LogFAQs > #962034651

15. Psychonauts 2

Back in 2005, I recall seeing commercials for the original Psychonauts during the ad breaks on G4TV when I was literally watching X-Play unironically. I wrote that sentence and then prepared to do some digging on what X-Play said about Psychonauts and discovered that they literally brought X-Play back a month prior to my writing of this sentence. I will begin watching new videos from X-Play as of now on December 28th, 2021, and will post my initial thoughts on its return in a paragraph following this one. But before that, I should note I was quite enamored with the concept of a psychic summer camp where most of the levels centered around the madness present within the minds of various persons. I was the only person who thought this was cool, however, because nobody bought it and the franchise went on a 12-year hiatus.

So Im putting this in italics just so you know it is completely removed from the overall writeup. I was going to try and splice it in with my Psychonauts 2 write-up in a more organic fashion, but I couldnt really find a method of doing so that didnt blatantly ruin the structure and pacing of the write-up. Just to break character a bit, you are more than welcome to skip this part, since it is really just something I had moderate interest in and wanted to explain here, as I had already written that phrase and didnt want to go back on that promise, even though nobody would have read it beyond myself. This is more of an actual look into how I analyze media, I suppose, so take that for what you will. If you just want to see me talk about Psychonauts 2 without breaking away from the awkward tormented writer character I create for these analyses, then just skip the italicized paragraphs.

To note I did go and watch some Xplay content, however, its actually been airing for about a year now, it just seems G4TVs official return was in November. The new Xplay is neat as a concept but it does not appear to be as concise in its writing nor does it retain the skit structure present in earlier episodes. The only thing the new Xplay really appears to have in distinct similarity is Adam Sessler who feels more genuine in this iteration, though he has essentially lost the identity of his character as seen in the original series. Its not really surprising given the dated writing style of the original Xplay run, especially in the current landscape of the Internet where video game criticism has evolved past the standard method seen in commercial criticism. Adam Sessler is still a pretty fun guy though, and he has some popular, though in my opinion mid-tier, Youtubers assisting him with their own styles of criticism. It should be noted that this is solely my thoughts on a few of the videos posted to the YouTube channel, and its possible whatever G4TV has running on its programming is more similar to the old Xplay. Its worth looking into for nostalgia purposes, but if you have no idea what the words G4TV, Xplay, or Adam Sessler mean, then you will find far better gaming content on the YouTube platform, likely without the need to try.

Much like any video game sequel which sees itself coming to the forefront after a significant amount of time following its predecessor, Psychonauts 2 was put into a relatively difficult situation. The marketing of Psychonauts 2, from its initial inception as a crowdfunding project in 2015, was unable to be divorced from the looming shadow of Psychonauts. This wasnt just a sequel set in the same universe, this was a story which could not exist without the efforts of Psychonauts which would directly follow the events which occurred in that game. Psychonauts 2 couldnt simply be a good game, it had to live up to the exceptionally high expectations of a fanbase which had already placed the Psychonauts brand on an exceptionally high pedestal. Much worse is that it needed to do all of this while being similar enough for comfort to a severely dated game from the year 2005. By all accounts, Psychonauts 2 should have sucked ass.

But at this point we know the story. Psychonauts 2 received near-universal acclaim from both critics and fans. It garnered a lot of positive discussion concerning its themes and creative design, and even got nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards which is the worst awards show ever made, but apparently has enough clout to be noteworthy for some reason. I researched sales data for a solid two minutes and found no evidence of it underperforming despite concrete figures not being available in that lengthy research process. So I have no reason to believe it wasnt also successful, given Psychonauts has seen a bit of an uptick in sales following its introduction to digital distribution.

But you arent reading this to discover whether or not Psychonauts 2 was successful, or whether the majority of its player base found it to be a strong follow-up to the original. You are here to see what I, a singular man, has to say about Psychonauts 2, and whether or not you, as a human being or artificial intelligence, deserve to play it. It is with great regret that I state to you here and now, Psychonauts 2 is a solid game. I truly wish I could complain at great length as to how this game isnt as good as Psychonauts, and believe me, I could analyze the ever-loving shit out of them and bring myself to such a result, but doing so would be doing the exact same thing I have been speaking out against doing throughout every single write-up.

Judging Psychonauts 2 based solely on how it relates to Psychonauts would be a dangerous method of criticism, given how absurd it is to hold a brand new video game presented to my cynical adult brain in relation to a brand new video game I experienced as a disillusioned preteen. I absolutely refuse to dwell in my past experiences, positive or negative, as doing so would cause my mental health to shatter, and I would transform into something far more powerful than you could ever comprehend. Just as I do, so does Psychonauts 2. Psychonauts 2 will relish in its past self through aesthetics and dialogue to a severe, sometimes exhausting extent. It also retains key parts of gaming from the mid-2000s era, such as long load screens, cringey dialogue, and NPCs that will not shut up if you dont do the exact thing the game wants you to do at the exact moment.

But at the end of the day, Psychonauts 2 is its own flawed experience.It has solid movement and platforming, though many of its ideas receive little to no expansion past some of their most basic uses. Combat is a completely awkward mess that is never fun to experience at any point, I cant tell whether or not the game is being written for literal children or if the jokes really are that bad. Yet all of these things remind me of Psychonauts, and I like Psychonauts. I am definitely contradicting my prior statement. Dwelling in the past is awesome, especially when dwelling on positive experiences. Wow, this is some rapid character development. Its just like in Psychonauts 2 where you cure a mans alcoholism by completing platforming challenges.

Psychonauts 2 Score: 4/6