Malf on 31/8/2021 at 11:46
I completed this yesterday evening, and there's a lot to like.
Superb writing and soundtrack, especially Jack Black's turn on "I can smell the universe". In fact, the music for that whole episode stands out. Overall that's probably my favourite episode.
It completely nails that Sixties psychedelia aesthetic and sound, and is obviously heavily influenced by Sergeant Pepper's and The Grateful Dead. Growing up with a hippy dad and a lot of that imagery and music, that episode's like a warm psychic hug.
However, there's also a few things that really ticked me off. Technically, it's remarkably solid, but narratively, the pacing's all over the shop. There's numerous times later on in the game where the game rips control away from the player showing events that I would have quite liked to have played, and also infuriatingly showing collectibles in cutscenes before transporting you somewhere completely different once the cutscene ends.
After it did this one too many times, the desire to replay areas for collectibles dropped off a cliff for me. Especially when it comes to figments, something I thought they would have learned from the first game.
I also found it incredibly annoying that there's numerous areas you can't get to early on that you don't get a chance to revisit with the required skill until after the end credits have rolled.
Overall, it feels like the game's plagued with the gaming equivalent of bad continuity.
And while light-hearted and maintaining a constant low level of amusement, it had nowhere near as many laugh-out-loud moments for me as the first game.
But I suspect a lot of that comes from having to handle the scenarios they were exploring with a deft touch so as not to make light of the psychological problems they were exploring.
And to that end, I did find the exploration of Bob's alcoholism particularly touching. That showed a remarkable restraint when exploring addiction and the potential causes.
So many people still blame the addict these days and simply can't or won't empathise.
Edit:
By the way, I don't want to take away from one of Double Fine's greatest achievements with this series; visually, the Psychonauts games are stunning, with incredible style, animation and attention to detail. As long as they properly support future monitor resolutions, I can't see these games aging visually at all.
That's the power of a consistent artistic style, with the emphasis being on art rather than verisimilitude.
Thirith on 20/9/2021 at 07:46
I finished Psychonauts 2 over the weekend and enjoyed it a lot. While I don't think it's as fresh as the first game (there's little it does that the first game didn't do already), and there are some levels that IMO could've done with another pass or two, I love the world and characters and atmosphere, and the game itself is great fun too. I'm not sure I'll go back to explore every level and get all the collectibles, but I'm glad I supported this and I'm very glad they made it. And while the story's finished, I would definitely be up for visiting this world again in a few years. Though if it takes as long again, I'm going to be...
...
...
Okay, now I'm depressed.
Sulphur on 15/3/2023 at 08:03
Thirith mentioning the Double Fine Adventure documentary reminded me, there's a 32-episode making of Psychonauts 2 called PsychOdyssey that was recently published. And it's very, very good. I haven't seen all of it yet because I need to finish Psychonauts 2 first, but it's great to see these fine folks come together and navigate everything involved in the creation of game.
[video=youtube;AKoy_KMVIyU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKoy_KMVIyU[/video]
