I rarely 100 percent games, but I felt a sense of reverence to psychonauts that I had to. It was a bit of a slog finding the LAST figment in each level(the last is always the hardest when you miss it), but it felt great to be back in a world I felt like I may never see again. Psychonauts inspired me, before life got in the way, to become a concept artist for games, and it influenced me in a number of ways, in empathy, in aesthetics, in exploring one's personality and dredging up and working through mental issues.

Psychonauts 2 was perhaps better than 1. It more succinctly portrayed the journey that people with mental illness or at the very least trauma go through, and it did it in an equally if not more creative way than 1. And the gameplay segments all felt tighter, faster, and more varied than the original, which still holds up even. A bit of flash to the presentation sold scenes even stronger, and it fleshed out the world and most of the core characters to be miles deep. I do think some of the new kids couldve been improved, or more of the older ones couldve been brought back, but its adherence to the timeline is a blessing. it shows how much double fine cares about this, their baby. It's stronger than most other remakes/distant sequels/etc.

I only dock it slightly as it didn't feel perfect. some weird performance and graphical issues, but these were rare. I'm excited that Microsoft money might make psychonauts 3 uber polished, and this already notched the bar up several times. It brought tears to my eye at the opening scene because of how important it is to me, and seeing it play well, look great and still feel like the original.

I hope we get a psychonauts 3 in some form, but if it doesn't happen, 2 has thoroughly satisfied me.