It does everything you expect from such a long-awaited sequel, and it plays perfectly competently as an accessible action-platformer in 2021. Hopefully, plenty of people give Psychonauts 2 a go.
#PSYCHONAUTS 2 GAME PASS FULL#
Preorder links aren’t live on the PS Store yet, but it’s expected to be listed at a full AAA price, much like the $99.95 listed on Steam.) The service has already proved a boon for tons of smaller, experimental titles that players ordinarily might not buy, but will happily try because it’s available. (It’s another matter entirely for PlayStation users. Game Pass, at least, ensures Psychonauts 2 won’t have that problem. And that’s the problem games like Psychonauts sometimes have: their magic doesn’t translate especially well to a store page, so people give it a pass at full price. Psychonauts didn’t make money initially - it was only after it launched on other platforms like Steam, where players picked it up en masse when the game enjoyed huge discounts. And that’s why I’m glad a game like Psychonauts 2 has Game Pass, because it’s the perfect carrier for a title that’s a little more off-beat. A similar example might be A Way Out – I could mechanically describe the various beats of the mini-games you encounter, but it’d also ruin some of the fun of finding those in the moment.īut that’s also the challenge of anything that wants to be witty and funny: you don’t want to spoil the joke. What made the original Psychonauts tick so well, and this applies to the first few hours of Psychonauts 2, is the discovery of the execution. But those things can be difficult to sell in trailers, which is why I’m so glad Psychonauts 2 has Game Pass. It’s always been a game sold best by the combination of its visuals, shifts in setting and the execution of its writing. It’s crazy, vibrant, and a great showcase for why Psychonauts 2 should exist. Raz takes things a step too far, and ends up making so many new mental connections that Forsythe’s memory of medical school has been replaced with a casino hospital. The second mission starts out as a basic tutorial inside the head of the Psychonauts’ second in charge, Hollis Forsythe. What’s neat about Psychonauts, and its sequel, is the wholly unusual justifications Double Fine makes for each of its levels. Zanotto’s departure has also left a massive void within the Psychonauts, impacting the organisation’s mission and structure. That revelation and journey eventually uncovers a much greater threat pulling the strings from behind. Loboto - a very amateur dentist - was able to kidnap Truman Zanotto in the first place, and who exactly helped him. Falling in Psychonauts 2 isn’t like, say, a Tomb Raider-esque impalement. Gleefully, there’s nothing especially frightening about the dental journey involved - although the game does give an elaborate trigger warning at the start, which includes a note for those with dental phobia.įortunately, the teeth don’t really clamp down too hard here. The first level is an elaborate psychic interrogation that ties directly into the original and Psychonauts: In the Roumbus of Ruin, the 2017 VR tie-in. There’s a company all-hands meeting where an award is handed out to Employee of the Month: it has the kind of tone and slightly forced optimism you’d hear in a million workplaces.Įxcept it’s not really a normal office gig nothing about Psychonauts 2 is really normal. You’ve finally entered the headquarters of the Psychonauts, only to be trapped with the reality of a boring, mundane office job nowhere near a window. It allowed for an approach you see with a lot of Mario games, where the joy is in exploring lots of levels, each with their own ideas.
What made it special was the special level design, unlocked through the creative foil of diving into people’s minds and psyche. It’s exceptionally accessible if you need: buttons can be rebound, camera controls inverted, colour blindness toggles, invincibility mode toggled, fall damage disabled.īut Psychonauts was never about the platforming or the difficulty. Raz learns a range of different powers that you’ll unfurl when prompted, almost like slotting puzzle pieces into the perfect slot.
On a purely functional level, it is a perfectly competent platformer. I kept thinking about this as I played the first four levels of Psychonauts 2, a preview ahead of the game’s PC, PS4/PS5 and Xbox launch on August 25.
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