Psychonauts 2 Review

I’m one of the few people who haven’t played the original Psychonauts game since its release in 2005, which is unusual because I love platformers. The one thing I’ve noticed throughout the years is that this game has a huge following that has been clamoring for a sequel, and 16 years later, their wishes have been granted. Sure, there was a 2017 VR game called the Rhombus of Ruin, but this is the full-blown sequel everyone has been waiting for. From my perspective, the wait is well worth it, as Psychonauts 2 was a joy to play through from beginning to end. 

Setting Up The Story

If you haven’t played the original game or its VR sequel (like me), Psychonauts 2 catches you up very well at the beginning with an animated recap of previous events. This recap does a great job of exploring the protagonist Raz’s family and the history of the Psychonauts. The whole game is very story-heavy and explains many things in detail in a way that will never have you guessing what’s going on, even if you haven’t played the other games in the series. There’s something to say about that because not many games are as good at tying everything together. 

The characters are split between the adult agents of the Psychonauts, the interns like Raz, and Raz’s family, who have decided to camp in The Questionable Area, a wooded area outside The Motherlode. I had a lot of fun talking to random characters who all voiced fantastically, each with their distinct personality. His brother Dion was particularly entertaining as he was still angry that Raz left them to join the Psychonauts. Lili was also a highlight, showing a lot of attitude and emotion. Every character has little nuggets of information that pull the story together, and it was enjoyable to explore each of them to see what they knew. 

Level Design

The whole hook of Psychonauts is that the real world is only part of what you get to explore. You’ll be tasked with going into the troubled minds of some of the characters that you meet. The brains are very reflective of the people you meet and are VERY creative. The first brain you go into is that of a dentist named Dr. Loboto. There are teeth, gums, and dental instruments everywhere, and it’s an entertaining level to look around in. A later level features Raz having to ride around on a bowling ball, with gameplay similar to Super Monkey Ball, because he’s not allowed to cross the foul line. 

Levels follow a similar formula across the board. There are many collectibles to grab, a bunch of platforming and puzzle-solving, and a boss fight. One level had me cooking food within a specific time limit, while another had me in a life-size pachinko machine trying to get the top prize. There’s even a music stage where you’re accompanied by a ball of light voiced by Jack Black. Each level tied into the story well, so even if it seemed utterly absurd, it still made sense. If I have one complaint about these levels, it’s that some of them can be particularly long, which can burn you out when you are playing a platformer. It’s nothing too wild, but there were a few times when I did find myself going, “Are we moving on yet?”.

Gameplay

Platforming

The platforming and combat are generally pretty responsive in Psychonauts 2. There are some of the usual platforming issues, such as being unsure whether Raz will grab a ledge or a bar. At times, enemies haven’t entirely reacted the way I’d expect with some of my powers. None of this will diminish the enjoyment of the game. The checkpoints are forgiving, and the health is abundant. Those new to the genre can even use invincibility mode or choose no fall damage if they want to go through the story without worrying about combat.

Combat

The combat itself is a mix of melee moves and your powers. There is a nice mix of enemies with Censors trying to stamp you out, flying Regrets dropping anvils on you, Panic Attacks speeding around that you have to slow down to hit, and Doubts that slow you down and need to be burned. Most enemies are weak to a particular element of your arsenal. This makes it pretty easy to know what you need to do in combat. If all else fails, dodging and attacking is also pretty effective against most enemies. 

Abilities

You can only equip four of your abilities at once, which sometimes gets on my nerves. Sure, it’s easy to swap on the fly quickly, but I feel like you could have mapped at least six abilities at once with the buttons available and made it unnecessary to swap so often. Levitation is almost always used, so I don’t even see why it needs to take up an ability slot. It could easily be mapped to a button at all times. My abilities in the game are the Archetype ability, which creates a paper companion for Raz that assists him, and the Mental Connection ability, which allows you to travel between dots in the air. There are nine abilities, and the game requires you to switch between them to get through most levels. 

Collectibles

Players can increase their rank to improve their abilities by grabbing certain collectibles at each level. Psitanium can be found around levels and spent to acquire pins to modify your abilities further and offer certain cosmetic features. This is all good, but the economy in the game makes very little sense. It takes a long time to acquire Psitanium, and you have to pay to hold more. You also have to pay for healing items and Psi Cores, and you need to use the Psi Cards to increase your rank. You can also only equip three pins at one time, so you have to choose between cosmetic pins and pins that might help you in battle, which means you’re probably not going to bother with some of the cool custom options available. 

Final Thoughts

Psychonauts 2 doesn’t overstay its welcome, and I felt like its 12-15 hour story was a pretty good amount of time to get through the game. You can collect anything you missed after the main story ends, and more conversation options also open up. I had a great time playing the game and wanted to keep going as long as possible because the whole experience was so fun, and the cast of characters was interesting and fun to get to know. This is one of my favorite games of 2021 so far, and it’s a definite must-play!