Early in Psychonauts 2 – which you can buy here, coincidentally – the acting head of the titular psychic spy organisation tells our hero Raz that "we're not here to change people's minds. Not here to 'fix' people. We're here to help people fight their own demons." Psychonauts 2 is better than the original in every way: its characters are better realised, its story is more empathetic, its controls are far more precise, and its levels perfectly balance creative art design and entertaining platforming. This is Double Fine's best game.
While the villainous Maligula hasn't quite returned for the sequel, enemies of the Psychonauts are working hard to resurrect her, and have installed a mole in the organisation to aid in their misdeeds. But the bulk of the game is spent trying to recruit the help of the Psychonauts' founding members, each of whom is trying – unsuccessfully – to deal with the trauma of the original encounter with Maligula. That means you, as Raz, are going to be diving into another round of brains to explore a fresh set of mental worlds.
Psychonauts 2 is still absolutely a comedy, but the issues it deals with are grounded in an understanding of mental health that has evolved and matured over the 15 years since the original. Where the previous game's mental worlds were essentially caricatures – a wargame in the mind of someone who believes he's related to Napoleon, or an endless dance party in the mind of a swinging '60s spy – the levels in Psychonauts 2 are built from more relatable concerns. You'll meet an alcoholic whose mental world is a literal ocean of regret with piles of empty bottles just below the surface. Another character's social anxiety and self-imposed isolation has created a mental world where their friends offer judgements like "slightly better than a mouthful of nails" on a high-stakes cookery game show.
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