Let me address a huge elephant in the room before I begin this review: I was not a huge fan of the first Psychonauts, and wasn’t even sure if I was going to play this one, but it was free on game pass so I figured why not give it a try. I did not even finish Psychonauts 1 (I may now try to rectify that). While I loved the art design and was intrigued by the characters and story, the stiff, unresponsive controls were too much of a buzzkill for me and I quit a few hours in. I did, however, watch my ex-girlfriend play through the entire game twice so I’m pretty familiar with it in a second-hand sorta way.

My opinion of Double Fine as a studio has been rather tumultuous as well. Stacking was an incredibly charming, if repetitive puzzle game. As a huge Halloween lover, both Costume Quest games really hit the spot, but I’d be lying if I said the combat didn’t get incredibly repetitive. Broken Age had gorgeous art and some fun puzzles but the story was a bit of a disappointment in the eleventh hour. Brutal Legend was a cool idea I ultimately bounced off of a few hours in.

Suffice to say there hasn’t been a single game they’ve made that I’ve been able to love with my whole heart. There’s always something marring an otherwise charming and compelling experience. That is, until now.

Psychonauts 2 has no right to be any good at all, much less a masterpiece. It’s a sequel coming out 16 years after the original game. It was crowdfunded. Double Fine was acquired by Microsoft mid-development. The game was originally meant to release in 2018. It was delayed until 2019, and then to 2020, before finally coming out 2021. Every red flag in game development is here. Crowdfunding, studio acquisition mid development, multiple year-long delays.

And yet what we got was unquestionably their best game yet and very possibly the best game of 2021. This game has just as much charm as the first Psychonauts, with even more heart, deeper themes, and vastly improved controls. Your basic jump/double jump/glide feels incredibly tight. You’d think rolling around on top of your levitation ball would be unwieldy, but it feels good enough that I was doing long, difficult platforming sequences without touching shoes to ground. My only complaint control wise is swinging from horizontal bars, which can be fiddly to actually grab, and the swinging doesn’t look or feel as fluid as a lot of other games (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time comes to mind). Thankfully it’s not a mechanic that’s used all that often.

The game unfolds across thirteen of the most visually imaginative and varied platformer levels you’ve ever seen. Casinos, sailing between desert islands, LSD induced music festival, cooking reality show, quilted fields. It just never stops. Plus you have several open areas in the real world to explore, basically Psychnonauts headquarters and the surrounding environs.

Unlike the first game, every ability you get feels meaningful and has combat utility. Even clairvoyance, which is necessary to beat certain enemies. Your hookshot/grappling hook is a fantastic distance closer, and can be modified to root enemies in place for some crowd control. I actually found myself really enjoying the combat in this game, to the point where I wished it was harder and that there was some kind of Twilight Princess esque cave of ordeals where you could just fight through increasingly difficult encounters.

What else can I say? Game is a goddamn mastah peece. This isn’t just for fans of the first game, this is for anyone who has ever loved a 3D platformer before, because it’s one of the best ones ever made. I put it right up there with Sly 2/3 and the Super Mario Galaxy games.

My relationship with Tim Schafer games started with Brutal Legend. I rented it from a video store, back when you had to go to a rental store to do that, and not your nearest library. What a reversal that whole thing is, huh?

Falling in love with that game naturally led me to checking out the other games helmed by Tim, including the original Psychonauts. I loved the premise, the writing, the characters, the feeling, the vibe, the charm.

This game successfully recreates all that, and effectively pulls off that magic trick of making you feel like this game could be a close behind sequel to the 2005 original while making the necessary corrections to gameplay and feel so as to not feel like a game from that era. To put it in other words, they made the necessary adjustments to make this play the way I remember the first game playing. Of course, those of you who might have popped back to the original game recently, likely realized how clunky and unresponsive that game feels by today's standards.

Anyway, beyond gameplay, you can expect a lovely story, excellent characters and the same Double Fine charm that every game of theirs exudes.

