Psychology of Psychonauts | PSI King's Sensorium 

I really love how it was Helmut's mental images of his friends that pointed out that the story he put together didn't make sense against their characters. Also that they stayed within the limits of what Helmut knew; a sloppier writer could have easily forgotten the limits of what Helmut knew versus what the player knows.

I love how Psychonauts 2 throws the "Bury Your Gays" trope completely on its head. Helmut's perceived death at the hands of Maligula was the catalyst that eventually lead to the disbanding and isolation of the Psychic Six. Helmut was beloved by the whole team and they all felt the loss after he was gone, none more so than Bob. I'm so glad we get to hear Bob's wedding vows later on in the game. They were as beautiful as late spring lilacs. 💐

Regarding Bob being represented as Audi-O, we have to consider that Helmut is first and foremost a _musician._ It makes a lot of sense that he would connect what would be his dearest sense to the dearest man in his life.

Something rather sad but sweet is the fact that he doesnt assume Bob abandoned him like his friends. Despite his fear and belief that he never mattered to his friends, he truly did believe in Bob and the love they had, and he never doubted it for a second. The only reason Bob wouldnt come for him would be if he died.

As a huge fan of Jack Black since the 90s, he is a welcome addition, not only to this franchise, but to Star Wars and everything else he can touch. I also love Rasputin learning to ask permission, or at the very least feel some sort of guilt, when entering peoples minds without permission. To be fair in the first game, these were extreme circumstances that could end with the world being destroyed.

Its interesting that Helmut's true memory vaults are locked up to where he cant reach them on his own. Instead he needs outside help from Raz to make him see the truth

One detail I really like is how , if you look at it a certain way, Helmut himself represents a sense. Appropriately, his *sixth* sense, his psychic abilities.

There is actually one connection that smell can be made with Cassie , bees smoke, honey and pheromones , also that fact she seems to be the motherly figure of the group she probably also stuck her nose into everyone else’s problems As for how the other things are connected honey is sweet smelling , bees have alot to do with flowers scent and pheromones to communicate the way you can calm bees is smoke which is another strong smell

As someone who deals with an Anxiety disorder, ADHD, and Autism, it's honestly really cool to see an example of sensory overload in media, as, yeah, anxiety builds up from too much sensory, and doesn't come out of nowhere, it builds up, and then releases. I've struggled with sensory, mainly either self, or mainly noise, so seeing an accurate depiction of sensory overload is honestly amazing, as it's a stressful experience that results in something incredibly hurtful. Thank you for going as in depth as you can. Also let me add this to another example of Panic Attacks in Media, Animation Twitter's gonna love that.

40:53 I think it is that Helmut sees Compton as someone who vocally panics a lot of the time, thus seeing him as a big mouth. As for Cassie, maybe it is that Helmut sees her as someone who kept "sticking her nose" into his relationship with Bob. As you go through some of the psychic 6 minds, you realise they don't see their friends as the most perfect image possible.

Another thing I've seen mentioned on other videos about Cosmic I is that there's a moment at the start where Helmut sings "And I started healing" at which point the memory vault that Maligula would later emerge from starts moving more, as if activated by this line. People speculated that this is because in order to heal from emotional damage you often first have to confront the bad memories that caused this damage.

Helmut as ball of light and thinking himself a god reminds me of Flatland, where 2-d Square travels to 1-d ""Lineland" and then to "Pointland", where Point, the sole inhabitant, thinks itself a god, as it can't see anyone ()as it exist in 0-Dimensions and so has no means of seeing anything) and when Square talks to it, the Point thinks the voice as part of its own mind, not having frame of reference to any existence outside of itself.

The dark thoughts are above a galaxy river, so I think it must have something to do with miligulas' water abilities and that he was frozen in a lake

I am a bisexual man that people can easily construe for being straight, so I've never really had to deal with a lot of the problems others have had to deal with, but I do have to say I love how this relationship was handled.

Speaking of having a positive relationship with anxiety: Other people have probably already suggested this, but it would be cool to see an analysis of the psychology of Celeste.

