Let me tell you honestly: summer is the least suitable season for playing video games. The sun beats down hard, carrying out the simplest of actions becomes tiring, the call of the sea is stronger and stronger and everything outside the domain of domestic air conditioners is as bleak as a nuclear wasteland. Probably this is also the reason that forged one of the unwritten laws of our medium: no big titles come out in August. It goes without saying that this is not an absolute but, in living memory, very few exceptions to the rule come to mind.
Based on what has just been said, I was not a little surprised by the decision to publish Psychonauts 2 in the hottest month of the year, a period of tired and usually reserved for titles without too many pretensions. The Double Fine game is, in fact, one of the first fruits of the "new course" Xbox, and it was strange to see it relegated to such an unusual launch window.
These considerations, however, could never have undermined the curiosity linked to the new creature of that nice genius of Tim Schafer, one of the very few names in the videogame scene that is now synonymous with quality and originality, increasingly rare goods.
Gamers of the earthly world, if you are enjoying a break from the sea and the August sun, if the heat has not been able to quell the hype for Psychonauts 2, if you really can't wait to return home to get back in the as Razputin Aquato, you just have to scroll through the following lines.
However, if instead (like myself) you belong to the category of those for whom holidays are still a mirage, to the ranks of those who have only seen the sea in selfies and Instagram stories of friends, know that this review is dedicated right to you "videogame defender".
It is not my custom to go wild, but my debt to Tim Schafer is too great: were you looking for quality and originality? Well, you found them.
Where were we?
Such as? Are you telling me that you don't remember much of the plot from the first Psychonauts? You don't have to worry: that's what we're here for!
As the introductory movie explains to us, Razputin Aquato (for friends, Raz), is a former circus performer from a town named Grulovia. After discovering his psychic skills, Raz decides to leave the reassuring family tent to fulfill his dream: to become a psychonaut. What is a psychonaut? A sort of "visitor of minds", able to enter the brain of almost any person and to understand the reasons behind his psychic disturbances, with the aim of resolving them.
Joining the ranks of the Psychonauts will prove to be more difficult than expected, but our unlikely hero will be able to prove his worth, managing to foil the plans of Doctor Loboto and his associates. However, when everything seems to be resolved, it turns out that Truman Zanotto, the Chief of the Psychonauts, has been kidnapped; all of this means only one thing: a new mission awaits Raz and his friends.
To more than 15 years away, the plot of Pyschonauts 2 starts right from this point. After having managed to rescue Zanotto from Loboto's clutches, we discover that the former is in a semi-comatose state, unable to reveal any details about the reasons for his kidnapping.
At this point, Raz and his associates act by doing what they do best: they enter Loboto's mind and, one trauma after another, try to understand what really happened to their bearded boss. In the course of the "explorations", two truths emerge: our former dentist did not act alone and, therefore, there is a mole in the Psychonauts. To emerge, however, there is also a name that seems to terrify anyone who listens to it: Maligula.
What has been described so far does not scare the good Raz who, never as this time, will be able to live his adventure with all the credentials: if in fact in his previous adventure he was little more than an external visitor, now our hero is a Psychonaut to all. effects. The fact that he holds the role of intern it doesn't scare him that much: because every self-respecting career always starts from the last wheel of the wagon.
The hard life of a Psychonaut “apprentice”
As in all the sequels, also in Psychonauts 2 there is the right mix of old and new elements. Double Fine's work retains all the good things seen in the previous chapter of the series: an ironic and light-hearted atmosphere, a plot as fun as it is solid, with the right twists and, finally, a series of characters well characterized and easily recognizable. Tim Schafer has not altered anything of what we have listed, but has added some interesting innovations: a main quest that captivates and convinces is accompanied by short and amusing secondary missions; the cast of characters of the first game is deepened as never before and enriched with many new faces; L'ironic and light-hearted atmospherefinally, it has remained intact, thanks to a decidedly inspired creative team and to the tracks composed, once again, by the incredible genius of Peter McCornell.
The plot proceeds smoothly, managing to alternate moments of great hilarity with other darker and more exciting ones, but allowing the player to take all the time he wants, exploring the game world in search of the many collectibles that, in fact, make Psychonauts 2 much, much longer than its predecessor.
