“Razputin… Razputin…. Razputin… Razputin” – Ending spoiler, apparently
Wassup playa? Man… the 2000s were truly something… special. The phones? Batshit. The aesthetic? Batshit. The music? Peak. The culture? Hella legit brah, LOL. Growing up in the last true “era” of western culture meant being exposed to a plague of X-treme Goofy Movie and Surge soda flavored aesthetics that wreaks of Taco Bell and your parents cigarette smoke.
A flavor we can only describe as “Millenial-core”. Amongst the numerous large technological advancements of the era with notably few people who knew what to do with it, it left us confused, cynical, and desperate for escapism (Like right now, except I’m 30 and still talking about early 00s video games).Here we also saw a multitude of child centered media that was absurd, dark, and borderline degenerate.
Courage the Cowardly dog
Shows like Spongebob Squarepants, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Invader Zim were always considered favorites amongst us, despite also having episodes geared around harvesting organs. Parallel to that, the video games were equally absurd with the likes of Tak and the Power of Juju, Jak and Jaxter, and underrated gem, Psychonauts. But wait, what’s Psychonauts?
Psychonauts
Double Fine Production’s Psychonauts is a story based collect-athon platformer released in 2005 and is the brain child of former LucasArts developer Tim Shafer. It follows a psychic 10 year old boy Rasputin (Raz) who runs away from his home at the circus to crash a Summer Camp for psychic children. Hijinks ensue, you solve a mystery, brains get sneezed out of heads, and you venture deep into multiple characters’ consciousnesses through a literal door into their brain. Good stuff.
This game absolutely oozed charm in a way you can only relate to peak 2005 culture. There’s surreal yet witty humor, a strange but hypnotic artstyle, and an overall vibe you can only compare with that of a Tim Burton animation meets Cartoon Network’s sense of absurd humor.
This is reinforced by the fact that the protagonist’s voice actor is none other than the great Richard Horvitz, who is the voice of Zim from Invader Zim, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, the original voice actor of Spyro, etc.
This man is a legend and deserves a spot next to Tom Kenny in terms of praise. However, the game sold poorly and lead to the closure of publisher Majesco Entertainment. Yikes.
Gameplay
The gameplay loop is straightforward and is a product of this time. As a collect-athon 3D platformer, you are going to be running, jumping, double jumping, not swimming (since Raz canonically fears water), and collecting an ass load of brain and psych related boons that cleverly have an in-story explanation for existing. IE: Finding purse keys to unlock literal “emotional baggage.”
Your psychic abilities increase through “Patches” with one that allows you to set anything on fire or produce a literal levitation ball to roll around on, amongst others. Typical of character platformers of the era, the game is divided between a overworld (Summer Camp) and the levels (The mind).
The overworld is divided into a few sections with the worst map of all time to guide you, but it’s not so big that you can get lost. Here’s where the story moves forward and you can chat with the other camp members as well as dick around for collectibles. The story is pretty linear, but most of the camp is available to explore from the start with a broad expansion in the second half.
The levels are the true star of the show as each one is structured significantly different from one another and has completely different aesthetics with their own contained story. The game is not incredibly combat heavy, but levels are generally littered with studious looking fellows called “Censors” that the mind creates in order to stomp out “Bad thoughts” (you). Some notable standouts is the famous “The Milkman Conspiracy”, which is peak gaming from start to finish; and the final level, which I won’t spoil here.
Story & Themes
The true strength of Psychonauts lies in its story and feels like something taken straight out of peak Cartoon Network. While the premise is a simple “Ten years old boy goes on a hero’s journey and gets the girl” the sheer amounts of depth Schafer put into each individual character is highly commendable.
One such example is a bubbly character named Milla who depicts her subconscious as a never ending 70s style dance party. Throughout the level, you’ll notice a nearly hidden room off the path and in it is a collectable called a “Memory Vault” (collectable containing a slide show of a suppressed memory from the person the level it pertains to).
Here you find out that she worked for an orphanage and cared for children, only to find them trapped in a fire with their final thoughts being cries for her help, and it gets worse. Mind you, this is also a game that contains the quote “Though I often smell of excrement, I deserve your respect because I provide a valuable service to the community. Feces.”
Thematically, the game tackles trauma from all angles in a way that is both haunting and extremely satisfying, which is reinforced by its shamelessly Tim Burton approach to its story telling and artstyle. All filled with Schafer’s absurd, witty, and super quotable writing.
Should you Play Psychonauts?
Psychonauts is a true gestalt. Its story reinforces the gameplay and the gameplay reinforces the story. Backtracking to levels shows how the level changed after your influence, characters properly react to your actions (like setting them on fire), every collectable gives you incite to character traits, and there’s a Godzilla reference. It truly has everything. Psychonauts didn’t revolutionize the genre, nor did it break out in popularity on release, but I feel like it’s an underrated gem, albeit a product of its time. If you asked me what game I would say best encapsulated the spirit of the 2000s, I’d hand you Psychonauts.
It’s worth playing, and takes only about 15 hours to 100% it. All killer, no Ubisoft tower filler. I enjoyed this gem for the first time on the PS5 playing the PS2 version in 2021 because I heard the sequel was awesome, but the best version to play is the PC version (no Steam controls though), with the Xbox version being tied and the absolute WORST version being the PS2 one due to buggy emulation and poorer lighting. Whoops. Anyways, please give this title a chance and hopefully it’s enough to carry you to the sequel! Or not, I don’t care. Go away.
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