Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts 2 is a single player platform game played in a third-person view. The player controls Razputin "Raz" Aquato, a ten-year-old child runaway of a circus acrobat family, who possesses powerful psychic abilities that allow him to delve into the minds of others. Raz is a new graduate of the Psychonauts, an agency of psychic spies. His acrobatic skills are used to deftly navigate environments in the game; he can run, jump, scale walls and platforms, and slide along rails, but cannot swim due to a family curse.

Raz hones his abilities into an array of psychic powers that allow him to use pyrokinesis, levitation, telekenesis and so on. Several powers return from the original game, with additions such as Mental Connection, which Raz uses to tether between floating points. Up to four powers can be assigned at once, and are swapped out via a pop-up interface.

Psychonauts 2 is set in a fictional, alternate world in which psychic powers exist thanks to the fictional element Psitanium - a substance brought to the planet by several meteors. The Psychonauts are an international espionage agency focused on psychic peacekeeping, scientific research of the human mind, and the development of psychic-based technologies.

In Psychonauts, the player-character Razputin "Raz" Aquato is a young acrobat fascinated by the Psychonauts, but shunned by his family who fear his psychic abilities. He runs away and infiltrates Whispering Rock summer camp, a training facility for young Psychonaut recruits. While there, he helps to foil a plan by the demented Dr. Loboto and misguided Coach Oleander to steal the brains of his fellow campers and the Psychonaut agents Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, while befriending Psychonauts founder Ford Cruller and Lili Zanotto, the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, Truman Zanotto.

Double Fine's first title as a studio was Psychonauts, released in 2005. The title was considered a commercial failure, but was highly praised by critics for its characters and writing and gained a cult following. In the years following its release, fans and game journalists urged Tim Schafer, CEO of Double Fine and principal creative lead on the game, to develop a sequel to the title.

Schafer had expressed interest in working on the Psychonauts franchise again, with the company having envisioned larger story arcs for the game's characters over the course of its development. The development of the sequel would require a publisher that was interested in the game, and Double Fine approached publishers with the idea; Schafer said that in these pitches, he pointed out the large number of both legitimate sales through digital distribution and through the illegitimate means of software piracy.

Game critics considered Psychonauts 2 a successful sequel worthy of its long wait. Reviews for most platforms were "generally favorable" according to review aggregator Metacritic, while the Xbox One version received "universal acclaim". The story and character writing was praised for its depth, humor and treatment of serious themes with finesse. Further, the examination of mental health issues was praised for its warmth and sensitivity.

Creativity in level design and the colorful art style were widely applauded. Criticisms were leveled at the combat, boss fights and upgrade systems. Pure Xbox considered the game one of 2021's best and among the "greatest sequels ever made". Ars Technica called it a strong Game of the Year contender and "one of the best video games [they had] ever played".