One piece of Foreshadowing I love is when you are in the brain-tumbler experiment level. You can find certain figments, one being a bottle of milk, another being a painting and a napoleon hat and a painting. All hints of the second chunk of the game.
I feel like there's a lot of foreshadowing that I completely missed until I replayed the game years later. Like how the kid who has the psychic power to talk to sea-life at the docks keeps murmuring about how there's something in the water that's scaring all the fish, or how there's a giant bathtub labeled as the "S.S. Oblongata" in the brain-tumbler experiment, because all of the camper's nightmares are being affected by the same outside force behind the conspiracy at the asylum on Lake Oblongata.
Yeah, and in that stage you start in an egg, hatch out of it, walk for a bit, encounter the fish monster, pass the Oblongata "bathtub" and get to the asylum tower, mirroring the "The world shall taste my eggs" memory vault you find there.
“a painting and a napoleon hat and a painting” I don’t know if those are exactly the words you wanted to say but boy that sentence made me do a double-take. Jokes aside, you’re absolutely right, the foreshadowing in the brain-tumbler level is great. I love how it’s full of little details and references you’re likely to miss the first time through but catch and understand on repeated plays.
So blown away that this guy didn't explode in popularity. I didn't play it as a kid, but it was free on Humble Bundle within the past year or so. I claimed it, and forgot about it for a while. Decided to boot it up and oh boy. This game is dripping with personality. The voice acting, the mechanics, the powers... the story. So good. On the camp grounds if you go into the main hall, you'll see two kids jamming on stage. Practicing for a show or something. Every once in a while they will stop and they'll have some banter. Most games would give them 3-4 lines of banter, and rotate through them every stop. I stood there for 10-15 minutes and every time they spoke, it was new lines. Just tiny details like that are something most games lack. This is a must play.
The first game did fine financially. It wasn't a mega hit but it did well enough to estabish the studio and let them continue. The whole "psychonauts didn't sell" thing is misguided rumors spread over the years. Tim himself has said as much.
the steam sales really upped it's credibility when they asked for funding. I bought it on steam and then secured my copy of the sequel when they did the kickstarter on Fig.
Oh, you know I never noticed that Raz's outfit was the same as Sasha's, ha ha kinda cute actually, I'd be flattered if a kid emulated me like "Wow you want to copy *This* mess? I appreciate it but reconsider!"
Psychonauts is one of my favorite examples of what video games can do as a medium that other forms of storytelling can't. Making dense creative environments that tell a story in their own right through the gameplay and exploration. It's a world you can interact with and dig deeper into at your own leisure, in hopes of understanding the characters better, or you can simply ignore everything in favor of focusing on random scavenger hunts and setting squirrels on fire with your mind.
One of the things to appreciate about Psychonauts is how its tone and theme goes against early-to-mid 2000's platforming conventions, with the story being generally light-hearted and humorous while establishing distinct character relationships instead of trying to hip and edgy, which is what Microsoft wanted Double Fine to turn Psychonauts into, but thankfully they declined. The game goes out of its way to promote the importance of mental health and how many people have different neurological conditions, but ultimately they're still people and how they feel matters.
I love this game so much. It's so brilliant in oh so many ways. Hell, even the levels that I don't like playing in I admit are brilliantly designed. I've never cared for Gloria's Theater or the Meat Circus, but the aesthetic and ideas behind those levels are incredible.
Well, I'm convinced. This is one of those games I've been seconds away from playing about a hundred times and always ended up doing something else - but now I've actually got to go through with it! I've treated Day of the Tentacle in the same way but that game can keep waiting I suppose...
Oh you are in for a treat! It’s not just the best storytelling I’ve ever experienced in a platformer and maybe of any game, but it’s loads of fun. I replayed it about a month ago. And it is held up really well. The writing for the humor is really good. The controls feels nice. And exploring the world and minds, are tons of fun. It's really easy to pick up and have fun, and there is a lot of depth there if you want to. This is definitely a hidden magnificent gem.
@@IQzminus2 I was planning a series of games for people who want more Ratchet & Clank-esque 3D platformers and so Psychonauts will be perfect. I was going to focus on newer games but given that it's available on steam this one makes sense too!
We'll see how you like it. My own experience: I picked it up after hearing it's reputation. I was disappointed. When the sequel was announced, I went "OH HELL YES!" It's not consistently brilliant, but there's something about it that sticks with you.
I was the same way... Except I was lucky enough to have Day of the Tentacle on my Macintosh when I was a kid. If I had known Psychonauts was written and developed by the same people I would have definitely picked it up sooner. I do remember all the reviewers on G4TV raving about it, but I was on my Jak and Dax mode at the time and being 14-15, I was already focusing on the more “mature” games. Playing through it now, it’s a very clever game, especially considering the time it came out. I’m greatly enjoying it, hating myself for not playing it sooner.
12:25 - YESS! It's one of the most unique mind-blowing little things they put in the game. I just watched four Psychonauts reviews, and yours is the first to mention it!
