Episode 121 - Psytation Needed - Psychonauts 2

Name for me this podcast so roughly bearing me o’er the sea!
Welcome back to NOCLIP in the not so spooky month of November!
Today, we’re going to be talking about Psychonauts 2, the
long-awaited sequel from Double Fine. Psychonauts 2 is an action
platformer game in much the same way as its predecessor, but with a
more ambitious scope that comes from having so many years in
between titles. As it picks up briskly from where Rhombus of Ruin
ended (which, itself, picks up immediately after the events of the
first game), you might be surprised at the depth of the game’s
themes. The tone is very much the same, with an emphasis on humor
that plays into the game’s outlandish premise, but it spends the
time to much more critically examine its characters. The game
focuses on the real impact its characters have on each other and
their surroundings all the while honing the platforming elements,
elevating it from a cult favorite to a pretty genuinely well made
game on all fronts. The movement is smooth and your abilities feel
more integrated in combat, making everything from level progression
to the greatly expanded side content feel natural, exciting and
fun. We’re going to be talking about how the levels in this game
feel more fleshed out, though maybe less punchy, than in the first,
the psy powers and how they’ve been changed and updated, and about
Nick Johnsmith’s juicy middle. Thank you for listening! By the
nature of us doing the podcast only in recent years, it feels like
it hasn’t been that long since we played the original Psychonauts,
but as big fans of the original, we couldn’t let this one go
without comment. How do you feel about this game and the changes it
made? Was it satisfyingly different to you? Not different enough?
Did you also wonder why the other intern kids got pretty roughly
sidelined for most of the game? Let us know in the comments, or
over on our Discord where you can talk about the game and suggest
new games for us to play! Next time, we’re going to be talking
about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which I’m going to say
like it’s no big deal, but am actually nervous to have something
interesting to say about it after like 25 years and a million think
pieces. So I hope you’ll join us in our existential dread then!