Of all the games that Xbox announced for this year, Psychonauts 2 was the one I was most excited for. Although I hadn’t played the original, I’d heard great things about it, and was eager to see what the sequel had in store. I made the conscious decision not to play the first one, as I wanted Psychonauts 2 to be my first experience with the franchise. I wanted to review it from the perspective of a newbie, as I figured lots of gamers would be in that position. You’ve got to love a good platformer, and from the trailers, this game looked like it was going to deliver.
One thing that I really liked right from the off was that they had a screen with accessibility settings, so you could adjust it for your needs (change the font size, have extra navigational help, etc). This was a great way to make sure the game was playable for everyone. There was also a mental health warning to make people aware of some potentially triggering content. It’s really positive to see them approach the topic of mental health in such a responsible way. Psychonauts 2 also made sure that it was easy for people to catch up with the story. They had an extensive cutscene at the start to recap all of the events from Psychonauts. This meant you knew what had happened, whether or not you’d played the original.
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Story
This game goes hard on the story beats. The Psychonauts are an elite group of agents who traverse people’s minds. Their goal is to solve mysteries, and to help fix issues that people have with their thoughts. Think of it as very efficient CBT. It’s therapy, but instead of talking, psychics go into your mind and beat up the negative thoughts. You play as Razputin, an intern for the Psychonauts, and you find yourself uncovering a deep conspiracy.
I won’t go into the realm of spoilers, but the story is very engaging, and well-developed. I love learning more about the world, and the people that inhabit it. The characterisation is done very well. You really get to know the various NPCs, and build meaningful relationships with them. This helps the Psychonauts HQ feel more realistic, as it’s populated with interesting characters.
The game also uses humour flawlessly. There are multiple funny quips, or amusing cutscenes. Humour is sometimes used to progress the story, and often it’s just there for fun. At one point there’s an interaction between two NPCs that had me absolutely crack up laughing to the extent that I had to put my controller down for a moment as I was laughing so hard. It was genuinely the funniest conversation I think I’ve ever heard in a game.
The only downside with the story is that I think too much of it relies on cutscenes. It seems that every couple of minutes we’re interrupted to watch yet another cutscene, and it really breaks up the flow of play. Whilst the cutscenes are undeniably high quality, I think it would have been better to have less of them, and to instead progress the story more through gameplay.
Gameplay
It can be very hard for a 3D platformer to get the movement completely right. I can count on one hand the number of titles I’ve played that have got the movement exactly right. And whilst Psychonauts 2 certainly isn’t bad, I have to admit it’s not perfect. The movement, whilst not overly problematic, is a little jarring.
The main issue is with the way the camera focuses, which in turn makes it harder to keep track of where you’re going. On several occasions, I’ve been trying to wall jump, and ended up jumping in the wrong direction because the camera had panned without me doing so. It also sometimes clips inside of objects, and doesn’t release until I actively move away from that object, even if I try to pan the camera out whilst holding my position. This is a problem throughout the game, and can be really frustrating when I’m trying to do a tricky bit of platforming, and I’m failing not due to lack of skill, but due to the camera not staying where I put it, and not being consistent.
I do like all the different methods of moving, though. You can grind on rails, climb on vines, and jump onto most objects in the game. You can also roll around on top of a ball of psychic energy, which is a lot faster than just walking. It takes a while to get used to the physics of that, but is really useful once you do. One thing worth mentioning though is that the game does freeze on occasion for a few seconds, usually when moving through doors or between sections of the same area.
Collectibles
Completionists will be more than happy with Psychonauts 2, as there are loads of different things for them to collect. I love collecting things in games as it makes the gameplay feel more active. I like that there’s always something for me to do, and it helps keep my attention.
The main things you collect in this game are: Psitanium (used as a currency which will be explained in the next section). Emotional baggage, which you find in people’s minds, and have to reunite with the appropriate baggage tag. It’s a clever way of including a collectible that’s relevant to the story. Psi-cards. These can be combined to gain an intern rank, which in turn give you access to better upgrades. Nuggets of Wisdom, which instantly grant you a rank, and are quite rare. Half-a-brains, where you have to find the other half and combine them to get extra mental energy.
You also have to look out for figments of the imagination. These are various colourful holographic images that float around inside minds. They really add to the vibrant designs of the game, and are much more plentiful than the other collectibles. You’ll be able to see several in each section. Some are easy to reach, and others require skilled platforming to get to.
