After sixteen long years, Double Fine Productions have finally released a sequel to their cult-classic platformer Psychonauts. Many fans of the 2005 game were anxiously awaiting to see how the game's review scores would shape up and were delighted when it was universally praised, exemplified by its excellent Xbox Series X Metascore of 87, which includes a 4.5 out of 5 score from Game Rant.

RELATED: Psychonauts 2: Fatherland Follies Emotional Baggage Locations

With many fans sharing their thoughts on the game, it's time to delve into some of the game's standout features, while also highlighting a few shortcomings.

10 Loved: Creative Level Design

Raz running towards colourful level

Right off the bat, Psychonauts 2 stars throwing some of this year's most creative and innovative level designs at players. This quickly shows people who are new to Psychonauts exactly what the series is about, as they attempt to traverse the weird and wonderful Double Fine designs.

One of the most impressive features about the game's level design is that it isn't just creative for the sake of trying to stand out, its creativity ties into the narrative and the inner workings of each character's mind.

9 Loved: Wide Range of Gameplay Mechanics

Psychonauts 2 Raz using Levitation to traverse on teeth

As one would expect in a game with a psychic protagonist, the playable character Raz has a ton of interesting gameplay mechanics at his disposal.

From Telekenisis to Levitation to Pyrokinesis, Raz has a huge range of abilities for the players to use from the start of the game with far more to unlock along the way. Moreover, players have the ability to upgrade Raz's abilities, giving even further depth to the gameplay mechanics on offer. These abilities ensure that the game never gets too stale and offer great variety to the experience.

8 Loved: Wonderful Visuals

The motherlobe

When rumors of a Psychonauts sequel started to emerge, fans were, of course, excited to see how a modern entry in the series would look. However, there were also many fans who were worried that the 2005 game's unique look and charm would be lost.

RELATED: Psychonauts 2: All Nuggets of Wisdom and Memory Vaults in Lucrecia's Lament

Thankfully, this wasn't the case, as Double Fine has been entirely faithful to the distinctive Psychonauts look while updating the visuals in a way that makes Psychonauts 2 stand out as one of the year's best-looking platformers.

7 Didn't Love: Underwhelming Combat

Raz fighting an enemy

For a game as creative as Psychonauts 2, it's a shame that the combat is fairly bland. The combat certainly isn't bad, but when players look past the unique names and animations for Raz's fighting moves, the combat doesn't offer anything that hasn't already been covered in the action-platforming genre in the past.

The enemies fall into this category too; they have creative designs and tie into the narrative, but when judging them purely from a gameplay perspective, they match the combat's mediocrity.

6 Loved: Interesting Narrative

Ford coming out of Raz's head

One of the things that made Psychonauts stand out in 2005 was its emphasis on storytelling. In a genre known for stories that consist of little more than saving a princess or finding crystals, Psychonauts showed that platforming fans weren't just open to the idea of a story-driven platformer, they were ready to embrace one with open arms.

Psychonauts 2 stays true to its predecessor's story-driven core and offers another excellent narrative that keeps players engaged and second-guessing throughout the adventure.

5 Loved: Excellent Voice Acting

Razputin smiling in Psychonauts 2

Like any video game, the aforementioned narrative would be nowhere near as engaging, interesting, or memorable if it wasn't for the excellent cast of characters. From Richard Horvitz who voices Raz, Stephen Stanton who voices Sasha and Bonita, and Lili's Nicki Rapp, Psychonauts 2 is filled with talented voice actors who do an excellent job of bringing the script to life.

4 Loved: Great Humor Throughout

psychonauts 2 HQ screenshot

Humor is always a tricky thing to get right, especially when the writers have to follow a game beloved for its humor, without looking like they're trying too hard to be funny. Thankfully, Double Fine manages to recapture the humor of the first game in a way that feels just as natural as it did before.

RELATED: Psychonauts 2: Lucrecia's Lament Emotional Baggage Locations

Moreover, Psychonauts 2 follows in its predecessor's footsteps of keeping its humor tasteful and in keeping with the narrative, which is a difficult thing to do in a game centered around the serious subject of mental health.

3 Didn't Love: Lackluster Platforming

Raz in mid-air

Unfortunately, the platforming in Psychonauts 2 suffers from similar issues to the combat. Like with the combat, the platforming in Psychonauts 2 isn't bad, but when the creative level designs and psychic concepts are stripped away, all that's left is some fairly basic platforming.

Granted, the game has plenty of innovation and creativity in other areas, but with a concept as brimming with potential as Psychonauts, many players will feel let down that the game doesn't implement many creative platforming mechanics. The innovative level designs do manage to keep the overall platforming experience engaging, but it's a shame that the creativity didn't extend to the platforming mechanics themselves like in Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Odyssey.

2 Loved: Replayability

Loboto's Labryinth level overview

From an economical standpoint, there is an argument from some sections of the gaming community that value-for-money services like Game Pass, which Psychonauts launched on, have meant that games don't need to worry as much about offering extensive replayability anymore.

However, when someone finds a game that captivates them, there's still that familiar feeling of disappointment when it comes to an end, even if they downloaded it on a subscription service at no extra cost. Thankfully, Psychonauts 2 offers plenty of replayability for players to sink their teeth into, with replayable levels that are filled with collectibles to find and hidden areas that can only be accessed once revisited with new abilities.

1 Loved: A Worthy Sequel To A Cult Classic

Xbox Series X Psychonauts 2 City Rainbow

Overall, Psychonauts 2 provides players with a fantastic sequel to the 2005 cult classic and recaptures its magic with unique level designs, creative art designs, and a well-written story. Furthermore, Psychonauts 2 solidifies the series' place among the platforming genre's best story-driven franchises and the game is a safe bet to receive some game of the year nominations at the end of 2021.

MORE: Psychonauts 2: Making Peace Achievement Guide (Return to Where It All Started)