Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts 2 is the new adventure game from famous designer Tim Schafer and the creative development team at Double Fine, this time under the Microsoft banner. The first Psychonauts was released on the original Xbox more than 15 years ago and enjoyed a loyal base of fans for its strangeness and wondrous worlds. After all these years, the big brain Raz returns with a new adventure. Did it live up to expectations? Read on to find out the answer.

The first Psychonauts was released after much suffering. The game was intended to be released as a launch title on the first Xbox, but development difficulties prevented this, so Majesco took over publishing the project. The game failed commercially at the time and caused financial losses to Majesco, but it gained a loyal base of loyal fans. It has become a byword as one of the most prominent, strange, distinctive and unique platform titles as it revolves around a group with extraordinary mental abilities known as Psychonauts, and the game involves delving into the minds of a group of eccentric characters and venture into their imaginary worlds!

However, despite the initial commercial failure of the first game, the development team at Double Fine purchased the trademark for the title and later re-released it, this time achieving commercial success, with the game selling more than 1.7 million copies in 2015. This certainly paved the way for the second part and the possibility of developing it for all platforms. Microsoft acquired the studio during the project’s development phase, and we believe this acquisition had a positive impact on the project, as Psychonauts 2 is a fully-developed game. It’s a long and rich adventure full of narrative performances with good acting and decent production values ​​that surpass other games. Previous studio.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts 2 continues the story directly after the events of the first part. The story continues directly after the events of the first part. Those who haven’t played the first part might feel a little lost, especially with the return of many old characters from the first game. In any case, and as is usual with games from famous designer “Tim Schafer”, Psychonauts 2 continues to uphold the studio’s reputation by delivering solid and coherent storylines with a high dose of comedy that will undoubtedly make you laugh many times. And it’s not surprising that designer Tim Schafer has previously worked on “point and click” narrative games and focuses heavily on this aspect in his games. Yes, the writing style in the game is really intelligent and better than the average level that is common in many games. The story witnesses the return of our hero Raz (or Razputin) as a trainee with the Sykonts to embark on a new adventure that involves solving the problems facing the group, such as the mysterious exploration of the Art of necromancy (communication with the dead). and the possibility of the presence of a spy among the Sykonts members.

Similar to Ratchet & Clank

We can say that the Ratchet & Clank game series is closest to the Psychonauts 2 game series, as it is similar to it in its general comedic and narrative character, which is similar to American comedy series aimed at families. It is also similar in terms of content. It mixes elements of platform games and action and there are a lot of puzzles. Also when it comes to platforming elements, we’ve noticed a lot of inspiration from Super Mario games, especially since Super Mario Galaxy, whose influence we’ve seen on every 3D platformer on the market. Psychonauts 2 has a lot of platforming elements and is based more on that aspect. Variety compared to the Ratchet game series, which tends to be more action-oriented. However, the action element of this game is important and it is not easy either and there are also a variety of boss fights.

The Unique Worlds of Psychonauts 2

The Psychonauts’ group structure plays the role of the main connection between the worlds and phases of the game (what we call the hub). As for the stages, they are most likely related to visiting the minds of a group of eccentric characters and adventuring within them. This unique idea gives the Psychonauts developers the creative freedom to create more creative worlds. Which is common in other games, and therefore Psychonauts 2 is a truly creative game in its various ideas and phases, even if it does not seem as impressive or innovative as the original game, which was the first to have the idea, and that is the tax anyway of complementary parts in any entertainment/arts industry. Status.

Mental Abilities and Gameplay

In addition to the abilities of jumping and double jumping, Raz, who has a large skull and huge eyes, relies on his mental abilities. These abilities include the ability to burn things, the ability to attract things from a distance and throw them, directing a distant mental blow, rolling on a ball, or flying a little on a balloon. There is the ability to connect ideas together (yes, you didn’t read that wrong) as well as to imitate the thoughts of others and see from their perspective to discover their secrets. You can distribute these skills between the four shoulder buttons, and the truth is that the constant need to use these different skills constantly made us have to redistribute the skills to these buttons and that was a little annoying. We wish the game had provided a more modern way to switch between mental abilities more quickly. However, these abilities can be developed as a character levels up, making them even deadlier than they already are. The player can also purchase badges and use them to customize various elements in the gameplay.

A Slow Start

Well… cohesive storytelling, intelligent writing, innovative and varied creative phases and balanced gameplay, is that all? NO. At the beginning we would like to say that this game is really slow and that alone is enough to alienate a lot of people. At the start of the game, it took at least two hours or more for the experience to capture our attention. The building process was slow and the game also takes a lot of time in the narrative and dialogue between missions, which… This makes some parts of the game seem cold . We appreciate the tremendous effort put into the narrative and care, really even of the supporting characters and their vocal performances, but the rhythm of the game was somewhat damaged as a result. The game also doesn’t make much effort to introduce itself to players who missed the first experience, and the experience is less charming, attractive and innovative than the idea when it first appeared on the old Xbox. There is no doubt that this is innovation and amazing players with something they have never seen before. It’s much more difficult than before.

Production Value and Conclusion

The production value of the game is not insignificant at all. It is a full-fledged game and we believe that the fingerprints of Microsoft’s release are visible here on the project: the technical level is very good on the PC at the highest settings (although). It doesn’t reach the level of big games or new generation games, it’s definitely better than… (besides the usual indie games) the voice acting is intense and well done, and the game life is pretty much filled with lots of secrets and Things to collect and the possibility of returning to the stages. The music album is also good, varied and appropriate to the strange nature of the game, even if it does not stick in the memory, as is the case with many western games that try to recreate the cinematic character in the music.

A Wondrous Adventure

This is not an ordinary or passing game, but rather a game in which great effort has been made and we hope that it does not go unnoticed by players. Anyone who can endure the slow start and be patient with some cold gameplay details will be rewarded with a wondrous adventure inside the minds of a group of eccentric characters. We used to criticize Microsoft for its lack of first-party games and lack of investment in them, but Microsoft is on the right track and Psychonauts 2 is definitely a great title to add to the company’s library of titles if the idea doesn’t quite work anymore is as fresh as the first time.

We tested this game using a PC copy that we received from the publisher prior to release