I missed the original Psychonauts, it just didn't come up on my radar at that time so despite hearing universal praise for this game, I hesitated in picking it up. Having played through it now, I can confidently relay that not having played the first shouldn't be an obstacle. You may miss a couple of the in jokes but the game offers a lengthy intro which fully explains the events of the original Psychonauts and adequately catches-up the uninitiated.
I've listened to a few reviewers talk about the differences between the two entries in the franchise. The 1st game was allegedly more comedic and light-hearted. Supposedly, this game is much more dramatic and serious, in some cases to its detriment. I wholeheartedly disagree with this, I do think this game is more chuckle-worthy than uproarious but they've done a great job writing an adventure here that has huge amounts of pathos and emotion. This is a much deeper than it appears tale about things like PTSD, addiction, regret and loneliness and it's fantastically done. The story balances showing some of the darker sides of these conditions and how they can haunt you long past the inciting events while not dragging the game too far down into the emotional muck. Raz isn't just fighting off Maligula, he's been tasked with healing his troubled friends, co-workers and family along the way and it wasn't too dour or serious for me at all. The game is extremely well written across the board I don't know if a better kid-friendly slant on these issues exists (if you know one, feel free to point it out).
There are so many standout aspects to this game but the most impressive part of it for me was the imagination put into the level design and the environments. Razputin's adventures through these varied and awe-inspiring worlds are ridiculously creative and visually stunning. Each one has new concepts or ideas that are remarkably inventive and present the player with a fresh take on something. But just when you've gotten used to the environment, it flips on a dime and you're doing something new. The art style reminds me of Tim Burton but it's far from derivative and the character designs are so distinct and memorable as well.
We play predominantly as Raz and aside from jumping around each person's mind, we deal with combat with Raz having a variety of attacks and powers. The game isn't combat focused but I liked most of the fighting because how easily you get through it is directly correlated to how imaginative you want to be with Raz's abilities. Minus the boss fights, combat is usually brief as well and the variety of minions is solid and even a little funny as you get a couple of lines of backstory when a new one is introduced (there's usually an accompanying joke).
My gripes with Psychonauts 2 are going to be brief. My biggest is that I'm not the most experienced platformer, I've played platforming games before (the Sly Cooper Series would be my most direct comparison to this game) but I had a hard time with some of these levels. I want to add however, I've played games that are deliberately so difficult that it's part of the draw (Cuphead, The Surge etc.), the fact that I died so often here came across as more my fault than the game's fault. I died a lot more than I'd care to admit playing Psychonauts 2 and that did lead to a little frustration. Some people have complained that the collectibles are a bit much, I didn't have a problem with them but I did gradually lose interest in grabbing every single one as the game progressed.
I struggle to give just about anything a perfect grade (in this case a 10/10) because everything has flaws to some degree. Nothing is perfect and I do feel that way about this game too. I did have small problems with Psychonauts 2 but what it excels at is so far beyond what I expected. The level design, voice-acting, story, character design and graphics are amazing and the game deserves all the praise and the awards buzz it got. I could continue showering Psychonauts 2 for several more paragraphs, that's how strongly I feel about it. I would give it a 9.5/10 but I'll round up because of how pleasant of a surprise this was. I sincerely implore Double Fine Productions to consider making another sequel and not to compromise on their vision because this was spectacular. Provided you can do some platforming, this is a slam-dunk must play for me.
