Psychonauts

norm

amazing game, very fun, haven't laughed that much playing a game in a while.

Psychonauts is an old-school 3D platformer with solid mechanics, fun and unique levels, and utter BS sprinkled throughout. What sets this game apart, however, is the writing. The story itself is pretty straightforward, but the mature themes and relentlessly hilarious dialogue make the player wonder if media is too sanitized these days, or if Psychonauts has always been one-of-a-kind. The developers have a loose grasp on actually psychology, but this game clearly draws inspiration from Jungian ideas. Conflict is driven through trauma and it's the resolution of this trauma in these creative subconcious worlds that ultimately resolves the physical-world conflicts. It's humanistic in creating sympathetic antagonists, yet somehow still manages to provide a lot of cartoonish fun. Moreover, a lot of design choices are just straight-up psychology puns with the player collecting "figments," clearing mental "cobwebs," and unlocking emotional "baggage." Being that Raz, the protagonist, is only 10 years old, I kept wondering if this is a kid's game. To be honest, I'm still wondering that. This game can be extremely frustrating at times. Some levels harrass the player with enemies too much, and the game consistently does a poor job at communicating with the player on how to actually fight the many bosses. The first few levels are easy, I got through the last few on my own, but I found myself getting stuck at least once on each of the middle levels. As noted above, the themes of this game are extremely mature for today's standards of children's media. Frequent references to death and trauma, suicide jokes, dark worlds with scary imagery, and a summer camp full of horny pubescent kids. Psychonauts does a great job of exploring these concepts from the perspective of a child, but I don't know if this game is actually appropriate for young audiences. (I just looked it up, it's rated T for teens.) Some levels are forgettable, while others are truly inspired. I loved the board-game level of Waterloo, the G-men of the Milkman, and the bull running through the neon night of a Spanish city. While the game encourages you to revisit these levels to get all the collectables, I unfortunately felt ready to shelf this game after completing the story. However, my play-time should reflect a methodical approach to each level. I really took my time with this game even if I didn't collect everything. If you don't mind dealing with some BS level design and some frustrating boss-battles, then Psychonauts offers brilliant writing, respectable platforming, and an iconic art style. I do recommend this game and I'm excited to play the sequel.