The collectibles really make Psychonauts 2 feel more interactive. It encourages you to explore the brilliant worlds that have been designed, and to look for hidden areas. Several of the collectibles also have practical uses, beyond just completion, and so the harder you work at collecting, the easier you’ll find exploration and combat going forwards.
Items, Pins, and Skills,
As well as collectibles, another thing I love games to include are upgradable skills. Cha-ching, Psychonauts 2 has them as well. You start with a handful of psychic skills, and as you progress through the game, you learn more, up to a total of 8. These will serve you well in different situations, and are used alongside the platforming aspects in order to explore the world. Some are used exclusively to navigate to certain areas, or to see things from a different perspective. Others can be used to enhance your combat abilities. When you gain an intern rank, you earn a skill point. You can then upgrade skills of your choice from the menu. The way you build out Raz is up to you, and you can do it to suit your playstyle.
Remember the psitanium that I mentioned in the previous section? Well, that’s what you use to buy items and pins! There are terminals called Otto-Matics placed around Psychonauts HQ, and you can interact to purchase your items. You can get psi-cores which you use to combine your psi-cards and gain a rank. There are health items that you can take with you to use at a later time. These are particularly useful, and you’ll want to stock up on them as much as possible. You can also upgrade storage, both for psi-tanium and health items. As you progress through the game, these storage upgrades will become more necessary.
Pins are special badges that you equip. Each one has a particular effect, which may improve a skill. They can also be used for cosmetic changes, or to make life more convenient. There are loads of different pins to choose from, and you can equip up to 3 at a time.
Combat
Another great thing about Psychonauts 2 is that all the enemies fit with the story. You’re going inside people’s minds, and so the enemies are based on brain processes. You might find yourself up against censors, which are there to stamp out thoughts that don’t belong. Or you might have to face an aggressive bad thought. You may even come up against a tougher enemy, such as a panic attack.
You have several tools in your arsenal when it comes to combat. There’s your basic attack, as well as a ground pound attack. You can also dodge, to avoid being hit by incoming enemy attacks. In your upgrades menu, melee is an option, so you can choose to focus on improving your attacks instead of skills. Speaking of skills, several of them are available to use in battles, like if you want to throw objects at your enemies, or set them on fire. When you kill an enemy, they’ll release a little bit of health for you to replenish.
From time to time, you’ll come up against a boss fight. These are story related, and will require a different attack style to your normal combat. There will be special requirements in order to take them down, so you’ll need to use the method that the game wants you to take. Boss fights can be quite tricky, so if possible, try to save some of your health items for when you face them.
Graphics and Audio
This game really outdid itself on the visuals. There are a myriad of different art styles used, and I love that showcase of their abilities. We get a charming hand-drawn style for the initial recap, and then most cutscenes are in a high quality cartoon-realistic style. We also have black and white images for the scenes within memory vaults (found in-game). Each mind we enter has its own unique aesthetic, based on that character’s personality. It’s so genius, and is beautiful to behold.
Each area of the game is well-crafted, with high quality assets and great textures. There’s so much attention to detail, and the animations are flawless too. Each enemy you face has its own design to reflect its characteristics. The grinding rails in each area are made of a different material, depending on the mind. It’s such a well-designed game, and I really can’t fault the visuals.
The voice acting throughout is phenomenal. As I already mentioned, there are a multitude of cutscenes, so there’s a lot of dialogue to be narrated. Some games feel like the actors are just reading from a script, but not Psychonauts 2. You really believe that they’re living what they’re saying, even unimportant side characters that you pass by. The sound effects too are realistic and timed well. The soundtrack itself doesn’t particularly shine, but I do like it, and I find the ambient bubbling tune on the pause menu to be very calming.
Overall
I was really impressed with Psychonauts 2. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, due to not having any experience with the franchise. However, I was pleasantly surprised, and I really loved the breadth of the world they designed with this game. It certainly had its flaws, such as the camera issue, and the occasional freezing. I also found the loading times to be exceptionally long, sometimes upwards of a minute. But on the whole, I was happy to ignore the negative parts due to how much fun I was having.
There’s plenty of content available, and you’re able to return to previous minds to collect anything you’ve missed. This means that even after you finish the main story, there’s still plenty more enjoyment to get from the game. I’d definitely recommend Psychonauts 2, especially if you have Xbox Game Pass as it’s free on there.
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Psychonauts 2
£54.99
Pros
- Really vibrant, colourful settings
- Exciting story that's developed well as you progress
- Phenomenal voice acting, and engaging characters
- Great range of collectibles and upgrades
Cons
- Very long loading times between areas
- Camera control is pretty bad
- The game occasionally freezes
