I have so many thoughts on Psychonauts 2 but overall I really enjoyed it. The story and character work were what really shined in this game. It is kinda wild how complex the story gets compared to the first game which is a silly romp with cartoonish villains putting kids brains in tanks to take over the world and at the end you realize the main bad guy just has daddy issues like Raz. It also played mental illness for laughs, which sucks. But in Psychonauts 2 the story takes a very sympathetic and considerate approach a lot of heavy topics including mental illness, addiction, trauma, PTSD to name a few. It also has a lot to say about consent (Raz asks if it is okay to go in people’s minds now for example).
Not going to spoil the story but I loved it and it made me cry like 4 times. That said it was also still very funny throughout the writers did a great job balancing the very heavy stuff and the humor.
The level design was also really good, each level made sense for the person whose head you were in and none of them felt the same (though they aren’t as game genre bendy as the first one’s were). They each introduced new enemies that made sense for the character’s mind (the Regret enemy was in a character who felt remorseful and so on). There is just so much creativity in these level while also being very well thought out (It should have won best Art Direction at the Game Awards dammit). The platforming was mostly fun and good, though there were some frustrating parts and sometimes I failed jumps it looked like I should have made, but like if I can do it most people can probably.
The combat while better still isn’t great, fights are just too busy to do any fun stuff and they last a bit too long (though the game has invincibility mode so fights can be negated if you want). The Bosses are fun but also hectic. I like how the bosses are kinda just there throughout the level and make perfect sense like “of course this is what the boss would be here” kind of sense. I love the characters in these games, the recurring ones are just as fun as they were before (with one getting so much more depth) most of them sadly take a back seat but there have been two games with these characters already so that makes sense (I still would have loved more Doctor Loboto though). The new characters are fun the new kids aren’t super developed but they serve the story well (my favorite was Lizzie). The characters whose minds you enter however are very complex characters who feel pretty real and are mostly sympathetic despite some of them doing awful things. These characters are going through some tough stuff and their minds reflect that.
Everything about how the gameplay feels better than it did in the first, tighter controls, less floaty platforming and so on. I also like that you don’t have to unlock all you powers from the first game again and the new ones are fun and feel good to use. It also has a bunch of accessibility options which is rad. I have heard people say this game feel old (in a negative way) but I think it feel old only in how it it is a colorful platformer with fun characters (despite having a more modern story). Like a ps2 couldn't run this game but it reminds me of the best part of that era in gaming.
So yeah like I said at the start of this I really liked this game and hope if there is a Psychonauts 3 we aren’t waiting 16 years for it again lol.