Trailers have been out for a while now for Psychonauts 2, the latest project by cult game creator Tim Schaefer and Double Fine Studios. This would seem like a good time to reflect back on the first Psychonauts, often described as one of the “best games no one played”, and the subject of one of the most remarkable resurrections in the history of video games.
But first, some background. Tim Schaefer started in the video game industry working at LucasArts, being involved with projects as far back as the Monkey Island series, on which LucasArts built its brand of adventure games. In 1995 he got to work on his own game with Full Throttle, and in 1998 took the adventure game genre into 3D with Grim Fandango. Schaefer had always been known for his quirky sense of humour and style, but Grim Fandango was perhaps his best display of his work so far. Mixing Aztec Mythology with Film Noir seems like a gimmick, but Grim Fandango is, quite frankly, a masterpiece. The secret was, apart from being hilarious and visually arresting, Grim Fandango was filled with pure heart, with a cast of memorable and engaging characters. The writing was on point, which is one reason I became interested in that game when it popped onto my radar.
Grim Fandango, unfortunately, was not going to be the herald for a new age of 3D adventures – instead it was to serve as something of a swan song to the adventure game genre. As the world moved into the third dimension, tastes were changing, and point-and-click story-based games seemed antiquated.
This was the environment that Tim Schaefer found himself in as he started to create Psychonauts, and, to the game’s detriment, it often does feel like the makers were entering into the world of 3D platforming with a gun pointed at their heads. At best I can say that the platforming involved is serviceable. The game also features a heavy emphasis on collecting items, similar in a way to games made by Rare such as Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. However, in Psychonauts, a lot of this collecting is admittedly more infuriating than engaging – especially since there are plot critical items that require you to collect the game’s currency, without forewarning you that hoarding this cash will be vital later on. Indeed, you need to have been forewarned, or suffered through this problem in a first playthrough, to understand that you need to take special steps to find secretive piles of cash to most adequately prepare for the late game. Certain other in game collectibles are rendered in transparent two dimensions, making collecting them a headache as they often blend into the background, or it becomes unclear as to which angle you should be trying to move at them from.
The platforming itself can be hit or miss. Most infamously, the final level, dubbed “The Meat Circus”, had to be toned down in later Steam updates due to being incredibly frustrating. Even with the changes, the level still combines an awkward blend of unfair design choices with strangely limp boss battles.
The thing is, many people, myself included, absolutely forgive all of these flaws, so engaging is Psychonauts in regards to characters and writing. The artistic design of Psychonauts is delightful off kilter, with the misshapen characters resembling the cast of a colourful cartoon rendered in three dimensions. This abstract approach allowed for the flexibility needed for the incredible variety in level design found in Psychonauts. The story of the game concerns Raz, a psychically gifted child who sneaks into a summer camp for similarly psychic children and works to prove his skill. While doing his best to demonstrate and hone his skills, Raz also needs to deal with a growing conspiracy that is slowly emerging at the seemingly innocuous summer camp.
The absolutely unique part about Psychonauts is that since it is about a psychic, a majority of levels take place not in the camp itself, but within the minds of various characters Raz encounters. While these first jaunts into minds are for the purpose of learning how to use other psychic abilities, Raz soon has to leap into the psyches of damaged or brainwashed characters in order to help them overcome their traumas. This is genius partially because it makes the characters a major part of the gameplay, and partially because it allows for a fantastic array of level designs. Raz navigates dreamscapes that resemble Japanese kaiju movies, kitschy black velvet paintings and a warped view of suburbia through the eyes of a conspiracy theorist – to name just a few. Every mind is filled with a further “micro-cast” of bizarre characters, creating a very extensive list of NPCs for Raz to interact with. Even the characters who you may interact with for only a very short time are highly memorable, with off-beat writing and excellent voice acting leaving a lasting impression.
The cartoonish humour is also notable for the dark and often serious undercurrents to it. The game can be very goofy, by design, but it still is a game about mental trauma, and doesn’t lack for emotion and pathos. Raz himself is motivated by a difficult relationship with his father, one he has twisted within his own mind to be something even worse than in reality. The game walks a thin line but never really ends up feeling meanspirited – all the trauma is treated seriously, no matter how silly it might be, and Raz is willing to leap in to help anyone. The ending of the game has Raz helping the main villain overcome his damaged childhood and making him give up his plans for world domination. Instead of creating a tonal clash, the silly and the dark play off each other well, creating an atmosphere that allows for constant surprise and delight.
Despite being lauded for all these reasons at its release, Psychonauts was a significant failure – the game had a tumultuous history after being dropped by Microsoft and nearly not getting released. Upon its launch it sold abysmally, killing off publisher Majesco. However, it was lauded critically, and developed a steady cult following. The game’s lasting appeal finally paid off when it was put into digital distribution on Steam, becoming a sleeper hit years after it was initially released in 2005. This has led to enough new demand to warrant a sequel, which has also had a long road to being finished, with production being announced in 2015.
In the end, I’d give Psychonauts a thorough recommendation, though you may want to look up some tips beforehand. While gameplay didn’t always end up fully polished, the writing has the same spirit of humour and sweetness that worked so well in earlier adventure games, and in many ways, with off the wall solutions to obstacles, Psychonauts carries their DNA. If you want something unique and strange, it’s worth it. And with the Steam version, it’s much easier to get a copy of it that has some of the worst bugs and issues ironed out. Hopefully the traditions that Psychonauts set over a decade ago will be repeated and improved upon in the sequel.