I think another possible interpretation of Bob being Hearing is that Hearing, for Helmut, was the most important feeling, with his affinity for music. And, consequentially, he associates that feeling with most important person in his life - his love.

41:50 One of my favorite quotes of the entire game happens here. Raz (when grabbing one of the "candies"): "I only _think_ these are giant gumballs. They could be anything," implying that the "candy" could actually be some kind of halucinogenic compound. Drugs.

I'm on the Autism spectrum, and what is described in this video as SPD, at least how it's depicted for the PSI King, is remarkably similar to some experiences I've had that involve my senses. Sensory overload, and over stimulation. Sensory overload, at least in my experience, is basically my brain taking in far too much information from my senses to properly process. For example, if I'm somewhere crowded with lots of people talking at the same time, I can't filter out conversations. My brain tries to take in all of them clearly, unlike how many people seem to be able to ignore irrelevant conversations as background noise (I'm not sure if that's actually what they are doing, and nobody seems to know how to explain this thing that's innate for them). Sensory overloads are stressful and can result in rather painful headaches. Overstimulation, meanwhile, is more a case of senses taking in information in a more intense way than I'm used to. This can be the result of something like strong flavours, overly loud noises, bright lights, or aggregating mechanical noises. However, I can also experience it as a result of being tired or stressed. Because I had those experiences, that's how I interpreted that aspect of the level when I played through it. Synesthesia was a consideration, but not as much as sensory overload. It's definitely interesting how our experiences and knowledge can affect how we interpret pieces of media.

What I love is the fact that Helmut seeing Raz as Eddie Riggs is more than just a clever Easter egg. Raz is essentially being the roadie for The Senses. Driving the van, finding the instruments, and making the band look good.

It seems to me that Raz almost acts as something akin to a censor helping Helmuts mind to filter through his thoughts and inputs

I find it VERY fitting that the two instruments belonging to the representations of smell and taste is an electric guitar and bass guitar, as both instruments usually work in unison/in sync, very cool detail to spot!

You outdid yourselves with this one, boys! Magnificent chapter, and one step closer to Bob's bottles.

PSI King's Sensorium was my favorite world of the whole game. I am surprised you didn't bring up the heavy Psychedelic tropes and probable drug use of Helmut.

I like how for characters with artistic mindsets the mental worlds fully reflect that Black Velvetopia was all about paintings mixed with wresting and bull fighting while here it is music along with the senses.

Maybe for Cassie, with her connection to bees, she has a knowledge of flowers, which is why she is the "Nose" of the band.

With the obvious allusions to eastern religion, I'm a little sad they didn't dig a bit more into the conflicting views of the world that raises. Helmut had unintentionally fallen into something very close to say the ideal state of Advaita, while Raz is trying to pull him into something much closer to the goal of Tantric practices.

Hey GU. I think the reason the ear represented his lover was mainly because out of all his senses as his hearing was his most favoured, being so into music and expressing himself through singing. It could be that on top also of your theory of him being someone he could talk to, that he felt bob sincerely heard what he was trying to express in his music, which is normally a bit more upbeat. It would make sense that someone who - especially someone who's prone to a bit more of a pessimistic streak - like bob who heard his singing and then falling in love got the core message and point he was trying to express a lot - and thus him at his core too - thus allowing for love to bloom. You can apply this logic to ford too - which you said, more or less - with Ford seeing his true potential from the get go. But if that is the case I have no idea how the others apply to their senses. Maybe...bee lady - forget her name - was...good ...at...sniffing him...out?...like figuring what his plan and intentions and moods were or something. Her story and level came off as her being a bit of a cunny, observant type. But I'm stretching it a lot at that point. No idea at all about taste outside of food associations and his cooking like you said.

The way his friends reassured him so easily after not seeing, hearing, or being with them for 20 years, really says a lot for how strong the bonds between them were. Not a single one of them is hostile or negative towards Helmut and they’re all so overjoyed to see him again just like in real life when they finally meet up again at the Green Needle Gulch. I really love how Helmut’s speculating about them still being there and waiting for him is right on the money.

