The mind can be a dangerous place! (Psychonauts 2 in review)

     If you've played the original game Psychonauts, or any other Double Fine productions that they've put out over the last 20 years or so, you know that they're some of the most creative games that you can find. Psychonauts 2 is a game that many fans probably thought would never happen, especially this long after the fact, but in the year 2020, the game was released to the public, and even though I wanted to play it right away, I didn't end up playing it until the last few months or so, and finally finished it last week. Did I think that it was worth the wait, and that it loved up to the creative premise of the original, or did I think that they should have thought harder about it this time around? I'll explain some of my thoughts about the game today, while trying to not get into spoiler territory. Let's take the psychic door into the mind while I discuss, shall we?

Into the mind!

    If you're not familiar with Psychonauts, the 2005 3D Platformer followed Razputin Aquato (Or Raz for short), a young boy who ran away from his family's circus to attend Whispering Rock Summer Camp. At this special camp, children with psychic abilities were trained to use their gifts by several of the Psychonauts. Trouble struck and in the end, it was Raz who had to save the campers' brains as well as the camp councilors from an evil Dentist. That's not a joke, that was the main villain of the first game. The first game ends with the news of the head of the Psychonauts being kidnapped, and everyone has to go save him. There was another game in the timeline called Rhombus of Ruin, which was a VR game that takes place in between the first and second numbered entries, and I assume that game covered the rescue of the head of the Psychonauts, Truman Zanotto, because he's on the jet in the beginning of Psychonauts 2 when you get to the headquarters. I won't give much away for the plot of either of these games, since the games themselves tell such interesting and creative storylines, but I will talk about the levels and the context for them.

    Psychonauts 2 follows the lead of the original game in the series with the "levels" taking place in the minds of others, and based around their overall mindsets. The first game was extremely creative with all of the settings and puzzles, with some of my favorites being the sea monster's dream and the Milla's obstacle course that taught Raz how to use levitation, my favorite ability by far. The second game was less about learning new skills (though there are a few of them that Raz is able to learn from some of the higher-ups in the Psychonauts HQ), but more about perfecting his moves and dealing with the trauma and mental issues of others from inside their minds. This was a thing in the first game, with the secret vaults containing some of the person's darkest memories told in a slideshow format, as well as Emotional Baggage being a thing that you always have to look out for, but I think it was even more effective this time around. There's a lot of personality and charm put into all of these levels that go a long way towards building up the characters themselves, as well as seeing exactly what they feel about different relationships and characters. In this game, it tackles a lot of hard subject matters, which you would expect from enemies like Panic Attacks, Self Doubt, and other manifestations of the psyche. One level deals with a character's tragic history and what led him to have an alcohol addiction, one level shows just how fragile a human mind can be, and by implanting one thought into the head, Raz is able to change someone's entire mindset, basically gives them a gambling addiction, then has to go back in to fix it later. There are some serious issues in this game for sure, but along with the serious nature of some of the levels, they're handled with a surprising amount of care and taste while still making the game as a whole feel fun instead of overbearing or sad. There are sad moments, as you would expect when characters are essentially reliving their greatest failures over and over in their minds, but you help them to cope and keep moving forward with their lives. As you can imagine, the acting performances here were pretty important, and I think all of them were knocked out of the park by the different voice actors!

They got who for this game?

    My favorite level in the game would have to be PSI King's Sensorium, where you find a brain to put into the empty head of your mentor, Nick Johnsmith, who is found inside a crate missing his own. The brain that you put into his head needs to find all of the different senses, which are scattered around a psychadelic festival center, and the senses all need to come together to create a band, which can be led by this spark, which was the only sign of life in the brain when you first found it. It's a really cool concept, and as you find more of the senses (which also represent this character's relationships with some of the other characters in this game), the spark remembers more and more of who he was, and then he's able to reform his memories completely and lead the band, taking control of the body that he's been missing for a long time. One more thing about this spark who is the consciousness of a character? It's voiced by Jack Black. Not only that, he sings a whole song, and it's very well done and fitting for the level! Of course, Jack Black is only the voice inside the mind of this body, which isn't surprising, given how busy he must be on a daily basis. The voice of the body outside the mind, however, is also pretty well known in the form of one Elijah Wood! Double Fine has worked with both of these actors before on different projects, but it's just cool that they've nurtured these relationships to the point where they sound like they're really happy to be involved with the game. On another fun note that has to do with the voice cast here, Richard Horwitz is the voice of Raz, though he is also easily recognizable as the voice of Zim from Invader Zim. Without spoiling too much, there's another voice actor who also plays a beloved role in that show, and I was so happy to hear their voices bouncing off one another once again. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention that James and Elyse Willems from the Youtube channel Funhaus are in the game, both of whom are hilarious people that I like a lot, so I'm happy that they're here. That's really just an aside, but I loved it, as well as so many touches and fun details that add to this game being a really lovely time.

    There have been some people who complained that there were too many cutscenes and that control was taken from you too often, and I can definitely agree with that to some extent. There were a few sequences where I thought "I really wish I could have played that instead of just watching Raz do it," which says something about the gameplay, since it's a lot of fun and very interesting speaking purely from a mechanical angle. It's a 3D platformer where you constantly have to think about the four abilities that you have equipped for any given situation, which is certainly an unusual choice for the medium, but works well, even if it adds a slight bit of clunkiness to the proceedings. The amount of side content to do in this game is also pretty impressive, especially since you can get through the game without exploring too much of some of the areas. You definitely would have to go to all of them for some reason or another, but most of the Questionable Area specifically seemed to be almost entirely optional, for you to find more PSI cards or Scavenger Hunt items, if you really wanted to go for completion. I think that's a really cool aspect, allowing for more and more exploration if you're interested even after you beat the game.

    Psychonauts 2 captures the same feel as the original game, but thankfully refines the controls to a more user-friendly way than the original one did. Whether reimagining a lot of the original powers to make them work better with the overall gameplay of most situations, adding a grappling hook-esque power, or just nice little bits of fan service, like putting in a pin that makes Raz do Bobby's dance from the original game, all of it is done with the mission of making a fun, interesting game, and I think they hit the nail on the head. I don't have any nostalgia for the first game, since I just played it a few years ago for the first time, but I'm sure the long term fans of Psychonauts have been really happy with this game that came 16 years after the original!

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. I know I've done two posts back to back on games that deal with the minds and emotions of characters, but Persona 4 and Psychonauts 2 could not have been done any more different if they tried. Persona 4 plays almost everything very straight and the whole game is mostly serious, with some funny moments put throughout. Psychonauts 2 is very fun and whimsical with some very serious moments sprinkled in. Both games are great, and I would definitely recommend Psychonauts 2 to basically anyone who enjoys 3D Platformers. It's a crazy trip through the minds of many different people, and it's very different from almost any other game of this type. Thanks again for all the support and I hope you all have a great week! I'm Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed Psychonaut, and I'll talk to you again soon.