4.5/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Psychonauts.

13hrs 40m In Psychonauts you play as Razputin, a young boy who runs away from the circus to join a summer camp training children to become the new generation of psychic soldiers, or, Psychonauts. The game starts immediately with an interactive title menu, making you move Razputin around a brain to find the load/new game buttons, something I’ve never seen anywhere else. It is a platformer with a lot of intelligent gameplay and an interesting story. Despite its cartoon appearance there is a surprising amount of adult references from mass murder, suicide, insanity and peeping Tom’s. There’s also a lot of clever mind references such as your mental health bar, clearing mind cobwebs, and finding tags to pair with literal crying “emotional baggage” items. The gameplay consists of two realms. The real world, predominantly the camp and its surrounding areas, and the psyche world. This was one of the most compelling aspects for me. Throughout the game you will enter the minds of several characters and be transported into a new environment conjured by the host. You will enter these worlds in order to progress the story in the real world. Each characters mind is reflective of their personality, the camp leader Coach Oleander is a war zone, the scientist Sasha Nein is an efficient training lab, but my favourite is a character called Boyd Cooper. Boyd is obsessed with a conspiracy theory surrounding a milkman, and his world contains secret cameras in bushes like something out the Truman show. I also loved entering the mind of a sea monster and charging like Godzilla through a city of fish people, destroying buildings like something out of War of the monsters. The ability/combat system relies on you collecting several powers as you go through the game such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis and invisibility. These are key to overcoming the many puzzles at the core of the game. Collectibles are also a big part of the experience. From random items you collect to progress your rank to collecting the brains of others. My biggest takeaway from Psychonauts is that it never feels like it’s padded in anyway. Each new area offers something different and keeps you engaged with new play styles all the way until the end. I haven’t played anything like it before and really hope they don’t loose the adult humour and make a more PG game for the sequel.