Review of Psychonauts 2 – The wait has paid off

This year, 16 years have passed since the release of the now iconic 3D action platformer Psychonauts. Studio Double Fine, led by the well-known game designer Tim Schafer, is now serving us a full-fledged sequel after a long wait. Due to the fact that the first part of the store failed, the way to continue was very thorny. In the end, the authors were helped by the players themselves, who contributed more than $ 3.8 million to the development through the Fig crowdfunding platform. Even after this success, however, the developers were far from winning.

Starbreeze Publishing, which was to invest another $ 8 million in the development of the game, began to face significant financial problems. The following series of postponements was therefore not surprising. The turnaround took place in 2019, when the entire studio bought Microsoft. In the end, the long-awaited and postponed project crossed an imaginary finish line. I can already tell you that the wait was worth it.

• Platform: PC (recenzovaná verze), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Mac, Linux
• Date of publication: 25. 8. 2021
• Producer: Double Fine Productions (USA)
• Genre: story 3D action platformer
• Czech localization: born
• Multiplayer: born
• Data to download: 30 GB
• Game time: 15+ hours
• Sales version: digital
• Price: 1500 CZK (Steam), available with an Xbox Game Pass subscription

What is probably hidden in our heads

Psychonauts 2 follows in the footsteps of its already very bearded predecessor and leaves no one in doubt that the developers thought of fans of the original. Without them, as I mentioned in the introduction, the second part would probably never have been created. The game thus remains true to the genre of 3D platformers from a third-person perspective. However, psychonauts are definitely not just a bouncer. They add frequent action and logical passages to the interesting mix and, last but not least, a rich story with countless story animations and dialogues. Behind the distinctly stylized graphics is a rather ambitious and extensive title.

The second part of the story follows the number one, so you will again take on the role of ten-year-old Razputin “Raze” Aquat. Instead of a career in a family circus, his dream finally begins to come true when he becomes part of an organization of special agents with special abilities known as psychonauts. From the beginning, he has to deal with distrust and be satisfied with the position of intern. However, this will not prevent him from soon taking the initiative and finding out the main organizer of the abduction of one of the important psychonauts.

Thanks to a good pace, the plot is gradually gaining in intensity and interest.

You caught the kidnapper himself. However, he refuses to tell you who planned the whole abduction. How do you solve the problem? Fans of the first game probably already know this. In short, the kidnappers, represented by the greatly confused Dr. Loboto, you look straight in the head. The main theme of Psychonauts is just exploring the ideas and everything that takes place in the heads of different characters. But it’s not just any thoughts. All the characters in the game are, without exaggeration, very special. Their appearance and behavior will clearly tell you that they will not chase completely normal and ordinary things in their heads.

Double Fine are back

They are just original, funny and constantly announcing characters who will clearly remind you that you are playing a game by Tim Schafer. After all, the humor for which Schaher is also famous is also ubiquitous in Psychonauts 2. If a new style suits you, you will have fun and often shake your head in disbelief at the things that the authors have invented. Overall, the story surprises with its depth and interesting twists and moments. Thanks to the good pace and the constant supply of new characters, the plot is also gaining in intensity and interest. It is all the more a pity that the Czech localization could not be enforced. I don’t think players who don’t completely speak one of the supported languages ​​would enjoy the game. However, some story moments and jokes may escape them. I myself was surprised at how talkative the other Psychonauts can be.

The well-written story and characters are followed by the processing of the game world. Here, too, the developers did not detract from the set level of imagination and variety. On the one hand, you will move in a physical “ordinary” world, which consists of several more open locations. Here you will find a shift in the story itself, interviews with the characters and preparation for individual missions. Although there are several side missions and activities in the game, Psychonauts 2 is basically a linear matter with a fixed structure of the main missions. But you will spend more time knowing the knowledge in the already mentioned world of thoughts in the heads of characters who face certain problems. You have to solve them and put their heads in order. After all, it is the theme of mental problems that permeates the entire game.

As a true psychonaut, Raz can not only enter different minds.

In the world of ideas, the authors unleashed their imagination the most. The sub-levels are full of different ideas, different visual processing and, above all, colorful and original gameplay. The game combines various bouncing passages, logic puzzles, duels and story movies very well. When you put these ingredients into an ever-changing world, in which you can’t guess what is happening and waiting for you in it, you get an extremely interesting title in terms of gameplay, which is the minimum today. Good level design is evident not only in the imaginativeness of the levels and colorful gameplay, but also in the clarity. It never happened to me during the game that I didn’t know where to go or what the game wanted for me. Therefore, I did not mind a certain straightforwardness and rather a more linear structure of individual levels.

He can really do a lot once

Whether it’s action, platform or logic passages, the special abilities of your protagonist play an integral role in everything. As a true psychonaut, Raz can not only enter different minds. Through various melee or ranged attacks, it can effectively defend against enemies. He can use telekinesis to move objects. It can also create a fireball or an effective parachute, thanks to which it can float. And that’s just part of a series of abilities that you switch between at will as you play and unlock them as you progress. They are absolutely essential for going through the game and you will use them all the time.

It is also their turn to gradually improve. You will spend both skill upgrades or partial visual enhancements on the experience points you earn for each new character level, as well as on the virtual currency that rolls in each location. But the levels also hide a number of other objects. The developers do not force you to collect them. After all, after the game, you will be able to return to all levels repeatedly and pick up all optional activities and items. A medium-speed pass through the game should take you about fifteen hours. But it very much depends on how you want to stay in each level and explore them.

Due to the benevolent difficulty, you will not sweat even when fighting bosses.

Bouncing sequences and logical puzzles do not lack creativity. It’s a little worse in duels. Special abilities will also come into play in them. However, you will primarily use the classic melee attack with long-range shooting. These two attacks will suffice for most common enemies. Some more sophisticated combinations of attacks or overall greater ingenuity due to lower difficulty are not completely needed. The enemy, you will meet quite a lot from the beginning. Over time, however, they begin to repeat and increase in number. Thanks to the poorer artificial intelligence of the opponents, you can usually handle ranged attacks with them. The developers may have been aware of this weaker element and did not put too many fights into the game. Fans of action passages could at least enjoy boss fights, among which you will already find more interesting enemies.

Do not look for a challenge, but an experience

However, due to the benevolent difficulty, you will not sweat even during fights with bosses. The authors visibly tried to bring the game closer to holiday or younger players. In the menu, you can even turn on immortality, turn off fall injuries or turn on story mode and further simplify fights. Unfortunately, the developers have forgotten about the players looking for the challenge. The difficulty cannot be changed, so everyone has to make do with the basic level. You could already make a picture of the visual processing from the attached images and trailer. I must admit that I got used to the strong stylization in the style of older animators from the 1990s.

For the most part, the authors definitely wanted to stay true to the stylization of the first part. Perhaps, however, the final form was affected by a longer development and initially limited funds. Even from a graphic point of view, this is a rather specific title, the visual processing of which may not suit everyone. I personally got used to it after a while. Despite the initial pessimism, I must admit that stylization has something in it. The original note also carries a soundtrack that is perfect for the game. At one musically rich level, you’ll even hear Jack Black.

From a graphic point of view, this is a specific title, the visual of which does not suit everyone.

Psychonauts 2 scores with colorful and fun gameplay. He also impresses with imaginative levels, an interesting world, a well-written story and hilarious characters. If you are not looking for a challenge in the form of dense difficulty or challenging fights at all costs, you will have fun playing, laughing and, like me, staring with an exposed face at what the developers from Double Fine have served us.

We test the latest PC games on a powerful computer LYNX Grunex 2020.