‘Psychonauts 2’ preview: Double Fine discusses game’s bosses, mental health - Th...

The sequel, “Psychonauts 2,” leans into its themes of mental health, empathy and respect. It comes to PC, PlayStation 4, macOS and Linux on Aug. 25 for $59.99, or via Xbox Game Pass which costs $14.99 a month.

In 2021, video games that address mental health are widely available, but Double Fine fine-tuned its approach in the sequel.

For the second game, Schafer said he made sure each level has a unique setting, reflective of a character’s mental state, a specific art style and an additional gameplay challenge such as having to move through relative gravity or bubbles. Double Fine enlisted mental health experts to review the game, and to suggest ways to improve the game.

“They’re just small changes, sometimes to language [to make it less] stigmatizing, or depictions of characters, often just very simple changes can make the game less harmful to more people. More inclusive and more people able to enjoy the game because you’re more sensitive to what people are going through,” Schafer said.

“Psychonauts 2” recently spent a lot of time in the headlines, as gamers discussed its new accessibility features. Those included a toggle that would make players invincible, which the company teased on Twitter. Some users replied by complaining the feature took the difficulty and sense of accomplishment out of the game.

“I’ve heard the argument made that ‘Oh, if you turn on invincibility, then all of this design and work that’s gone into combat falls by the wayside,’" said Lauren Scott, senior systems designer at Double Fine. “But it’s a different way, a new way of interacting with the game, and if someone is having fun with the stuff that I’ve created, in a way that they can actually play it, if the alternative was them not being able to play the game, then I’d rather them play the game.”

Even if players turn on invincibility, they can still drown (as main character Razputin belongs to the Aquato family that has been cursed to drown in water) and they still must brave a series of platform challenges.

Schaefer and his colleagues also focused on an aspect of mental health in making the new game, seeking to avoid crunch and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Schafer said they learned the lesson after the team had to crunch hard to get the first title out.

Remote work conditions presented a challenge, though. “We tried to find different ways to not have crunch and we’ve gotten better, but a couple of projects have been in trouble and needed to have a lot of extra work,” Schafer said. “This last year has been interesting for everybody. Everyone’s at home … you’re trying to monitor to make sure no one’s overworking but everyone’s life is so hidden from you during quarantine that it’s been more difficult. …

“The important thing is to try to change the mentality that it’s just part of the system. Some people are like, ‘Well, it’s just part of making games,’ but it’s only part of making games if you choose to not make it a priority. You’ve got to actually see the quality of life of the team as something that you can’t lower just to make a deadline.”

Inside the sequel, and the mind

Even if you haven’t played the original “Psychonauts,” the sequel does a good job of catching you up with current events, including what happens in 2017′s virtual reality game “Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin.”

The game is a huge upgrade from the original’s rough-looking graphics. In 2019, Xbox acquired Double Fine, helping to fund “Psychonauts 2” beyond its initial budget of $13.5 million, and allowing the studio to add more to the game’s boss fights. Double Fine had previously raised $3.8 million for the title through an online crowdfunding campaign.

Playing through the original is probably best for gaining a full understanding of the large cast of characters and familiarity with Razputin’s psychic abilities. A lot has happened since circus-trained Raz first enrolled into a psychic summer camp in 2005, and proved he was worthy of becoming a Psychonaut, or an international secret agent. For Raz, it’s only been a few days since the events of the previous game, and he’s still a kid.

In “Psychonauts 2,” Raz joins the ranks of the Psychonauts, only to be sidelined as an intern. Somehow, the game even makes interning fun. From exploring the mind of the kidnapper who captured his girlfriend’s dad in “Rhombus of Ruin,” to sorting mail in the mailroom or using clairvoyance to see through the eyes of his co-workers, Raz actually has a blast in the office.

Later, Raz is kept from going on a dangerous mission at a casino by his supervisor, Hollis Forsythe, who also acts as an instructor, teaching Raz and his fellow interns. She holds class in her mind (literally allowing the other interns into her mindscape), and while she’s occupied, Raz is encouraged by his colleagues to change her mind by making some new mental connections. It goes poorly and the bad connections he makes lead Hollis to act rashly and encourage all the interns to go to the casino, with the intention of gambling to win big.

To undo the mistake he made, Raz must venture back into his mentor’s mind, but this time, it’s transformed into a fantastical level that’s part hospital, part casino. Eventually, he’s able to undo the bad mental connections he made in Hollis’s mind, undo other mental connections she’s formed such as “defiance is useless” and get her to recognize better connections such as “wisdom = decisions.” It’s clear throughout this level that Raz is genuinely feeling regret and guilt for messing with Hollis’s mind without consent. He reflects on what he did wrong, and apologizes to Hollis.

“It’s a small change between the first and second games,” Schafer said. “I noticed in the first game, Raz just kind of pops into everyone’s mind willy nilly. He’s like, ‘hey!’ And so in every level on ‘Psychonauts 2,' except for some near the end where it’s an emergency situation, in every brain you go into, there is a moment of actually getting consent from the person’s brain that you’re going into, because it is an invasive process going into someone’s brain. There’s a lot more dialogue about that, which we try to be careful about in the second game.”

Balancing heavy themes with … barf bosses?

The scope of the sequel feels massive compared to the original, which can be completed within 10 hours. It also delivers whimsy alongside its more serious subject matter.

In a later segment of the sequel, Raz has to compete in a cooking competition, using telekinesis to drop an egg into a steamer, or a pig under a chopper. This level reflects the anxiety that Compton, one of the founders of the Psychonauts, is feeling. Even when tackling serious themes such as anxiety, the game takes a lighthearted approach. The food fest degrades into a vomit-filled boss fight, when the judges have had a little too much to eat. For the cherry on top, Raz must produce ingredients for a final dish by fishing them out of the puke.

When asked about how Double Fine came up with a barf-filled final boss to round out a delicious cooking competition, Schafer said he wasn’t there at the meeting when the vomit was introduced.

“That really was the boss team,” Scott said. “For each boss, there’s a strike team that gets assembled, with a character artist, programmer, environment artist, animator, everybody you would need to prototype that experience. And then they go crazy. You look at the level and you’re like ‘well, what would be a great capstone to this level that calls back to everything that you’ve already done and then gives you this really amazing combat or platforming challenge?’ And that is what they came up with.

“We still don’t know who brought the barf,” Schafer said. “No one will step forward. Come on, cough it up.”