Two points where they completely and unexpectedly outdid themselves was in :

Cutscene direction and animation and the variety of levels and experiences. I mean, holy moly, they really stepped up their cutscene game and the assets they had to create for all the disparate levels and experiences is astounding. I kept turning to my wife during every cutscene in astonishment because they felt like big budget animated movie quality. She would in turn 'oooo' and 'ahhh' at every new brain or world we found ourselves in, everything bespoke and purposely designed.

My only strong criticism of the game would be that I never felt really comfortable with the powers switching system, and often wondered how a 'hold a trigger and tap an additional face button' system, a-la Ghost of Tshushima would have fared better for quick use and switching of powers.

Overall this 3D platformer was a joy to play and a welcome surprise some many years after the original.

Psychonauts 1 was easily one of the best platforming games I've ever played. Thankfully, the second installment continues the whacky sensibilities of the original, bringing in familiar and much loved faces from the previous game.

Psychonauts 2 is pretty much more of the first game, with gorgeous visuals and refined controls to keep you playing for hours. The game once again focuses on mental health issues, personalities, behaviours, and general mental well-being as you travel through the minds of the people you meet. It's all very subtle and carefully interwoven into the narrative but the messages are clearly there and I love the way that it has been handled.

The amount of thought and love that has obviously been poured into this game is evident everywhere. The levels are bright, colourful and full of imagination. It really does seem that the developers imagination was their only limitation, and wow did they do a good job of it all!

My only criticism for this masterpiece is that despite having a host of different characters pop up throughout the game, they rarely ever surpass those of the original. Then again, how could you ever beat the milkman?

The game is very, very lengthy and there were points where it asked me if I had prepared myself as I was nearing the end game, only to have many more hours left to go. Needless to say you'll be entertained and smiling for days as you play through the bright and colourful levels. The whole game truly is a journey through the mind.

Normally, this is just not my type of game at all. It’s too ‘cutesy’, with all the cutscenes making it feel more like an animated film at times than a video game. I had heard nothing but wonderful things about this game, but had played for about 8 hours and was about to call it quits because I simply wasn’t enjoying my time. There was nothing wrong with this game though: the visuals were stunning, the gameplay was very polished, the mechanics were interesting and creative, and overall the game had this charm that is hard to come by. I just wasn’t feeling it. However, due to my main story completion compulsion, I decided to stick with it, refusing to leave a game ‘unfinished’ after having already put that many hours in. And as silly as the reasoning was, I’m actually glad I chose to see it through. I don’t know exactly what, but a certain point something clicked and I started enjoying time time with it. It may have had something to do with the story: what at first seemed like a straight, very simple, almost childlike tale of goodies vs baddies ended up turning into a surprisingly twisty narrative that was engaging and well told. With how polished the gameplay and how satisfying the story was, I was left feeling rewarded at the end of my playthrough.

I still wouldn’t regard it as a ‘masterpiece’ or as highly rated as virtually almost everyone seems to. A big part of that is just personal taste. But I also felt that the game dragged on for a while longer than it should have had, and that even though the game is very creative and varied, there seems to be an overused and repetitive formula within the missions themselves - oftentimes, whatever it is you need to do, you need to do it three times in order to complete that mission. If you don’t like a particular activity from the start, this can become a nuisance more than an enjoyment. However, I don’t believe these issues are enough to taint the experience in any significant way. Ultimately, Psychonauts 2 is a charismatic, colourful trip filled with great interactions and psychedelic visuals wrapped around a compelling story, and one I can confidently recommend to everyone. Even if, like me, they may not be drawn to this type of game. 7.5/10.

I loved the Og and was super hyped for this game. No way it could live up to my hype. Well being a day one gamepass game was very impactful. Having this game for “free” was just amazing.

I loved jumping right back into this world, they did a decent job at the recap to start the game off. The story really does just gel from the OG imo. I like that they picked up right after and it isn’t set years after.

Gameplay was as fun as I remember but just felt clean and modern. I liked the platforming and the way each world used certain powers. Switching back and fourth between power could be slightly annoying at times but I also liked the challenge of having the right set most of the time.

