The original Psychonauts never felt small to me when I first played it, but god damn this game expands the world and possibilities of Psychonauts so much that it does feel almost comically quaint in retrospect. Everything here is bigger, but also just as laser-focused and not bloated at all. Making all the levels here connect to one bigger story was a really great move, I think I'm just a sucker for sad old people finding ways to heal and come to terms with the past. The story in general really makes good on the "unanswered" parts of the first game, while still introducing great new stuff. I'm also a sucker for the structure of "mostly linear levels connected by big hub worlds full of nooks and crannies to find stuff in", this game was candy to me nearly the whole way through.
As for things I'm not really sure about, this is going to sound crazy but I'm a little disappointed didn't have it's Meat Circus moment. Every level here is cool visually and does a really good job at portraying each character's mind, but they're also all pretty easy and sort of samey. Hollis' level easily makes the biggest impression and is the most unique in structure, and nails the balance between platformer and adventure game that the series (is this a series now?) is known for. Every level after sort of feels like it's strictly platforming with some unique setpieces. I think about the board game level from the first game, or the structure of The Milkman Conspiracy, or the nightmare that is Meat Circus, and while the strange nature of those levels lead to frustrations, moments in those levels stick in my mind a lot more than most of the levels in 2, even when 2 delivers some honestly breathtaking visuals in these levels.
The hardest parts of this game were always the combat rooms, and I gotta say, while the combat in Psychonauts 2 isn't bad by any means, I never had much fun doing it. I've said in other platformer reviews that I like my platformer enemies to serve as occasional hindrances or obstacles, and not something you need to stop everything for in order to fight. The new enemies they introduce have fun concepts behind them but it's never a thrill to fight them. Something that would help combat a lot is the having access to more powers at once, as only having 4 feels limiting. I mean, I'm not going to unequip levitation or PSI blast, so there's really only two optional powers. Someone brought up the idea of being able to switch between different customizable sets of powers, and this would honestly make combat a lot more fun, because I do really like the way the moves you use for platforming and puzzle-solving can also be used for combat. Allowing you to have access to a larger amount of powers at once would make the combat way more enjoyable.
I have other, more minor complaints, like how the group of interns aren't really anything noteworthy outside of Sam, or how the final full level is sort of underwhelming, but I mostly just have glowing praise for this game, and most of that praise has already been expressed by other reviews (although I should mention how the voice acting is legit incredible and there's not a single bad performance in this game. Richard Horvitz deserves a lifetime achievement award or something). I really hope they make another one of these, would be a shame to stop here considering how endless the possibilities of this world have become. I mean, considering how long it took Double Fine to get this one out, we're probably not gonna hear anything about a sequel for a while, but I just really hope we get to come back here someday.
As for things I'm not really sure about, this is going to sound crazy but I'm a little disappointed didn't have it's Meat Circus moment. Every level here is cool visually and does a really good job at portraying each character's mind, but they're also all pretty easy and sort of samey. Hollis' level easily makes the biggest impression and is the most unique in structure, and nails the balance between platformer and adventure game that the series (is this a series now?) is known for. Every level after sort of feels like it's strictly platforming with some unique setpieces. I think about the board game level from the first game, or the structure of The Milkman Conspiracy, or the nightmare that is Meat Circus, and while the strange nature of those levels lead to frustrations, moments in those levels stick in my mind a lot more than most of the levels in 2, even when 2 delivers some honestly breathtaking visuals in these levels.
The hardest parts of this game were always the combat rooms, and I gotta say, while the combat in Psychonauts 2 isn't bad by any means, I never had much fun doing it. I've said in other platformer reviews that I like my platformer enemies to serve as occasional hindrances or obstacles, and not something you need to stop everything for in order to fight. The new enemies they introduce have fun concepts behind them but it's never a thrill to fight them. Something that would help combat a lot is the having access to more powers at once, as only having 4 feels limiting. I mean, I'm not going to unequip levitation or PSI blast, so there's really only two optional powers. Someone brought up the idea of being able to switch between different customizable sets of powers, and this would honestly make combat a lot more fun, because I do really like the way the moves you use for platforming and puzzle-solving can also be used for combat. Allowing you to have access to a larger amount of powers at once would make the combat way more enjoyable.
I have other, more minor complaints, like how the group of interns aren't really anything noteworthy outside of Sam, or how the final full level is sort of underwhelming, but I mostly just have glowing praise for this game, and most of that praise has already been expressed by other reviews (although I should mention how the voice acting is legit incredible and there's not a single bad performance in this game. Richard Horvitz deserves a lifetime achievement award or something). I really hope they make another one of these, would be a shame to stop here considering how endless the possibilities of this world have become. I mean, considering how long it took Double Fine to get this one out, we're probably not gonna hear anything about a sequel for a while, but I just really hope we get to come back here someday.