my biggest issue with psy2 is that raz completes his arc as a luke skywalker instead of as a team member. Raz start as a farmboy and becomes the one, the neo, the protag of the universe.
Which to a certain extend is fair as a narrative tool for him to resolute his issues with his family and worship of the psychonauts, but i wouldve loved a bigger emphasis on the rest of the kids, having them be a fuller part of the conclusion rather than useful assist trophies for the final boss.

raz saves the day by mentalising with the rest around him, but not enough that it sticks the landing completely, almost ties the bows up too neatly and too tight. At least the team tried their hardest here, and it flows and accels nicely overall, blooming with ambition.

My heart is still with this world and Raz. Go hug your inner child today; we all need to do that once in a while.
I still love this game a lot, but it is not without its faults, like everything else; imperfect-ly grounded.
weave yourself a sweater and drink a glass of water. Ask for help when you can.

Big boss at the helm, step into his shoes and "free yourself", whatever that excuse is for you.

The development of any game shows up in the finished product; the ideas, culture, crunch, loglines, convos, etc.
but, hey, here's that aspect as-naked-as-possible on full display. Every tendency from previous installments appear through fog and confusion, bound by fiberwire and left to mutated on its own

self-immolating machismo and learned preception of penetration in every way. Fight clubs and "purity", float on the butterfly, sell yourself into hatred of "lazy", into ideas of animals founded false.
Mechnically sound and presentable, but a slog as well. At some point the feeling of phantom pain evaporates and im left dumbfounded by the husk. Even if its "the point", man, i dont got that patience for completion.

You can borrow the shoes, you can become a "hero", you can become forever war; ever hunger for ever hunger for ever hunger for ultimate death through worshipping blinding pain, fog and smoke dancing and floating thru the brain.

worship the paradise of a perfect death and become hollow.

The void stares back. Don't blink.

revels in the reveal of it all, overstimulating into infinity, transcendental in reverse; this is a beginning but not an endpoint of life. This is a game capturing a moment in time, a LONG moment, but not one captured here in a way that ultimately imagines beyond itself in any optimistic way, point or not.
Its funny, rash, goofy, sad, crude, industrial metal music sparking with smoke. revel in the reveal of it all. FPS next-gen Titus Andronicus. Break-it-down.wad, piggy boy ! !
It has all been said before, but there's muscle and technique here that shows delibrate consideration and practice. But it is a piece, not the "puzzle" itself. A prepared piano slathered in mud. replayed while listening to fear factory.

your experiences and times are not uniquely resistant, they will be swallowed and compounded too. #s as sundials.
Into cores.