Criticisms that the first game took such things a touch too flippantly appear to have been taken on board and there’s less emphasis on neatly ‘fixing’ characters’ problems in favour of more open-ended outcomes (although the maligned ‘emotional baggage’ collectibles return). Psychonauts 2 is sharply scripted, assuredly self-aware, and not afraid to delve into darkness when need be.Īmid the plentiful laughs are surprisingly nuanced explorations of mental health conditions including addiction, anxiety and PTSD – albeit with a degree of flippancy in the form of anthropomorphised enemies including Panic Attacks, Bad Moods, and Enablers.
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It’s delightfully disorientating yet seldom gratuitous, the fluctuations in form and function serving the narrative’s needs in a manner reminiscent of the peerless What Remains of Edith Finch.ĭon’t be fooled by the game’s child-friendly, Saturday morning TV aesthetic, either this is cartoon-like in the same way as The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show, or Adventure Time are. Psychonauts 2 deliriously deconstructs the medium at every turn, treating perspective, scale, and interactivity as yet more variables to be adjusted to add arrhythmical emphasis to story beats. It’s also an artistic achievement which could only exist as a video game. Each environment is more enthralling than the last, and the anticipation for what comes next lasts right up until the point the end credits roll. In a genre in which risk taking often amounts to including a lava level as well as an arctic-themed one, Psychonauts 2’s twisted takes on less well-travelled tropes like TV game shows, animatronic amusement park rides and ‘70s acid rock festivals stand out like psychedelic thumbs.
Fittingly for a game fixated on exploring the power of the mind, Schafer and his creative team have crafted a magical mystery tour de force and discovering where their collective imaginations will take you next is a joy that should not be spoiled in advance.
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As before, the convoluted plot unfolds in both the physical overworld and also a series of increasingly surreal dungeons which exist entirely in the minds of the game’s deranged dramatis personae.Īt this juncture it’s only fair to point out that you really should play Psychonauts 2 with as little foreknowledge of these levels as possible. Returning hero Razputin ‘Raz’ Aquato is interning at the titular paranormal secret service agency when a mole is discovered within their ranks. Its action picks up immediately where 2017’s stopgap VR release Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin put down its headset, and the game’s structure almost exactly mirrors that of the first. This instalment of the Psychonauts saga now has something to live up to. However, with increased investment comes increased expectation.
This sequel’s six-year, partly-crowdfunded gestation was no less troubled but Psychonauts 2 arrives on more solid footing following Double Fine’s acquisition by – irony alert – Microsoft in 2019. Its lifetime sales are now closer to two million and some experts have gone as far as to claim it’s actually one of the best games ever made. In the intervening years Psychonauts’ renown has grown exponentially, thanks to some judicious aftercare by Schafer’s own Double Fine studio and, one suspects, the rise of YouTube, given Psychonauts is arguably a better game to watch than to play. After a troubled five-year development during which original financiers Microsoft pulled their publishing deal, the mind and genre-bending 3D adventure was lauded by critics, acclaimed by awards juries, but largely overlooked by all but 100,000 members of the public when it eventually emerged on an independent imprint in 2005.
Revered video game developer Tim Schafer’s first Psychonauts game is perhaps the very definition of a cult classic.
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