Something that confused me was how some psychonauts who sneeze out their brains have the ability to sense the world around them while Helmut lost it.

The part where Helmut’s body gets trapped in the river and his brain gets put in a jar and both became lost is a reference to an Arabian Nights story. In the story, a genie/Djinn is released from a jar that was sunk to the bottom of a river and subsequently rewards his rescuer by trying to kill him. This is because he, like Helmut, fell into a deep despair about being neglected and trapped for so long.

I had a theory that Helmut associates Bob with the sense of hearing because, as a musician, it's his most important sense ! So it could only go to his most important guy ! I don't know if it's really based on anything scientific but I think it's cute !

To add to your interpretation of the twisted memories being either twisted by the time spent away from the body or confirmation bias. That's very similar to depressive spirals in my experience. You just sit in your thoughts and they fester, small imperfections you find within yourself grow into huge flaws and your problems become seemingly insurmountable. With helmet being locked away with nothing but thoughts it's no wonder the bad stuff bubbled up and stuck

I did find a very interesting design choice that the mental vaults in this level are locked behind an item that you don’t get until you get to green needle Gulch. (play so you can only reach after completing this level) It was a great way of hiding the reveal of fullbear’s identity.

As an autistic adult who deals with a whole mix of sensory issues (why can I /taste/ bad smells, it's /awful/), this level was fascinating for me! Helmut literally telling all of his mental reality to shut up reminded me of what I do to fend off meltdowns from sensory overload: wear noise canceling headphones, use blackout curtains, put on a weighted blanket, etc. For a long time things like breathing exercises never worked for me, because I was only told to do them /in the middle/ of a meltdown, when I'd already lost control - people tend to conflate meltdowns with tantrums or panic attacks, but during a meltdown you really have no control of your own body until it's over. You just kind of...get pushed into the backseat. So being able to beat the snot out of a Panic Attack enemy was kind of cathartic! Especially since the design is clearly based on the Nightmares from the first game, they terrified me as a kid.

PSI Kings Sensoriusm was easily the best level. Helmuts story and the ending of the level is just an absolute masterpiece

I just love seeing helmut and bob interacting

Something that I have always found interesting is the cartoon representation in this level. The art style and certain elements remind me of Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's like Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman, Josie and the Pussycats, ect. They have that psychedelic nature that fits perfectly with Helmut's colorful and child like nature.

21:08 another good example of this is Oltyx in the twice dead king (book 1) where he spends most of the book thinking that his brother hated him and was vindictive, but in reality when he’s forced to relive the memories he realizes that his brother loved him dearly and actually saved his life.

I just started a 100% playthrough of Psychonauts 2 and I'm on this level as you posted the video

A 46 minute Psychology of Psychonauts episode, we're eating good today boys.

Honestly in terms of visuals I think this level is going to be the Milkman Conspiracy of this game, or at least Black Velvetopia in terms of memorability. Oh and as for the Fish/bus thing, I think the designers were making a joke about how a group of fish is called a school, and what mode of transport do most kids take to get to school? A bus. BTW, still love that Brutal Legend reference.

26k subscribers for this type of content (and alan wake,control) is a crime, videos with this quality deserve more

I 100% this game when it came out, and this scene 23:52 was the first time I cried from a video game.

Okay, I'm glad to see this series back in action, and I hope to see it keep going as we write the letter of the next aspect of Cruller's mind.

Dean really padding to hit that 10 minute mark.

Jack Black absolutely nailed the performance here, really gives an extra push to some of the scenes.

Also reminds me of something I learned from an episode of freeman's mind, one I'll always remember: they say time flys when your having fun, but in reality: time flies period. and we all end up older! It's all relative after everything in this mind.

One of my favourite levels, starring my favourite character! I have SO been looking forward to this! As an autistic person I've experienced sensory overload many, many times. I love markets and other such crowded events, but all of them are prone to make me start disassociating because there's so much going on and my brain just can't handle it. I would *love* to see Psychonauts 3 explore the mind of an autistic person, and especially a nonverbal one.

