Psychonauts 2
Developer Double Fine
Publisher Xbox Game Studios
Format PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series (tested)
Release Out now
We wonder if Tim Schafer has finally retired that Google Doc. Back in E349’s cover feature he told us he’d been using it to collate notes ever since Psychonauts’ release: ideas that came to him over the intervening years, whether at random junctures or after meeting fascinating people who inspired him to imagine what their inner worlds might look like. Many ended up on note cards that were combined with others to form more solid concepts for the sequel’s brainspaces. By the time the credits have rolled, we’re convinced there can’t have been many left over.
Yes, Psychonauts 2’s cup runneth over with a giddy, go-for-broke energy. There is a palpable sense here of a developer seizing the unlikely opportunity it has been presented, and with the help of Microsoft’s money, going hog wild with it. This is, in every sense, a game that feels like it has been gestating in Schafer’s mind for that length of time. Occasionally that overburdens the story, not least in a lengthy recap that has to fill us in on both the events of the original and those of VR continuation Rhombus Of Ruin – a necessary evil, since the story picks up where that game left off. Even so, it could perhaps have been handled a little more elegantly.
We praised the brisk cutscenes in our preview, but there’s a glut of them here, collectively resulting in a big exposition dump near the start. It packs in references to existing lore that will leave some scratching their heads, as well as introducing a host of newcomers. Even a writer as experienced as Schafer can’t quite make it work without leaving you wishing the plot would get out of the way so you can get started. When a character later references another who “overengineers everything”, we ask ourselves if Double Fine’s CEO is making a joke at his own expense.
