Double Fine has consulted mental health experts to inform the sequelвЂ™s content, which has led the studio to ask trickier questions in Psychonauts 2. ItвЂ™s a more cohesive and pithy tale this time around, digging into the psychic-hating circus family that Raz left behind and the murky history of the Psychonauts organisation and its founders. Tim SchaferвЂ™s dialogue is typically fantastic throughout, tinged with humour and wit at every turn. The plucky underdog is left to solve another conspiracy, complemented by old friends and some new cast members voiced by top talents like Elijah Wood and Jack Black. Having saved the world in the original, he arrives at the PsychonautsвЂ™ flash secret headquarters only to be shoved into the intern program and lectured about a dangerous mole.

Played with utmost charm by Richard Horvitz, RazвЂ™s sensational view of the Psychonauts clashes with the organisationвЂ™s woeful straits. We interpret all of these questions through Raz, a ten-year-old kid whose only goal is to become a bonafide member of the Psychonauts, a group of secret agents who keep the peace by investigating the insides of peopleвЂ™s minds. If we could put a little door on your forehead and look inside, what would we see? Could we understand each other better and maybe use what we find to heal? Not much has changed about the gameplay setup, but the questions it wants to ask are far more resonant sixteen years later. Like the original, the sequel is a puzzle platformer set primarily in the collective unconscious. Psychonauts 2 is also the long-awaited sequel to Psychonauts, a cult classic that came to the Xbox in 2005. Young kids will undoubtedly get a lot out of it, but they might return a few decades later and connect with it even more.

ItвЂ™s like a playable Pixar film with eclectic art direction. The opening description could easily make you think that this is a dark game, and while it does deal with plenty of complex mental health topics, itвЂ™s good to note that thereвЂ™s always a throughline of hope and healing here, with plenty of humour to boot. This is the premise behind one of the most creative and moving missions in Psychonauts 2, a modern 3D platformer brimming with imagination and empathy. ItвЂ™s your job to show him that there can be another way. вЂњBut then they grow and grow, and cause so much painвЂќ. вЂњThey always start out little, donвЂ™t they,вЂќ he says, talking about another seed. HeвЂ™s happy with his garden the way it is, and new memories just mean more potential anguish. But understandably, the gardener is hesitant to let you take them. Raz can take the seeds back to the island and plant them to grow healthier memories for the gardener. But deep down, Raz also finds glowing seeds. Deep within these glass prisons are painful truths, warped and exaggerated by years of isolation and grief. As Raz floats between the cays on a drifting door, corked bottles start to surface, containing dioramas of difficult moments from the gardenerвЂ™s past. It sounds like a silly aside, but in context, it cuts deep. READ MORE: вЂPsychonauts 2вЂ™ preview: Double FineвЂ™s best game yet.In his mind, heвЂ™s trapped on a barren island in an ocean of memories. In reality, the gardener lives alone in a tower besieged by gnarled plants. ItвЂ™s said to the protagonist, Razputin Aquato, as he explores the mental world of a lonely gardener. IsnвЂ™t a seed just a bomb in slow motion?вЂќ is one of many lines from Psychonauts 2 that IвЂ™m still thinking about, days after beating it.

Psychonauts 2 review