I was a big fan of the original Psychonauts. Towards the end of that game I was genuinely sad to learn the game didn't do well in sales at the time. Especially when you knew that these were the people behind legendary games like Monkey Island, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. When Double Fine announced their plan to make a sequel using crowdfunding, it honestly felt a bit risky... but since the original had grown a healthy fan base and we really wanting another game in that crazy world I jumped in as a backer, choosing for a tier which would get me the game at release. And then Microsoft decided to buy the studio, creating more breathing room for the studio, which probably helped the project to shine even more.

Now that the game is out and I have completed it I can safely echo all the positive people around me in the Review section. It's a fantastic sequel on all fronts. Level design, music, voice acting, a great sense of humor, a good story and amazing graphics and designs. It has that "You're playing a Pixar movie" vibe all the way through. And just when I feared things were going to end soon, more things opened up and I realized the scope of the game was larger than I initially expected. I also avoided most trailers and developer diaries, just because part of the magic of a game like this is exploring the strange minds and story twists and not knowing what is coming next. So if u plan to pick this up, going in without checking out the promotional media is my recommended way to play this game. For fans of the original: You are getting a straight up sequel that continues right after the original ended.

The game has had a lot of quality of life changes in the way it controls and expands greatly on skills and other neat things affecting your play style. Combat has become much more involved this time and your powers can be used in more creative ways to defeat enemies.

And I'd like to shout out Peter McConnell who is doing the music again for this sequel. This time he had access to a full symphony orchestra and it just dials the quality of this game's soundtrack to motion picture quality. There is a lot of new music, an awesome guest appearance and quite a few nods to the original game music that fans will recognize, now played by real instruments, it's a treat. I'm buying the official soundtrack for sure, which releases on October 19, 2021.

And for people who haven't played the original, there is a recap of the story of Psychonauts 1 and the VR side game "In the Rhombus of Ruin". It recaps the big story bits to get you up to speed for this sequel touching on all the important info without making it too long or complex. Though people who did play the original will have a lot more fun with recognizing returning characters and a bunch of references to the original game, some of which are subtle.

Other than that I don't think my review could add anything new to the pile. It's a wonderful mix of art, music, acting and solid smooth gameplay. It's not perfect my any means and you might find some small hitches here and there. But the overall experience just drowned those out for me. it's one of the most audio-visual creative Platform/adventure games there is.

So yes, Psychonauts 2 is a great video game in my honest opinion.