Psychonauts 2 truly is one of the most creative and best-looking games of the year. The only minor pitfall of the gameplay is the usage of lists as many missions require going to several places or minds, and whereas these events are still individually crafted and designed, they do not by themselves progress the story and can feel like unnecessary filler. The gameplay provides solid platforming with enough variables to keep the game interesting through the around 17 hour story. Our protagonist, Raz, dives deep into the world of the colourful hippie movement The colourful and creative art design works perfectly in sync with the equally as imaginative level design lead by Ryan Mattson together with lead designers Seth Marinello, Zak McClendon, combining more linear levels such as many of the minds explored to the semi-open explorable real world. The “real world” provides contrast to the crazy mental worlds but still succeeds in capturing several styles from the green and earthy summer camp to the dark woods inspired by camp horror films from 1950s. The art design, lead by a notable POC voice of the gaming industry Lisette Titre-Montgomery, combines cartoonish style with a plethora of art styles from the fever dreamish landscapes of old hippie rock stars to the teeth filled grotesque screwed up world inside the head of a mad dentist. The most remarkable part of the game is its visual design. The writing by the studio head of Double Fine Productions, and the BAFTA Fellowship (for pioneering work in game development) award winning Tim Schafer works both story wise and through its dialogue. The overall style of writing relies on witty dialogue with hints of the deadpan random comedy of ZAZ films ( Airplane, Police Squad etc.), and it works. The story, while safe for younger audiences, is filled with dark humour and innuendos. The cartoony enemies do have a darker background in mental health issues but maybe physically beating them on screen is a source of empowerment. Every mind is different and has differing properties. Many of the enemies in Psychonauts are modelled after what could be called enemies of the mind, such as Doubt, which is a sticky monster that literally sticks the character to the ground: “it holds you down”. Mental connection: cilantro logically leads to delight, or does it just taste like soap?
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