Jun 10, 2019  Thanks to the long-awaited first glimpse of gameplay from the Psychonauts 2 sequel that just debuted at E3, there’s no stopping Razputin (aka Raz), the plucky mind-cadet who’s trying to grow up from his first game by entering the Psychonauts workforce. Double Fine shared a new trailer for the upcoming sequel that puts Raz in a special agent’s suit and tie and then sends him out into the field —. Jun 13, 2019  Psychonauts 2 is slated for a 2020 release, and it'll honor all its existing platform commitments (PS4, Xbox One, PC) when it launches. CNET is on the ground, covering covering E3 2019 alongside.

In the years since its release in 2005, Psychonauts has become a cult classic as an early game that was about something much deeper than it seemed. But because it was so ahead of its time, Psychonauts found both critical and commercial success to be middling compared to creator Tim Schafer's other knockouts like Secret of Monkey Island.

But in 2019, Psychonauts is back for a sequel, its cult following out in full force to cheer its return to the main stage of Microsoft's E3 showcase. A 30-minute demo for Psychonauts 2 and a Q&A with Schafer show the series has found the right time to shine.

You play as Raz, a member of a team of people who use psychic abilities to go inside others' heads. Through puzzles and Psi-Powers, you battle their inner demons, like the goopy Regret monsters in the demo, who can 'weigh you down' and are plaguing Dr. Caligosto Loboto's mental world. Loboto's been acting funny lately, so you're tasked with blasting through his mental blockages to figure out who his nefarious 'boss' is, a mysterious new character we only got a glimpse of.

'We always approach the more serious themes in Psychonauts with a philosophy of, you never know what's going on in someone's head,' said Schafer. 'Anyone who seems like they're acting in a negative way or showing divergent behavior, sometimes if you can just go inside their head, you can see what they're wrestling with. And in this game, you can help them with that. Most of the characters, even the villain in the first game, is redeemed by you helping them wrestle with what's troubling them inside their head. And that's also with lots of laughs along the way.'

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Despite all the years in the real world since the first one came out, Psychonauts 2 picks up only three days after that game ended. And though a lot of the original design team is back for the sequel (along with some fresh faces), Schafer emphasized that they still have their work cut out for them.

'It takes time, the game,' he said. 'You realize even though it's been many years since the first one and everyone on the team has learned a lot since about how to make games, the process is always just a long journey to figuring what the real heart of the game is.'

In 2017, Double Fine released a VR game in the universe called Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruins. While you don't have to have played that game to jump in on the sequel, the new game will still pull from the lore established in that one. And when asked whether Psychonauts 2 would support VR as well, Schafer slyly replied, 'I think that's a smart idea.'

The demo showed how the psychoactive and surreal elements of the game world lend themselves to the kind of wacky mind-bending experiences VR is best known for. In Loboto's mental world, hallways grow longer all of the sudden, or the whole perspective shifts to become like a 2D platformer.

It's like Inception, if Inception was a colorful comedic video game world.

While Psychonauts might look like kid stuff at first, what made it a favorite among headier game critics was how it tackled issues of mental health and illness through gameplay — long before indies like 2018's Hellblade did it.

'There's a lot of topics in the game that can be problematic if you don't approach them in a way that's sincere and respectful,' said Schafer. 'It's about drawing from your own personal experiences instead of a stereotype, which makes it actually potentially helpful to people.'

The first game might've released a little too ahead of its time. According to Schafer, the re-release on PC made more money in its first five years than the original release ever made.

And as for finding the heart of the game, Schafer seems to have a pretty good grasp on how, 'it's about that sense of empathy, about seeing people from the outside then seeing them from the inside, and realizing you don't understand what they're going through.'

Certainly, he said, that's what's stuck with people since the first game in 2005, even though many of its saddest and most melancholic bits were hidden inside a game world that emphasized comedy.

'But that's what's interesting to me, presenting this slice of life where there's a full range of human experiences,' said Schafer. 'It's still funny, but it can go to all the places life stories go.'

Psychonauts 2 is slated for release in 2020 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac and Linux

I remember picking up Psychonauts on a whim. It had this cool cover, and I’d previously enjoyed what Double Fine had done. The concept seemed almost Tim Burton-esque to me, and it wasn’t long before I fell in love with these characters and that world. Raz sneaking into a psychic summer camp, only to find himself saving his new friends and discovering a lot about his own past was the kind of story that I needed at that age. Now, so many years later, it feels like Raz has grown with me.

Finally getting an extended look at the gameplay for Psychonauts 2 reveals a game that is very much a follow up to the first. I understand that it might not live up to some people’s standards of what a late-gen PS4 game ought to look and play like, but for me, it was simply perfect. Everything I remembered and loved about the original was right there. Double Fine retained the visual style while cranking up the fidelity. They kept that fun action platformer gameplay while refining combat and increasing Raz’s abilities even further.

One of the best parts about Psychonauts is the brilliantly mad worlds that exist within each character’s mind. Even back on the PS2, Double Fine made these environments stand out with unique visuals and gameplay elements that specifically called to that character’s psyche. It was a little bit like extreme therapy, jumping into their heads and dealing with their problems while also handling your own. And of course saving the world from an evil dentist. Double Fine knows this is a big part of what made Psychonauts what it is, so they’re really doubling down on that style once again.

Psychonauts 2 E3 2019 Preview – Office Chairs and Teeth

The world we got to see was an insane blend of an office and teeth. So many teeth everywhere. The Psychonauts team had been trying to use some Inception-like tactics on that evil dentist, Dr. Loboto, but his mind began to break free, combining the office environment they had created with Loboto’s toothy reality. If this is what they’ve got in store for the opening level of the game, I can’t wait to see what else they have cooking.

The first game’s Censor enemies are joined by Doubts and Regrets, and the combat is much more fluid this time around to deal with all of these threats. It looks like Raz will start off with everything he learned at summer camp and gain new abilities over time, as opposed to having to lose and relearn the basics. It doesn’t really change things up from the first game so much as it expands on what you know. To that end, Psychonauts 2 does kind of seem like the PS4 version of a PS2 game, but for its intended purpose, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all here.

Instead of camp, this time around will feature the open-world environment of the Psychonauts headquarters to explore. Here we’ll learn even more about Raz’s family history, the founding of the Psychonauts, and it was even hinted that we’ll see just how those two things meet up.

I didn’t leave my Psychonauts 2 gameplay demo with a feeling that this will push gaming forward, but it simply doesn’t need to. Psychonauts 2 is a love letter to the fans who love the original and want the next chapter of Raz’s story. It’s for the people who love the psychic gameplay of the first and just want more of that. It’s for the people who loved that visual style, these characters, and those worlds, and it gives them an opportunity to go back. It’s got all the same charm, heart, and humor, and anyone who loved the first would be out of their mind not to keep paying attention to Psychonauts 2. Wrecking crew 98 walkthrough game. For a game that could quite possibly be Double Fine’s last on the PS4, it’s setting itself up to be an excellent send off.