Psychonauts 2 - Review

It has been 16 years since we first got to meet Raz and the other members of the brain trust in Psychonauts, which obtained cult status soon after it released, and apart from a VR only spin-off a few years ago, that has been the extent of the adventures with them. So, the hype level for Psychonauts 2, is quite high, so the question must be asked, is this an adventure worth waiting one and a half decades for or is all the waiting for naught.

For those coming into the series for the first time, or who may have forgotten what happened in the other games, Psychonauts 2 does start off with a wrap up of the other games, which is very handy indeed. Razputin Aquato, or Raz as he prefers, is sitting at his desk in the head office of the Psychonauts and while he is moaning that the job wasn’t exactly what he thought it might be like, he gets pulled away to the Employee of the Year awards. The awards are not real, neither is the office, in fact the world itself is fake as they are in the mind of Dr Loboto, the villain who kidnapped the head of the Psyschonauts, Truman Zanotto and while they rescued him, they still don’t have all the answers. While their efforts to find out the source of who hired Dr Loboto to kidnap Truman may have failed, they do learn one very important fact, there is a mole with in the Psychonauts.

Sadly, this mole plot is pretty much forgotten for most of the story, as Raz is tasked with restoring the mind of Ford Cruller, the head of the Psychic Six, the founders of the Psychonauts. There is also another sub-plot of Raz getting to know the other interns in the company, because while he might be the hero of one and a bit games, he isn’t a fully qualified member, nor even an adult, but that falls out of the way, if you don’t focus on it. The quest to restore Ford’s mind and then assist the other members of the Psychic Six are all fun, though they take some predictable routes in getting to the conclusion, which doesn’t hurt their message, just foretells it very easily. The story isn’t the best, but it does serve up multiple viewpoints, depending on what you are looking for, as a straight point to point tale, it does miss the mark at times, but if you are looking for character development, then there is a lot to discover.

Something that you need to be aware of, before you start diving into people’s minds, is that the game deals with some serious subjects, and though it might treat them in more humorous ways, it doesn’t detract from their overall subject matter. Feelings of loss, abandonment, isolation, fear and more are all addressed and thankfully, it isn’t just like a single line or a joke about it, you will meet characters that suffer from a variety of mental concerns and while you don’t treat them, per say, you do discover ways to support them and help them find some courage to take the first steps to getting better. When you think of Double Fine as a developer, they are known for unique looks and humour, so getting a game that was not afraid to tackle some intense subjects, was something I was not prepared for.

If the story is one of growth and strength, then the gameplay is old and busted and that is purely because it feels like a late 90’s platformer, complete with the random control issues. At its core, the game is a platformer, there are times when you will encounter other minor gameplay elements, but for the most part, you are running, jumping and collecting lots of items. The game is set within two worlds, the physical and the mental and that later world can also be described as mental, because you will never know what to expect when you enter. Staying out in the real world, there are a number of areas for you to explore, with countless cards and more to discover, while there are a few smaller locales to explore, there are really only a few larger ones that you will need to worry about and much like a good exploration game, returning to them time and again, will let you discover new secrets. The only thing the game is missing in the real world, is the ability to fast travel, because being in one location and then having to head to another can be a pain, there are a network of tubes to get around, but they are not always in the most accessible of locations.

Stepping into the mental worlds, this is where things get really wacky and more creative, meaning the developers could just go nuts and with some of the levels they clearly did. The developers have shown off a few levels already, but the two that really stood out to me was the city of germs that live within a bowling shoe and the Beatles landscape. While both worlds maintain the same core principles, their construction and gameplay tweaks are different enough that you could be forgiven for thinking they came from two separate games. The bowling shoe has you riding around on a series of bowling balls, in a city of germs and slime, as the citizens of it are proclaiming the end is coming, it does by way of bowling shoe cleaner, whereas the other world is more about exploring different worlds based around the five senses and dealing with the anxiety that comes being overwhelmed by any of them.

There are other worlds that are just as fun, but those two stood out to me as the most entertaining, from both gameplay and characters that you interact with, though Compton’s Cookoff is a close third. The problem is that while the worlds are fun, the gameplay never really changes from one to another, so while you are riding around atop of bowling balls, you have access to the same controls as you do when attempting to recover band instruments and what works well in the latter, doesn’t succeed as well for the former. Neither is truly impacted by the lack of dedicated controls, but they would be vastly more improved if they were offered, still the more annoying aspect is the powers and having to manage them all the time.

