The Psychonauts are back after 16 years. Although, to be very precise, after all, four years later: in 2017, a small episode for the VR headsets Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin was released, linking the events of the sequel and the original. How the game turned out, which its author Tim Schaefer dreamed of for more than ten years, – in the Cybersport.ru review.
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As if not a day had passed
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
After revealing the insidious plan of trainer Oleander to take over the world, as well as the first operation as a full-fledged psychonaut, Razputin Aquato (for friends just Raz) finally gets to the headquarters of the organization. Appearing before the interim head of psychonauts, Hollis Forsyth, Raz is instantly deprived of the status of an acting agent and is reduced to an intern. The problems do not end there: Truman Zanotto, the real head of the psychonauts, does not come to his senses after being poisoned with psitanium, and a mole has clearly entered the ranks of the agents. The arrival of the entire Aquato family becomes a cherry on a not too tasty cake for the hero, relations with which Raz leave much to be desired. Well, do not forget that the hero seemed to have a girl – Lily, and she also needs attention.
The sequel kicks off exactly where the original and Rhombus of Ruin end: it’s only been a few days since Raz arrived at the Whispering Stone, a camp for young cadets. The youngest psychonaut is still ten years old, reformed trainer Oleander is on probation, and the villain Dr. Loboto has been successfully caught and is now regularly interrogated.
The plot of the sequel is the same as in the first part, leading Raz through the minds of other people, turning psychological concepts and trauma into original gameplay features. Shafer promised in all interviews that the sequel will be able to answer many of the questions that players might have left after the first part, and he did not lie. By the end of the game, the details of the appearance of the first psychonauts will become known, the secret of the curse of the Aquato clan, which prevents its representatives from approaching the water, will be revealed, and even the true reasons for Raz’s arrival at the camp for psychonauts will become much clearer. But first things first.
Defense mechanisms
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
The gameplay of Psychonauts 2 remains true to the formula of the original: it is an action-platformer, the lion’s share of the events of which takes place in the minds of various people. And if in the first part these were mostly almost random characters (four out of ten worlds were in the minds of random patients of a mental hospital), then the sequel is focused on plot important characters – there will be almost no walks through random subconscious minds.
Each new world, as before, tells a lot about its owner and allows you to get to know him better. But the opponents in them, in comparison with the first part, have somewhat lost in diversity – there are fewer of them. However, the logic of the developers is clear here: unique enemies from different worlds (fish in the underwater or French soldiers in the world of Waterloo) have been replaced by more thematic ones, denoting various aspects of the mind. And if earlier from such universal opponents there were only censors who “removed” unnecessary thoughts, now many others have joined them. For example, regrets are like flies dropping heavy weights on Raz, panic attacks move extremely quickly and interfere with normal functioning, doubts greatly slow down when interacting with them, and bad ideas attack from a distance with exploding bulbs – symbolism is tightly woven into the mechanics of combat.
What was not in the original in any form was support units that strengthen opponents. Such assistants make the chosen enemy immortal and much more powerful, therefore they require from Raz a completely special approach to the battle.
Adaptation and displacement
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
The arsenal of techniques, as well as the general methods of using psi-powers, has undergone changes. The “useless” and rarely used skills from the original have sunk into oblivion, and several new ones have come in their place. For example, Raz is now able to move between thought nodes, and in battle the same ability allows him to pull enemies to himself – well, or to himself to be attracted to larger opponents. Towards the end, the young psychonaut will learn to create his own archetype – a mini-version of himself, similar to a paper figurine. She will help to climb into a hard-to-reach place, and will share her health, if necessary, and she is able to participate in battle without any problems.
In Psychonauts 2, the player can simultaneously use up to four abilities, independently tying them to the keys assigned for this. At the same time, collecting the “perfect combo”, which will help you out until the end of the game, will not work: the developers are constantly forced to juggle the available skills, adapting to the situation. All nine abilities in Psychonauts 2 will find their use – both in battle and while exploring levels.
The principle of pumping has also changed. Previously, Raz automatically received improvements to his techniques, but now the intern’s levels give special points that can be spent at your discretion. Relying on a melee attack? Invest in increasing the number of hits in the bunch. Do you like psi shot? Get an enhanced version of the attack. Pumping levitation allows you to jump high on the psi ball, and the mental connection at the maximum level will also allow you to travel through dark thoughts, which often hide something useful.
New toys
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
Collectibles will be familiar in many ways to those who played the original. Fiction – small two-dimensional pictures scattered across the levels – have not gone anywhere, as well as emotional baggage, which still needs to find the appropriate tag. To them were added grains of wisdom (special items that immediately raise the rank of Raz by one) and halves of the mind, from which a whole is assembled, increasing the level of mental health. Of course, the safes loved by many, hiding special memories, have not disappeared either.
In reality, you can still search for psi challenge cards and their corresponding markers, as well as special chests with the local currency – psitanium. To open the latter, you still need to find the keys scattered here and there in locations. In addition, you can entertain yourself with the help of special objects that Raz receives during the game – a camera, which is a built-in photo mode, and a special seeker that points to dense accumulations of thoughts and nodes for mental communication that remain in reality.
Also in Psychonauts 2 there is the headquarters of psychonauts, which is interesting in itself: during the game, Raz will visit many departments and offices, and also explore the surrounding area – only four large maps. Each of them, of course, holds many secrets and collectibles that would be nice to collect. Moreover, some of them cannot be obtained without certain skills – backtracking in all its glory.
