Psychonauts 2 tells one of the best stories games have ever told

If Psychonauts hit in 2005, it wasn’t just a clever platformer. It was one part of an action/adventure game wave that explored new forms of storytelling.

This was the year Shadow of the ColossusThe power fantasy was turned upside down by the year of, making it hard to kill huge beasts. Advent RisingThe year was the Year of, where its story and mechanics were shaped by how you played. Indigo ProphecyWe gave Quantic Dream the benefit-of-the doubt back in the day.

Even that year’s bigger, mainstream games pushed story depth. God of WarThis was Devil May CryTake it all in. Resident Evil 4Changes in the angle of the camera have revolutionized horror. Half-Life 2The limits of worldbuilding in games are tested. Chaos Theory, Splinter CellIt was a demonstration of what it was like to be an spy.

Family-friendly and less serious is a better way to go. PsychonautsThis group was a fringe one. There was no denying its blend of platforming mechanics and storytelling, as well as the fact that its story was better than most other games. Developer Double Fine created the thinking person’s platformer — the game Microsoft and later Majesco signed when they wanted to publish art games (and Microsoft dropped when it moved on from that foolishness).

It was honest, hopeful, and sensitive. It felt like something we hadn’t seen before.

Image by Double Fine Productions/Xbox Game Studios

Sixteen more years later. Psychonauts 2.It was a different country. Like most sequels, it carried gameplay baggage from the first — platforming through people’s minds was no longer a new concept, though it had been gone long enough that it sort of felt like one. The industry was changing around this game, so it wasn’t difficult to find honest, positive, and sensitive stories within games. Developers had to make the game stand out with their narrative creativity.

They succeeded.

With Psychonauts 2., Double Fine built one of the most engaging and varied stories I’ve ever seen in a game. It’s the rare game that makes me pay more attention when cutscenes show up. It’s possible to play Mario games and not pay attention to the plot. You can do this with Psychonauts 2.It would result in missing out on more than half the experience.

A mix of many things is what makes a story successful. Some harken back to the original game — jumping into people’s minds is still a brilliant tool for environmental storytelling; having big eyes still makes it easier for characters to show emotion. What’s new is how well the game fuses all its storytelling tricks together. It’s a subtle thing, but the balance and pacing of being silly one moment and hitting hard emotional beats the next has taken a big step forward. While the game deals with serious topics like alcoholism and guilt, forgiveness, family troubles, among others, it never feels heavy handed. As strange as the classic adventure game logic sometimes is — you can still find a piece of bacon to make Ford Cruller pop out of your ear — the whole thing flows elegantly, which makes the world feel more alive.

Image by Double Fine Productions/Xbox Game Studios

When you’re running around a cooking show feeling pressured by the crowd, or when you’re playing through a psychedelic music festival wondering if it might give you a headache, you can feel that you’re in good hands. And when you’re solving the larger plot of finding a mole in your psychic spy organization, and helping people deal with their trauma as you go, you get the sense that you’re doing it the right way, due to the precision with which everything is told.

Double Fine has also included a variety of games so the game never feels repetitive. Just a platformerEven though you jump and run a lot, it doesn’t matter how much. There are plenty of things to do in the world. Which you will, because the controls — while generally quick and responsive — aren’t super forgiving.

Between the controls and the visuals — which look vibrant and distinct, though on a technical level are nowhere near those in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, its main release calendar competitor — Psychonauts 2. doesn’t feel like a cutting edge piece of technology.

It doesn’t need to. This was not the point. You don’t play Psychonauts 2.For its technical excellence. Raz and his friends play the game to enjoy wild adventures. And those adventures take you to places you’d never expect to go — usually inside people’s minds; sometimes riding on a bowling ball — and once again set the bar for narrative justifying gameplay, making the game feel as relevant as the original felt 16 years ago.