You can use any four psychic powers you want; you just need to map them to the shoulders and triggers, the problem is there are some very useful abilities that you will want to have out all the time and some that are beyond pointless, outside of a few specific moments. There were times when I would swap out my ability to hover in the air, with something else, only to then plummet into a gap, because I hadn’t swapped it back, or when attempting to use psi-blast to hit enemies from some distance away, only to instead pull them to me, as the icons for both are quite similar. Of course, this isn’t a problem, just more of an issue and given the number of buttons on the controller, being able to keep one on a dedicated face button, would have been amazing.

Earlier I said that this game reminded me a lot of late 90’s platformers and it embraces that so much, with the sheer number of collectables in each world, from a few hundred Figments in each, emotional baggage and their tags, half a mind, memory vaults and more, there is a lot to do. Some of the items to collect are also hidden out of the way, so that until you get a specific powerup to one of your abilities, you won’t be able to access it. The downside to this is that the game doesn’t really explain how to re-visit minds and while you can do so, much like the travel around the real world, there should have been a more streamlined method of doing so. Basically though, if you are someone who wants to 100% every game you play, this one is going to give you extreme value for money.

Taking a look at the presentation side of things, the games offers up more of the unique look that the series is known for, but still manages to scream Double Fine, at least to me. The best way I can describe it is a little bit of Tim Burton, some Coraline and then topped off with some Ahh Real Monsters and while you might think that is an odd mix, it is one that works very well. Everything has a sense of realism, even when you are latterly climbing up the brain stem inside of someones head, cranium exploration aside, there is a lot more going on with the visuals than just some fancy internal shots. The early worlds that I mentioned are wonderfully represented, the world of the senses for one screams surreal, but there is an odd sense of wonder that you can’t help but be pulled in by and it won’t be the only world to make you feel that way.

Character designs, at least for returning characters are just as fans will expect them to be, though with some tweaks here and there, the new characters are also wonderfully created, allowing them to slot into the mix and not feel like they are imitations. While Raz has a unique look that fans of the series will know, his new look is slightly updated, but still looks like him, complete with his signature googles and the same carries across to the enemy design as well. Some enemies, like the Judge, lean into the more exaggerated, the more unique ones, like the bad idea or the enabler have a sense of familiarity that helps ground them. On a technical side, the game does have a few issues in loading up elements, usually loading in lower quality textures, before loading in the proper ones, usually at the start of new scenes and there are some moments of slowdown, but neither becomes something to be concerned about.

On the sound side of things, the games soundtrack is wonderful, far too often in modern games, especially platformers, I will have to lower the music volume, in order to stop the looping score from driving me insane, thankfully this wasn’t an issue here. Peter McConnel is a veteran composer, from so many impressive series, with work on countless LucasArts games like Star Wars, Monkey Island and more recently, other Double Fine games like Broken Age and the original Psychonauts, so having him back on board was great. The character voice work is top notch across the board and while there are a few celebrity appearances, most of the voice work is done by some standouts from that world of acting. Richard Horwitz, known for his work as Invader Zim and The Angry Beavers, returns to voice Raz and while Richard was not 10 years of age when the first game released, you wouldn’t know that based on just how perfectly he sounds now. In fact, the only real time I found myself pulled out from his performance was in the screams of terror, because that sounds a little older than what Raz should be. Other actors that pop up, like Yuri Lowenthal and Steve Blum, were easy enough to pick out, but they never detracted from the story being told.

Psychonauts 2 is game that I highly recommend, it is a solid mix of old school platforming, but with dashes of modern here and there and while the story is a little weak, given how some parts just become forgotten until the end, there is no denying the weight of the subjects the game tackles. Strong performances from the cast, make you want to care about the characters that you interact with, well maybe not the other interns, and that helps carry the story further. If you are a fan of the series, or intrigued by what the game is offering, you will find something here that is surprisingly acceptable.

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Xbox Game Studios

The Pros

+Heavy subject matter is treated with care, taking the time to show why these characters are suffering

+Strong platforming, in both the real and mental worlds, are a highlight of the game….

The Cons

-… but there are times when it becomes a little to retro, leading to some frustrating moments

-The sheer number of collectables in each location will become too much as the game pushes on