We must not forget about the shop of Otto, one of the founders of the psychonauts. In it, you can buy various “healers” and kernels for activating a set of psi-call cards, as well as badges – special items that improve Raz’s abilities. There are more than a couple of dozen icons in the game, and at the same time you can carry three on yourself, collecting various combinations or simply adding funny nuances. One of them, for example, gives Razputin the ability to dance if the player does not press the buttons for a long time. However, there are also more practical ones: you can, for example, modify the psi-shot, replacing the damage with stun, or get a chance to restore health when moving between the nodes of the mental connection.
Personal cockroaches
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
When creating the inner worlds through which the protagonist will travel, the developers of the sequel focused primarily on reflecting the problems that torment the owners. Now Raz’s work will be even more therapeutic in nature: more and more often the hero will not so much extract the necessary information, being in someone else’s head, but rather solve existing difficulties with the help of his unique powers. Moreover, the focus is on both abstract unprocessed traumas and grievances, as well as specific problems that are understandable to many in our world, such as alcohol addiction.
Personal problems are what make up the unique features of the worlds. In the trailers, for example, one could see a casino resembling a hospital – in it Raz needed to help the owner of the world overcome review addiction and return to a normal existence. And in another mind, the hero has to participate in a cooking show with plush toys and live food, happily going to the next dish. At the same time, this is not at all about gluttony, but about the desire to gain recognition from fastidious friends with low self-esteem.
Unique bosses have not gone anywhere: almost every world ends with a special battle. There are not many fights here that can be overcome with brute force, and more and more you have to look for a unique approach. The range of opponents that Raz has to defeat is traditionally large: from panic attacks, which one of the heroes undergoes, to a huge octopus that characterizes one of the dark sides of the corresponding mind.
Cruel truth
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
It is with the symbolism that things are much better in the sequel than in the original. Yes, the levels in the first Psychonauts were memorable (the “war” in Oleander’s head or the “milkman’s conspiracy” is probably remembered by everyone who passed), but not that they were trying to somehow deeply analyze this or that problem. The very concept of a journey through the subconscious was for the authors of the game rather an excuse to create unique and insane worlds that work by their own rules.
The second part remained true to this principle, but at the same time it was able to give much more, while not always working head-on. In the end, the most standard world seems to be the first one, repeatedly shown in the video from the developers. Dr. Loboto’s mind mixes dentistry and a typical office, which is why filing cabinets here side by side with dental chairs, and stacks of documents with teeth growing from the walls.
But the further Raza’s path starts, the more complicated the stories he encounters become. One of the minds is completely divided into several thematic worlds, in each of which you can find out part of the truth, but not the whole thing. At such moments, Psychonauts 2 is able to surprise a sensitive player with an unexpected depth of elaboration: behind a facade of insane visuals and changing mechanics, touching personal stories are hidden. Over and over again, Raz has to come to terms with a difficult truth: the heroes you admire are people too, and many of them carry a heavy load of problems that are not so easy to share.
At the same time, the stories are unexpectedly human for the fantasy world and are often completely childish. This is not about something forbidden for young players, but rather more complex matters that may remain simply incomprehensible to young gamers. Especially with the local presentation, more and more often hiding important details in the details of the environment and leaving a lot to the mercy of the user, who must add two and two on their own.
Ingenious planning
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
But even apart from all these personal stories, in which you can easily find something that you want to empathize with, one cannot fail to note the quality of the entire storyline. Tim Shafer, a game designer with a huge experience, over the years does not even think to lower the bar for the quality of his work. Even the smallest detail will eventually find a place in the story, and the ground for the sequel was set with such love that it might seem that the adventures of Raz from the very beginning should have lasted longer than one game.
The undisclosed details of the original are used in the sequel, and very gracefully. New characters are embedded in the story as if a gamer had simply forgotten about their existence over the years. The details of the puzzle come together in a single picture so that it is difficult not to admire it – a rare story is just as skillfully capable of spinning a real spy intrigue and giving it such a logical resolution.
The only thing you can find fault with is that Psychonauts 2 really loves false finals. Every now and then the game throws a hint that everything will end soon, including warnings about the irreversibility of decisions, but again and again deceives the player. True, in moments of “false” endings it is easy to wonder how the authors forgot this or that detail, or even a whole piece of the plot – this is the main hint that the true ending is still far away.
How to stop being afraid and fall in love with psychonauts
Screenshot from Psychonauts 2
Before the sequel was released, many fans of the series doubted whether the developers would be able to maintain the spirit and style of the original during the transition to the new generation. Nevertheless, today the graphics of the first part, albeit stylized, look morally outdated for many reasons, and the gameplay already seems frankly clumsy. Fortunately, both aspects of the developers have worked in the sequel one hundred percent.
In graphic terms, it is difficult to find fault with the new game: these are the same familiar heroes with their unusual features and angularity, but with a much larger number of polygons and various modern chips like the successful use of shaders. We are not talking about any photorealism and breakthrough in graphics, but it is simply stupid to expect them from such a title. Instead, the game offers a moderate use of modern technology and great art design that easily distracts attention from the flaws of the chosen style.
The platform has also been refined and improved. The controls are quite responsive, the mechanics alternate well. This does not save from the moments of the type “Yes, somehow, I jumped!”
As a tribute to modernity, the developers have added several settings to the options to simplify the passage. In particular, you can turn on complete immortality and go through the whole game with it. Or just reduce the difficulty of battles so as not to be distracted from the plot – the game does not punish for this in any way. You can enable or disable this or that option at any time.
Surprisingly, with all the above-mentioned innovations, Psychonauts 2 works exactly like the first part that could be remembered. True, going back, you understand that in fact the original is no longer so good against the background of the sequel – age takes its toll.
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