The total absence of dead moments manages to guarantee an excellent narrative rhythm, which will accompany us until the epilogue, managing to make us forget what boredom is.
A platformer with a hint of… madness!
Analyzing the gameplay, Psychonauts 2 re-proposes the formula of its predecessor, managing to broaden its scope, but without exaggerating. The bulk will go through the dear, old visits to the most bizarre minds, but alternating phases in which we will have to extricate ourselves from the "real world": it will be here that we will be able to run into the various NPCs that, if necessary, they will be able to assign us secondary missions. There will be secret areas and others reachable by sharpening the wits, which will allow us both to solve a side quest and to collect one of the aforementioned collectibles (believe me, there are really many).
Not all areas will be immediately visitable or, at least, not in their entirety, requiring you to return when you have acquired new powers, or when you have strengthened them enough.
I already know what your question is: how many brains will we be able to enter? On the other hand, needless to hide it, the real attraction of the title is precisely this. Well, the development team has realized approx 13 brains that we will be called to explore, each different from the others, with puzzles to solve and, above all, with a story to discover. We will focus on this later, but we can already tell you one thing: get ready to be amazed.
Le eight psychic abilities (Telekinesis, Psycho-Explosion, Pyrokinesis, Levitation, Foresight, Mental Connection, Time Bubble and Projection) will prove to be vital for the continuation of the adventure, and their correct use will be essential to deal with the most intricate situations, as well as to reach the points. more hidden than internships. To give an example, each enemy will be sensitive to a certain power, which you will have to equip through the directional cross and set it on one of the four backbones of the pad. The operation just described requires a few more steps than expected, it breaks the rhythm of the fighting a little and, basically, prevents the memorization of the mapping of the attack commands, as we will often be called to reset it (even in combat in course).
Fortunately, what has just been described does not affect the whole of the gameplay, which is always sparkling and which stimulates the player to explore every corner of the stages and, above all, to interact with the surrounding environment.
Controls, combat system and environmental interaction
As you may have easily understood, Psychonauts 2 gameplay rests on three pillars: exploration, combat and puzzle solving. It is good to clarify immediately that the level of challenge is not very high; although there are more difficult moments than others, there will be very few situations in which you will be forced to start over from the last save point. Speaking of save points, it is necessary to say a few words about their distribution: not all of them are placed in a suitable way and, in the event of death, we will be thrown even in places quite distant from where we were, being forced to collect again. all the collectibles we got in that stage piece.
Even the fights do not represent an insurmountable obstacle, on the contrary: the only difficulty, among a thousand quotes, consists in remembering which psychic power the enemy on duty is weak and equipping it in time. The same spectacular bossfights, once you understand the mechanism, will not worry you too much, also because you can count, if necessary, on two healing objects: the Lollipops Psi and Bonbon Onirici.
What the title excels at is the environmental interaction. There are very few objects that you cannot destroy or the NPCs with which you cannot activate a dialogue (even of a few lines), and the game itself pushes you to interact, rewarding you with shortcuts and objects to level up and improve yours. powers. Just a small example, from time to time, you may come across unlit campfires: if you decide to light them with your Pyrokinesis, you will activate an updraft that will lead you to hidden areas, allowing you to get your hands on otherwise unreachable objects. Or, through the Mental Connection, it is possible to briefly enter the minds of practically every NPC, taking their view and noting that each of them sees our Raz with different appearances.
From the playful point of view, the only two flaws to be encountered are commands that are not always very precise (there will be times when, with Telekinesis, you will grab the wrong object) and a camera that is not always "on the piece" (which sometimes occurs will prove fatal in the most risky jumps) but, once again, none of this will compromise the overall gaming experience.
The power of the mind
Usually I prefer to tackle the technical and graphic aspect of a video game at the beginning of a review, as this is what I consider to be of least importance for the final evaluation. In this case, however, I preferred to treat this point last not so much for the cleansing of the aesthetic of Psychonauts 2, but for the fact that it is inextricably linked to the creative element.
