In less than a month, players will finally be able to hop back into the minds of the Psychonauts in Psychonauts 2. In this next entry, players will once again fill the shoes of Raz just a few short days after he leaves Whispering Rock, where he learned how to harness his mental in the form of Psi-Powers. Raz is so talented in his use of these powers that he is awarded the position of an honorary Psychonaut when he saves the camp, and very likely the world, from Coach Oleander. While he might not be as guaranteed a position as he thought in Psychonauts 2, he's still got a whole grab bag of powers to prove his worth.
While still including powers from the past games, Psychonauts 2 will still pass an abundance of growth on to Raz, both for his character and in his psychic abilities. In addition to the powers he learned at the psychic summer camp, Raz will also be taught how to do things like making mental connections in order to better get around inside of the minds. However, as with all the others, Raz will have to learn how to use this power properly, lest he influences someone the wrong way and leads catastrophe.
Return of the Old Psi-Powers
All of the powers from the original Psychonauts and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin will be making a return in the sequel. Abilities like Marksmanship, which is the ability to shoot mental energy blasts, will be invaluable to keeping the mental monsters away. Pyrokinesis and Telekinesis, the ability to light things on fire and move them with Raz's mind respectively, will also become useful tools that allow Raz to change the battlefield to his advantage. If he needs to get somewhere fast or cushion a landing, there is also the levitation ability that puts Raz's thoughts under his feet. Raz will also get to use Clairvoyance to find hidden objects and see other's perspectives of the world.
While the old powers may be returning, the way the player can control them has been completely changed by Double Fine this time around. The team behind Psychonauts 2 wanted to give the player more control over their controller, so to speak, and so the player now has the ability to map any of Raz's available powers to four buttons on the Xbox controller. This provides the player with more freedom to use their favorite powers however they want while also providing more freedom in gameplay overall.
Mental Connections
A new power has been revealed for Psychonauts 2 called Mental Connections and it involves the ability to connect thoughts and ideas while inside of someone's mind. This can be used to help characters in Psychonauts get over phobias or approach new ideas, but it can also be abused to manipulate how someone feels. As shown in the Psychonauts 2 demo, a psychic can use the mental connections ability to get their desired outcome from their teacher, even if it means putting all of the children's lives in danger in the process. Once that person has made the connection the player has provided, the ability to control what they say or do as a result is out of Raz's control.
The upcoming sequel to the original Psychonauts comes 16 years after its predecessor and promises to pack all the psionic adventure that players can handle. It's Double Fine's hope that it can bring back enough of the original game to entice its older fans while still providing an evolved experience worthy of the wait. Time will tell if Raz's powers will hold up, but as of now Psychonauts 2 is set to be a worthy successor to the hit title that started it all.
Psychonauts 2 will launch on August 25 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.