I think the dark thoughts might relate to what is bellow it, water. All bodies of water or water adjacens are starry voids like the ones found in his quiet space. this is representative of how falling and being frozen in water by Maligula made him loose all sense of self and revert to the state we found him in

It appears the good doctor really had his work cut out for him once again, honestly if this doesn't count as a reward I'm not sure what they were even thinking?

I heard the Zelda theme playing in the background. I know it’s not important but I liked it

i recently beat this level yesterday, and it became a big fav of mine; i just think a band theming around the senses is a cute concept, combined with the trippy experiences and helmut's backstory. thnx for this video amd your analyses of psychonauts !

Probably those Dark Thoughts in the Campgrounds represent those small annoyances that someone used to life in a city have when camping, regardless of whether or not that person likes camping. "Why can't I take this path?" "Why do I have to go to bathroom in the woods?" etc. Though for Helmut, the fact that all the dark thoughts are over the river in the Campgrounds (The Questionable Area in Psychonauts Real Life Perhaps?) it may be more, like Raz, Helmut has a problem with the water (though to a FAR lesser degree). Also, Cassie might be associated with Smell, possibly because of something as simple as perfume (or the scent of honey), a consistent scent that'd come from her as they interacted.

I always that that Bob was an ear because Helmut was a musician. Hearing would've been his most beloved sense, so naturally he would associate it with the one person he loved most.

You know synesthesia seems like one of those things that, if you were to describe what it is to someone who had never heard of it for the first time, it would sound fictional

_"Feeling bad is better than feeling nothing at all"_ reminds me of a bit from the song "Light" from the musical "Next To Normal", _"Give me pain if that's what's real, it's the price we pay to feel."_

A wonderful deep dive into my personal favorite world of Psychonauts 2. I love the imagery and colors on display here, and Raz really shows how much he's grown here by helping Helmut through his re-integration with his senses. On a gameplay note however this level could be...frustrating at times. It's sheer size combined with it's vivid colors made it very difficult to 100%, and it's progression did drag at points. I had to look up a checklist for some of the figments, which was it's own drag. But it's still a great level, with very impactful character moments from all in attendance. I want to ask: Of the last 2 "official" members of the psychic 6, which level are you looking forward to the most? Also, which level in this game is your personal favorite?

This level is really cool. There’s a lot of layers to this level and it’s design. Like the psychedelic visuals hint at several kinds of things. It hints at prior experimentation with substances (i mean they are Psychonauts, why wouldn’t they try out some acid and shrooms during that time they were radically exploring their consciousnesses). There is also the tie of psychedelic visuals to the psychedelic rock music scene present at the time that they were likely young adults (the 60s). I feel like these elements also combine to bring a feeling of nostalgia to their younger years that can be directly felt by people playing the game who were alive around that time and it also conveys an understanding of that nostalgia to younger people who weren’t around then (like me, i am not personally nostalgic for that time but the empathic understanding of that nostalgia is palpable). There is also the element of depicting just how insane it would be to regain your senses after existing in a sensory void for 20 years. Like it seems feasible that your senses would mix and be completely over the top and overwhelming as you reintegrate them with your mind. And I am only referring to the visual and sound effects of this. There are many other elements that depict various other aspects of Helmut’s mind and relationships. BTW, if you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend watching Psychodyssey. It is a long youtube docuseries about the development of this game from pre-production to release. They actually spend a lot of time following the development of this level in particular and the journey of the junior designers who were put in charge of it. There were so many changes to this level over time to the point where originally there was absolutely no resemblance to the final level. It was fun seeing them eventually put together the ideas that ended up in final version over months and months of iterations and reworkings.

My idea for why Bob’s the ear is that naturally, a musician would associate the one he loves the most with the sense that takes in music.

Regarding the dark thoughts near the river, maybe it's a nod to the fight against Maligula in Grulovia when Helmut fell into a lake and got frozen for 20 years? Considering her strong hydrokineticism and how she fights with it, I think Helmut may be subconsciously associating bodies of water with Maligula.

Definitely looking forward to your analysis of Bob Zanotto. The concepts of using addiction as a coping mechanism and the consequences of such are an interesting concept. And very frightening.

