In 2005, Psychonauts was released to the world, with critical acclaim but a commercial failure. This was the debut title of Double Fine, a studio founded by LucasArts veteran Tim Schafer famous for penning the fun and amazing point-and-click adventure games of the late 90s.
The world of Psychonauts is an imaginative one, with fun writing all around but was led down for not being a competent 3D platformer- the game genre in fashion way back then. The term wasn’t invented yet, but Double Fine has been exuding indie games energy before it was cool. It became a cult hit despite some major faults.
Decades later, a crowdfunding campaign and a buyout by Microsoft, Psychonauts 2 is finally here to continue the mind-jumping adventures of plucky 10-year-old Razputin “Raz” Aquato. The game took its sweet, sweet time, but the result was worth it. It’s an amazing sequel, and redeem all of the faults of the original.
Presentation
Psychonauts 2, its predecessor, has a very distinctive art style. A vibrant colour palette. An unorthodox style of cartoon design where body proportions and shape can vary wildly- yet maintain strong silhouettes. It screams the same styling of a late 90s Nickelodeon cartoon.
It also helps that they do enlist the voices behind the screams of a Nickelodeon cartoon. Most of the voice cast from the original retain their roles and there are also new appearances from Hollywood actors that have worked with Double Fine in previous projects.
The voice acting was already phenomenal in the original, and the sequel maintains that high standard. The soundtrack, while not necessarily my cup of tea, is all well-made. There’s a song where I have to assume the brief was to make a game show music similar to The Price Is Right and Family Feud because that one particular song nails that brief perfectly.
It’s easy to mess up a look that would work on an older console on a PS2 and HD-fying it to horrible results. But Double Fine did a fine job in preserving the styling of its world and characters in this age of 4K TVs. Characters are distinct, yet cohesive, and in a way, charming.
(It also helps that they have made a more recent title, the VR-exclusive Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin, that helps hone down the art style ahead of Psychonauts 2.)
You will also be treated to surprise presentation changes when you go inside of someone’s mind- think how Kingdom Hearts’ worlds can change the characters’ look and aesthetic and you’re not far off. The style changes in these worlds are great to see, but made even better when they are not just served for looks- it tells you more of the mind owner’s personality.
If you love 60s spy flicks, the 60s, and Saturday morning cartoons, Psychonauts 2 is a splendour worth seeing.
Gameplay
In Psychonauts 2, the events pick up right after Rhombus Of Ruin. For those that never touched the previous games, Raz goes through in length with the cliff notes of what happened to catch you up before the game begins proper. So no prior knowledge really is needed, the game’s plot can work as a standalone story.
(If you did play the past games, your prior knowledge of the more ancillary parts of the story will be rewarded. Remember how Raz can’t swim? That’s something that’s explored in more detail.)
Raz is now part of the Psychonauts, sort of. His adventures in the summer camp a few days ago (in in-game time, or years in our time) has got him recruited in the super-secret spy agency of psychics that can jump into someone’s mind. Turns out this is summer camp part 2- you still hang out with kids (albeit older ones) as part of an intern program. And Raz is here to begin his internship, which later unravels a bigger threat to the Psychonauts which he must help stop.
Psychonauts 2 is pretty much Psychonauts 1 again, structurally speaking. The way the world is opened up, the different acts of the story, it’s all fundamentally similar. It’s like this sequel was released the year after the original. And this isn’t a complaint. It’s rather comfy to see how you’re essentially playing Psychonauts again.
But there is one clear improvement. The much-maligned controls are now better than ever, and the design of the platforming levels are much more well-considered. All the platformer verbs- jumping, climbing, fighting – feel much tighter and workable. I haven’t felt the controls were fighting against me throughout my playthrough.
There are some issues with properly signposting in at least one level. There is a level where the use of a certain psychic power is mandatory to progress, but it looks deceptively doable without using that specific power that I found myself plunging into the abyss too many times. And there is also a lever to interact that was not in the immediate line-of-sight that it’s easy to miss. That mailroom level is a sore spot.
That particular level aside, navigating through the platforms in Psychonauts 2 is just good fun. Exploring the overworld fills you with a sense of wonder when you finally have it all opened. The main levels inside the minds are all tightly structured, and won’t overlast its welcome. Maybe too tight- it’s so easy to spot the rule of three being diligently followed. Almost all levels are split into three acts or parts.
As a Psychonaut, Raz can make use of psychic powers in the real world as well as in mental worlds. Only five of his powers from the first game is here (Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, Levitation Ball, PSI-Blast and Clairvoyance).
There are also new powers to gain. Mind Connections is your psychic grappling hook equivalent, letting you reach specific areas as well as pull enemies toward you for a good punch. PSI Time Bubble slows down time in a bubble, and Mental Projection, which lets you access places you originally cannot.
