the school setting, named female characters primarily interact with or discuss the male protagonist rather than having substantial conversations with each other about non-male topics
Parent Pro-Tip
This approach helps children develop critical media literacy by distinguishing satire from reality, strengthens ethical reasoning through discussing the protagonist's choices, and creates opportunities for meaningful conversations about navigating real social hierarchies and standing up to actual bullying in constructive ways.
What your child develops
Bully offers moderate cognitive engagement through mission-based problem-solving where players must navigate social dynamics, complete varied objectives, and explore an open-world school environment. The game requires spatial awareness for navigation and combat, basic strategic thinking for approaching missions, and memory for tracking quest objectives and character relationships. The narrative structure presents ethical dilemmas around standing up to bullies versus using questionable methods, encouraging some critical thinking about social hierarchies and justice. Motor skills are moderately developed through action-adventure mechanics requiring hand-eye coordination and timing for combat, mini-games, and navigation. However, the single-player experience offers minimal social-emotional development beyond the narrative themes.
Regulatory Compliance
Tap a badge for details. Grey = not yet assessed.
About this game
Bully® takes the Rockstar tradition of groundbreaking and original gameplay and humorous tongue-in-cheek storytelling to an entirely new setting the schoolyard. As a mischievous schoolboy, you’ll stand up to the bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks, win or lose the girl, and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the worst school around, Bullworth Academy.