Bee's like flowers. You can smell flowers. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

I would like to thank you for making these videos. Thanks to these analysis I now realize that I have seperate myself so much from pain as much as I can that I can't remember the last time I actually felt truly happy. It's now something that I will try to fix but taking that first step will be hard and I shall continue watching these along the way to remember. Thank you for the video and it is always a treat to learn more about the mind

Somewhat related, but completely. Just a fun story, Psychonauts 2 taught me how to deal with panic attacks outside the game and in real life as I do get them thanks to claustrophobia. Basically, tight crowds and spaces are my trigger, but I try to isolate myself in my mind, basically trying to focus on my breath or even thinking of other things to distract me from the thing bothering me, if I'm unable to break free of the tight space and take a few seconds to calm myself down and slow my thoughts in an attempt to get a hold of myself once more. Anyway, mini story, I just think ite awesome that this game series is teaching me so much about myself and other mental things that are incredibly interesting. Thanks for making these videos, I love the breakdowns for the levels you make.

“It was only 20 years” is a crazy line to hear because that’s my entire life. It’s crazy to think that because for people like me, twenty years is all the time we’ve ever known. Yet as some point, I’ll look back and think “it was only 20 years.” That prospect excites me because, depending on my perspective, twenty years can either be a really long time or nothing at all. When I’m forty, double my life from now, will that last twenty have been full of learning and exploration and happiness, or dust in the wind? I’m excited to see where I’ll be by then, but I’m also going to try and savor every moment I have to make sure this next twenty is used well

I just realized why the dark thoughts are only at the lake, maligula controls water, and remembering the water at lakes might be causing him to have a slight remembrance of her, but since his memories weren’t fully awakened at the time, they were probably just “gut” feelings

Nearly a whopping 47minutes!!! Wow!

I absolutely love the context you put forth! Not what I expected, but something better I needed to hear. While I don't have synesthesia, aren't we all experiencing it in some form or another due to all our senses? Also love how time bubble is a base grounding technique: I dig it. I also don't necessarily hide in a false reality as I try to make my own reality from around me, imagination & lose association. Plus after playing helmuts minds so many times, it's probably a part of my mentalscape in association to both sense & enjoying life as well as dealing with my autism and being neural divergent and not always reacting to things the same way. Thank man and rock on ✌️👁👂👃👅🌠⚪️🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣🧠

Another little note I love: Bob's instrument in the mindscape is a drumset, an instrument usually all other rely on to keep in tempo and sync. Makes a whole lot of sense, as Bob was likely a strong grounding element in Helmuth's life. Perhaps also for the original psyconaught team as well.

This level, Crowleys levels, and Cassies level are undoubtingly my favorites in the game for how much detail they have, the symbolism, and story progression. This level in parricular just had me in aww throughout the whole thing and actually made me tear up. It can also be seen as a level about how it would feel coming out of a coma or being revived from death with how Helmut's mind/soul is in total darkness, but eventually regain a sense of self once he gets a physical body. It is just a beautiful level.

17:52 "The mental vaults are out of reach, and cannot be attained until receiving the Projection Ability from Cassie's mental world." Oh hey, I got that with maxed out Pyrokinesis. "At the game's launch, it could be sequence breaked with Pyrokinesis, but that has since been patched." Okay, that's actually pretty funny. Now there won't be as many people seeing Ford shatter his mind before it's revealed in the story proper, lol.

This entire level just feels like a good portion of issues and experiences I have had in life condensed down, both involving senses and mental state.. honestly feels kinda testing to me. Got slight overload from light sensitivity to the bright colors in the video. Another great vid!!

I'm really jazzed by your careful breakdown on this! I absolutely missed some of those details regarding the figments. I'm also pretty happy to have my brain sitting in otto's lab. This game was worth it!

Always look forward to these videos, excellent job my man! The music in this level has to be my favorite of both Psychonauts games, just amazing

I had to watch in two parts and it will never stop irking me! 😖 But so happy to see this series back online, and it’s opened my eyes to the depth of this part of the story so much!

