LogFAQs > #961524688

42. Psychonauts 2 (2021) - PC

At first I thought this would be one of those games I wouldn't be able to finish. I kinda hated the act of actually playing the game early on, and thought about dropping it a few times. Even a few hours in, I was like "ugh I'm so dumb why am I not dropping a game I hate?" But I had a good reason for doing so - other than the gameplay, the game is pretty good! The minds you dive into are basically all great, and they basically get better as you go (up until the great PSI King level at least, which is the pinnacle of the game IMO). The designs are full of bespoke content. You'll run into puzzles they use once and never again, and they don't really reuse content much, other than basic enemies. It's great how you always get to run into something new or surprising in every world. The story and characters are good too. The best moment of the game is where (major spoilers) everyone is reunited, they see Lucy, and they just silently hug her with no hesitation, despite everything. I don't think I've seen something like that in a game before, and that's the kind of storytelling I would absolutely love to see more of.

But at the same time, the gameplay never really got good. The hub area's design is garbage, and is part of why I wasn't into the game early on. The combat sucks. There's a ton of collectables that feel pointless to get (moreso than average for a platformer). You frequently have to switch powers through a clunky menu - I feel like they could've taken advantage of more buttons on the controller to make this required less often. The main part of the gameplay (the platforming) is solid, at least. Running and jumping around and exploring feels nice. It's nice that the game "got good" but it would've been even better if they'd scrapped some of the combat and made the hub world smaller/more easily navigable.

Next game hint: I played two spinoffs from this company this year, and it turns out being less faithful to the original was a bad idea.