Game is fun, beautiful and has a good story. My biggest issue might just be I wanted more. It doesn’t leave much to do after the main story. It has side quests but it’s like four or five? Am I beat most of them before the final mission.

I didn’t find all the figments or cards but I did everything else inside the minds. Just wish we had more haha.

I had a really fun time with this imaginative and well written story. I hadn’t played the first game in this series but I was never lost in the plot, they really made this accessible to new player who hadn’t had the entire backstory for the events that occur in this game.

The platforming was fun and all the abilities your character learns were integrated into the game pretty well. It sometimes got confusing to have to switch out the abilities since you could only have a few equipped at one time but that is something you get more comfortable with as the game goes on.

The art style and character design was really great. The environments felt alive and so unique as well. It sort of reminded me of a Dreamworks Animation style which an absolutely loved.

My only slight gripe is that some areas or levels felt just a bit too drawn out to me. There were a few times when I thought “Really? There’s more?” Because I just wanted to progress the story and some areas felt more repetitive and like they were trying to even out gameplay versus cut scenes. But I loved the cut scenes and wouldn’t have minded shorter game levels to keep the story going.

Overall this game was wacky, creative and pure fun. A huge bonus is the accessibility/difficulty settings which I always appreciate. I think this is a great game for new and old fans of this series.

It's a tough challenge to make a game that is fun, but also teaches a lesson at the same time, all while not being preachy. Many try, most fail, and even more don't even attempt this in the first place. Tim Schafer is one of my favorite game designers of all time. His numerous classics on the PC while he was at LucasArts are legendary. His output since then, when he started Double Fine Games, has been more sparse. Psychonauts 2 was almost not even a thing. It wasn't until Microsoft acquired Double Fine and provided the funding needed to produce the game that we got this classic, and thank God for that. While I'm not a huge fan of mergers and acquisitions, one of the benefits they do provide is giving smaller studios the money they need to produce great games.

Psychonauts 2 to me is a combination of Super Mario Odyssey, Banjo+Kazooie, Tim Burton and Nickelodeon. It's an absolutely gorgeous game to display. It really feels like an interactive cartoon.

Playing once again as Raz, the former acrobat who longs to leave behind his circus performing family for something more, you are on a quest to "put the band back together", so to speak, in finding the original Psychonauts and having them reunite. One, to help your Grandma, who is losing her memory, remember where she came from, and two, to help stop an inside mole who is attempting to gain power for their own good. You jump inside people's brains to uncover lost memories and painful moments that they "hide" for their own protection. By helping them come to peace, you win over their trust and gain their support.

The things I love about this game:

• The graphics: Again, absolutely beautiful. Really feels like you are playing an animated movie.
• The music: I love the music. It has that cinema feel to it.
• The story/message: the game has a nice way of addressing mental healthcare, processing painful emotions, as well as doing what makes you happy over what makes other people happy.
• The characters are fun and have a ton of personality.
• The level design is fantastic. Each level has a unique feel to it, and does a great job of utilizing your powers.

The things I don't love as much

• The controls at times are awkward. You can only hold four powers at once, so at times you'll have to toggle between them, but you then might accidentally eat a power up that you don't want at that moment, or do something else you don't mean to do.
• Combat isn't great. It ends up being a lot of button mashing. While each enemy has a particular weakness kind of like Mega Man, with all the activity on the screen, you end up just running around smashing buttons until they disappear.
• The platforming at times is tricky. The shadow of Raz isn't always super visible, so it's hard to see where you are landing when jumping onto smaller platforms or on the rails.
• It's not the most difficult game. I found it on the easier side, which, honestly, after Elden Ring, was totally fine for me.
• If you aren't a fan of fetch quests, this might not be for you, as that is a huge part of the game.

Overall, this is an amazing game that had me smiling almost the entire time. A lot of fun, with great humor, storytelling and lesson weaved throughout, and a game that is accessible no matter your level of gaming proficiency. I highly recommend Psychonauts 2.