You can assign all the powers to the four shoulder buttons on the controller. But you have a total of eight powers and you need to assign the buttons individually. There’s no way to just switch to a different loadout, so every time you go into combat or find a thing that requires a specific psychic power you’ll have to go quick-switch to reassign buttons.
It’s a cumbersome experience, I prefer to have a way to set loadouts that you can quick-switch on tap rather than doing the button assignments over and over.
That really is one big bummer on the PSI-powers, which are generally awesome. All of the powers serve a purpose in exploration as well as in combat. Even Clairvoyance- the ability to see yourself in the second-person- somehow has a combat implementation and that rules. There are more enemy archetypes, most of them have mental-based pun names like Regret, Bad Mood, and Panic Attack.
There are boss fights and they all are fun, with clear signposting on what their gimmicks are. Combat is interestingly challenging, will make you make use of the psychic powers to its best use, and sometimes flexible. It’s those times where you have to equip a specific power to fight a specific enemy so you have to fiddle with the button assignments is where it kills its mood.
Content
Psychonauts 2 will take you less than 20 hours to beat. It’s a reasonable length for anyone to see it through. You only have a handful of optional quests you can do.
Like any good 3D platformer, there are tons of things to collect and optional areas and secrets to discover should you wish to prolong your adventure.
And what a good adventure it is. Despite the many pre-release videos that have explained too many of its major plot points, Psychonauts 2’s story is so, so well executed. The build-up to the main villain is excellent. The character moments touching. The stakes of this threat were effectively established, and the underlying mystery sub-plot has a great pay-off.
Psychonauts 2’s story has the same beats as Marvel’s Avengers, but in my opinion, is better delivered. You have a doe-eyed fanboy getting to meet his heroes, help them recover and get the team assembled against their biggest threat. But the writing team remembered to make Raz play the straight man a lot more so his eagerness and fanboyism (which can get annoying) aren’t the only things that define him.
Sprinkled in with a side dish of “kid gets into trouble and learn the consequences of their action” bit like a good cartoon episode and you get the gist of Psychonauts 2.
And the writing in general is what you expect: phenomenal. The jokes are funny and land, the emotional turns hit you good, and there’s a good amount jokes that hit hard because it’s real. Getting a baby depicted as a round of roulette is silly but also made me go “oof”.
But it’s not just the clever wordsmiths’ great work that makes some of these moments properly funny. It’s the full delivery of the joke. And there’s one specific scene that’s exemplary of this.
The pancake conversation with Sam has great use of animation, camera close-ups and cuts topped with amazing line reads to deliver a whiplash of funny and scary moments. There’s so much work being put in, for an optional conversation. It’s amazing, you can see the lineage of ye olde point-and-click adventure writing in the many bits of optional dialogue you can engage with.
And Psychonauts 2 also touches on mental issues with such a gentle touch. You are going into people’s minds to help them in dealing with their internal struggles, but the game makes it clear you are not here to “fix” people. I alluded earlier to this, as Raz will learn this hard lesson when meddling with someone’s mind early on. From that point, you see Raz approaching his mind-jumping activities a little different. A lot of the internal struggles are dealt with by him nudging the person in the right direction, but nothing more.
The game’s many references (and puns) on the brain are funny, but it never punches down at the expense of people struggling with mental health. Mental health is no joke, and I love how respectful this aspect is being presented.
It’s little details that the devs pay attention to make the game feel very considerate with portraying its subject matter.
Personal Enjoyment
I love Psychonauts 1 back in the day and but also hate it. I am a fan of 3D platformers in general, so the first game really grinds my gears that it’s pain to have a beautiful and fun world locked to what I felt at the time, sub-par gameplay.
I still enjoy 3D platformers today and I’m glad to say I love every bit of Psychonauts 2 in general. There are specific nitpicks I have as mentioned, but generally speaking, Double Fine has massively improved on their debut title.
The story resonated with me, the overall experience is what I would have wished the original Psychonauts 1 would have been back in the day. And I feel much easier to recommend Psychonauts 2 now that there’s no caveat attached to it. The gameplay’s decent this time!
Verdict
16 years of waiting was worth it. Psychonauts 2 continues the adventures of the original cult hit and massively improved it in many ways. This is not a modern re-invention of the 3D platformers, but a continuation of an underrated gem that didn’t get enough love due to its gameplay faults.
All the time and money that went into making Psychonauts 2 the best it can be was worth it. This is one of the most splendid games to be released in 2021, and a reminder that this series should not be overlooked. A rough gem has been polished into a shining diamond that’s worth your attention.
Reviewed on PC. Review copy purchased by the reviewer.
- Presentation 9
- Gameplay 8
- Content 9
- Personal Enjoyment 10