Absolutely fascinating! There's so many details and connections that I never would've been able to deduce on my own, and you present these lessons in such a succinct and professional way. My mind is expanded with every upload! Thanks for all your hard work!

A very minor thing, but I just assumed that the wedding figments were what Helmut would have seen walking down the aisle? His friends and then Bob waiting for him?

Incredible video as always. This was one of my favourite levels in the game, and your analysis gave me a new found appreciation and better understanding of what was going on.

I think the Dark Thoughts inside the camping area can mean a few things. One of which, after speaking to a parent about; lots of quite...naughty things happen during these types of music gatherings and Helmut might have been aware of what was going on, thus the Dark Thought here could be akin to that. Another would be, as mentioned earlier about the psychedelics, drug use was quite common back then, hippie culture and all that; perhaps a thought of him either getting or seeing someone get arrested during one of those music performances left this trial behind. Or, perhaps someone due to drug overdose died at one of the performances and he bore witness to it; seeing how the dark thoughts are used to go across the river but ultimately doesn't lead to anywhere hidden as far as I remember. I haven't played the game in a while so memory isn't quite there.

Absolutely love this Psychonauts series! Thank you!!

I've been so hungry for more of this series. I love it.

Awesome! I really like how you addressed the details Helmut didn't have as the source for his insecurities and confirmation bias! Just expressing that part must have been a document-twister. The narration was on point. There were sooo many things to have in mind during this level that I'm amazed at how much you covered in such a short video. Congratulations!

Surprisingly long deep dive, and a very welcomed one.

Always look forward to these videos. They put a new and exciting spin on what I fail to notice due to ignorance.

What amazing videos. The psychonauts 1 and 2 help me in the perfect moment. And watching your videos now it still help. beautiful work of analysis. Thanks you

11:00 I had no idea that discomfort I felt as a kid when wearing certain types of cotton or low thread count polyesters was a form of sensory disorder given all the other problems I had. Cotton felt like I was wearing a rough kitchen sponge, horrible scratchiness even when my parent claimed it was soft. Being forced to wear cotton socks in particularly harsh winters made it impossible to focus on anything. Low count polyesters felt like they were ripping non-existent hairs off my skin or jabbing me with a needle at random, less annoying, but still annoying. I grew out of it in adulthood, and even love wearing low thread count polyester clothes now (they're so light and airy I sometimes forget I'm dressed), but the odd sensations drove me mad back then.

Let's hope we don't have to wait two months for the next part. Although I do realize a lot of work probably goes into these.

Wow, the depth of this video was beyond expectations, I'm astounded. Also, referring to Smell and Taste as a couple with "The Munchies" cracked me up really hard. Putting this Piece in a memory vault

You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this one!

i love how they visualized sensory overload in this game.

This video helped me figure out I have synesthesia!!! This video is so well made, keep up the good work.

I love that some comments said early on by the characters left me thinking "Wait, are they together?" And Double Fine comes along later with no chance of them being "Just room mates". They are not just a couple but a married one at that. I don't know if it's been mentionned but I love the design of Helmut's coat having what looks like the Seeds from Bob's Bottles on it

I think Cassie was the nose because of how intertwined taste and scent are (and how the characters they're based on were a couple at the time of his death).

You didn't think we'd hear it but I know zelda when I hear it

Such a good analysis video. I've been waiting for this one.

It's like being in a dark room and then stepping out into the bright sun, but for all of your senses at once Psychonauts what is a really funny game, but psychonauts 2 meant more to me. I related much more to the worlds this time around, and that might have been due to the subject matters being treated more carefully. It also came around at a vulnerable time for me. The milkman conspiracy might be genius, but I relate much more to the crushing self doubt demonstrated in Compton's Cookoff or the sensory overload triggered panic attacks from this level (one of my least favorite aspects of ASD)

Been waiting long for this one!

This was something else, keep up the good work.

The LoZ music is there because of Sahasrala, isn't it? That's a fantastic little detail I wasn't expecting to connect

I was about to go to bed but then this video popped up and so I'm not