As pointed out by Tim Schafer, the development of the title has dragged on for six years, and it is absolutely to be believed, as every single element of the game worlds has been put on the screen with an almost maniacal care. The "mental" stages spurt originality from every pore (or pixel, you name it), each of them revolves around an element, on which everything else is developed. The stages are fascinating and beautifully made, but if I had to point out what struck me the most, it would be that of the “Festival of the Senses”. Try to imagine being in the world "Yellow Submarine”By the Beatles in the middle of an LSD trip, with vivid and iridescent flowers, surreal atmospheres and a soundtrack in full 70s rock style. Are you trying? Well, know that the wildest of imaginations will never even come close to what is achieved by Double Fine.
Quality and originality. We talked about this earlier, remember? Well, this is where it is possible to “touch them with your hand”.
Every single "mental world" is a playful representation of one psychic condition well determined. Are you exploring the brain of a gambler? You will find yourself inside a gigantic casino, complete with NPCs in the shape of playing cards, chips, and huge pachinko to climb. Are you delving into the trauma of a depressed person? His world will be characterized as an archipelago of disconnected islands completely isolated from each other, which render the concept of man understood as monad as better as possible.
The very enemies we will encounter on our path are nothing but ironic representations of negative mental states, and here too originality reigns supreme. From censorious thoughts, represented by grumpy employees with a red stamp of rejection, to doubts, depicted as slime creatures that make our movements slower and more awkward, up to panic attacks, made as a sort of stylized "bad wolf" and capable of moving at very high speed, which we can only hit by slowing it down with our psychic powers.
And speaking of speed, come on Xbox Series X, Psychonauts 2 provides excellent performance, putting on screen a resolution of 3840 × 2160, guaranteeing a stable framerate at 60 fps. The polygonal models are clean and beautifully finished, as are the textures and the many particle effects that we will find in the various stages. The only flaw concerns the LOD (level of detail) which, in simple terms, causes the rendering of some textures a few moments after their framing. Nothing dramatic, of course, but in certain situations (especially in close-ups) it is practically impossible not to notice what has just been described.
Creativity in command
The often mentioned originality and quality can also be found within seemingly secondary elements. The many collectibles, in fact, help to immerse us in the mind we are exploring: i mnemonic vault (real living safes) will reward us, as soon as they are opened, with narrative glimpses concerning the characters (main and not) of the game; the reveries (real "two-dimensional thoughts") will color the various stages, depicting objects and situations in line with the atmosphere in which we are immersed.
We can say with certainty: Double Fine has managed to make fun what is normally one of the most boring phases of video games, that is the collection of collectibles. In Psychonauts 2, as mentioned earlier, the replayability of the individual stages is really very high, and the merit is above all of the characteristic just described.
The dubbing in English is the real added value of the work which, for the rest, is completely localized in español. The absence of dialogues in our language is absolutely not an obstacle and indeed, it also does justice to the luxury guest that the videogame can boast: we are talking about Jack Black, but we leave you the pleasure of discovering for yourself the character to whom he gave the voice.
Confirmation of Peter McCornellfinally, it is the best that the fans could hope for, as the soundtrack he created is worth the price of the ticket, helping to enrich the artistic value of the work, which is already very high.
If a good day starts in the morning, many great days await the renewed Xbox Game Studios.
Final judgement
It is said that there is no greater mystery than the human mind. Starting from this assumption, Psychonauts 2 is probably the best playful representation of everything that lurks in the maze of the psyche. From positive feelings to negative feelings, passing through traumas, memories and real mental disturbances: Tim Schafer and his associates manage to transpose themes that are anything but simple, with the irony that has always distinguished Double Fine productions. The plot flows which is a pleasure, there is no moment of boredom and, once you get to the end credits, the desire to dive back into the game is very high. Add in a cast of exceptional voice actors (including the iconic Jack Black) and a screaming soundtrack and you've got one of the best platformers of 2021, second only to that It Takes Two masterpiece. Only a few small technical flaws separates Psychonauts 2 from the perfect score, but nothing that can ever even remotely compromise the gaming experience, which stands at very high levels.
Welcome back, Tim, I really missed you so much.
