Psychonauts 2

Playtime: 24.3 Hours

Finished the game 100% - maximum level (102), all collectibles, all unlockables, all side missions, all achievements, all areas completed. I don't think there's anything else I can even do in this game without starting a new save. As entertaining as it was, I don't think there's any reason for me to play through this again.

A fantastic sequel, all in all! In almost every way, I think this game is a direct improvement from the first game. Obviously, the game looks and performs far better than the original, while retaining all of the charm of the weird character proportions and designs. Aesthetically, many of the new areas are a visual treat; the visual and mechanical effects that this game plays with throughout the levels surpass anything in the original in terms of fidelity, while the designs consistently avoid the annoying/awful segments that made the end of the Asylum & Meat Circus so awful to play in PN1. Meanwhile, I feel that the controls also feel tighter and more responsive, and the abilities are more intuitive than previously. There's a pretty significant degree of auto-aim in this game that prevents having to concentrate too much on precision aiming, which is very useful in this kind of game. That said, I still don't feel like the controls feel quite as good as they could - while I maintain that it is a significant improvement over the first, that really isn't saying too much. The interface is smoother to navigate, and contains very useful details to facilitate 100% completion - marking sub-areas in the game complete individually, which makes it much easier to find out where to explore for the last few collectibles per level. There is a minor irritation in that a few items (2 scav hunt and 1 PSI marker) are not available until post-game, but those only take a minute to grab so it ultimately didn't feel like too much of a gate. Seeing as the general format of the game plays out the same as PN1, I don't think there's much else to say outside of it being an all-out improvement.

The one aspect of the game that I can't say is necessarily better is for the story (and the characters, to a lesser extent) - I actually don't think it's bad at all, but the tone of the writing is very different compared to PN1. The first Psychonauts maintained a very graceful balance between the absurdity and humour of each person's mental world and the serious nature of their underlying problems, preferring to provide windows into these worlds without much judgment beyond. Psychonauts 2 is far more preachy in comparison, with some very heavy-handed commentary about a number of the underlying problems that are the theme of several of the levels. I think this shift was done to show how Raz is maturing; from his follies in Forsyth's mind early in the game, he begins to understand the amount of power he wields as a psychic, and the amount of responsibility that needs to come with it. The end result, though, is that the script tends to veer away from any semblance of humor a lot of the time (especially later in the game), which starts to suck some of the charm out of the writing. A few of the last levels suffer very heavily from this, which aren't enjoyable mostly because they're so boring or cliche. Cassie O'Pea's level is one such example, which kind of feels like a high schooler's short story, but the single worst victim is for Bob Zanotto's level, which is simply bad. Not only are the level gimmicks horrible (disappearing/reappearing platforms, high inertia/slippery controls), but Bob is also the worst character in the cast. While most other characters tend to be proactive in their worlds, Bob's character just continues to idle around the plants, and barely even exists in his own mind. Meanwhile in the real world, he's pretty much just a generic grumpy old man, with his only other defining trait being that he's gay. I really wish they would have spent some more time focusing on his clear love for gardening instead of making his personality a one-trick pony; every other member of the Psychic 7 is defined by something beyond just their relationships except Bob.

Quick notes about some of the other characters: I don't really care much for the other interns, or the Aquato family (except dad) - though the Aquatos do admittedly play a huge part in the story. Forsyth is a very good character, and a great 3rd 'role model' in addition to Sasha and Milla, who are also at peak form in this game too. Fred Cruller is probably my favorite character in this game, returning as the zany insane old man from PN1 but with some great closure to his story with his repaired mind and the redemption of Lucrecia Mux - the second act of the game is definitely my favorite, and probably the strongest overall. The new villains (in Nick Johnsmith or whatever his real name is, and Maligula) are perfectly serviceable, but honestly not very significant. The final boss with Maligula really doesn't distinguish itself from the other boss fights in the game, other than the shitty mechanics (I damage raced because I had max recovery items). However, the end of the game gives a very good sense of closure to many storylines that were kind of left open in the first - about the Aquato curse and the future of the family, about Fred's shattered mind, and about Truman Zanotto. With the ending that was given, I think Psychonauts is in a great place; if Double Fine think there is more to the story, there is still plenty of opportunity for exploration (for example, Augustus Aquato has some lingering doubts and fears from the whole incident). However, if the story ends with this game, I can still say that it ended with a phenomenal entry with a very satisfying conclusion.