I remember back when I played this game as a kid, I had a really REALLY low attention span. Most movies I'd watch with simple plots would go right over my head, partially due to processing language poorly. Psychonauts, on the other hand, actually made sense to me. I remember playing it as a child and for the first time being able to go back to earlier parts of the story and picking up on foreshadowing without needing someone to lead me there, and I felt like a genius for picking up on these things
So glad to see a video like this! Psychonauts is one of my favorite games because it was so obviously made with a lot of heart! I love that there is so much to uncover about the game. There are probably things I still haven't found! Amazing concept, a fantastic script, and a very flexible way to play (from speedrunning to 100%-ing).
I also love how Raz never makes fun of anyone he tries to help, despite being just a child. I guess kids with psychic abilities mature faster in that world? I would love to see how they would create a mind of an autistic person, as an autistic person myself. We need more games like this please!
I can’t believe i missed this when i was younger. I’ve owned every xbox and somehow miss this completely. With the new game on the horizon i decided to download this (thank you xbox backwards compatibility) and i am thoroughly impressed. Especially for an OG xbox game. This video put me over the edge, so thank you for putting this together. Not many platformers have an immersion quite like this. I’ve actually grown out of the AAA shooters and massive open world games, so I’ll take all the games like this i can get. So much effort and detail. Once again, thanks for making this video.
Around midway through the video when you say that a design decision is limiting but lets you freely explore in-between those limits reminds me of a conclusion i reached a while ago myself about establishing a world and story that interests people. While it's not groundbreaking for most people, for me it felt like something of an eye-opener. And that's Limitation. Realizing what limits are at play in the world of a game, movie or any other medium that conveys a story. For the longest time i didn't really stand still at the limitations of stories and just went along with it. As such, some things didn't really wow or impress me as i got older like elemental bending in Avatar. I didn't stand still at how awesome it is compared to our own reality where such a thing is impossible, or at least not proven to exist. It could also be because i'm a bit of a slow guy and need to take the time to think and let it properly sink in. Limits are a good way to stimulate your imagination. Of course it is awesome to have no limitations and go all-out which is good for more mad and psychedelic experiences or something along the lines, but establishing limits is what makes it interesting. You start thinking how to work in those limits to add more interesting stuff, and see and/or imagine smaller things that you might have skipped over if you had no or much more flexible limits, as few limitations means there is so incredibly much to imagine and see and tend to want to put anything that you think looks or sounds interesting into a story. At least, as far as my experiences in life have led me to generally believe thus far. I have a LOT of ideas for a character that i want to one day be a 3D platformer character in a series, and a well-known and loved one at that together with the worlds this characters explores. An idea for one of the games is to have a focus on the element of Fire. But it's not just "volcanic areas" and such: i think of many aspects and things in life where fire is present. That is why this version of that character is dressed like a chef, wearing a black bandana and a long black apron over a short-sleeved T-shirt (with a text saying "Don't annoy the cook" on it and a little red pepper as an unusual beard decoration) which now that i think about it is an interesting contradiction to what I personally think most people associate with immediately when they think of fire itself: destruction. It eats away, grows, chokes and is hard to control. But yet, fire is Life, and a chef is the closest thing to an embodiment of this aspect. Using fire, they create and improve on what the Earth naturally provides all living beings that allows them to live, which is of course food. Yet the fire has to be kind of controlled to prevent the food from being burned or taking too long to be prepared. It's a situation where both parties, despite one of them being an inanimate energy, are dependent on each other in order to live, but one party has to do more effort to make competent use of all the good that the other party can provide and respect its existence. I am fully aware that this is a rather dramatic and romantic explanation of what cooking is, one that i should probably not be writing as i am afraid of turning on the furnace in case my incompetence leads it to burn something or i waste gas, but the theme that fire is simultaneously Death and Life in one energy is very prominent in that 3D platformer idea and i want to get that point across well enough. How, i do not properly know as of yet as i am rather young and have zero experience with actually making a 3D platformer, but i dream of the days where all these stories will be made known to the world, and hopefully enjoyed by it. I got kind of distracted there. My sincere apologies for that. But the simple concept of fire lends itself to a variety of different locations, not only volcanoes. From a giant's kitchen to a big forge or a robot factory like the Scrap Shop from Robots and of course the well-known volcano locations, but also some more unique ones that i have come up with like a swamp where a big, toad-like monster with a human face has made a lair deep underground and smokes a giant pipe and lights fires with leaves that produce thick black some all day in order to breathe, as oxygen is poisonous to him but through hollowed-out roots and trees the smoke rises to the surface and slowly leads the swamp to die, having noxious fumes spring forth from these natural pipes. Or a big tomb for a once great blacksmith that loved the act of forging so much, that he wanted his final resting place to be like the forge he loved so much as to rest in what for him was paradise, resulting in streams and hanging cauldrons full of molten iron, anvils with automated hammers driven by "water"wheels pushed forth by said streams and an actual proper forge, where the main character can go and has the undead blacksmith as his first boss, and after his defeat said blacksmith will act as a merchant where upgrades can be gotten from as well as a person that you can talk to in-between certain events to trigger new reactions. And this is all created from thinking inside the limitations of where the element of fire is present. Not only locations, but also moves could be influenced by this element, like two boosting flames bursting forth from the main character's feet á la a fire bender from Avatar that can act as both a double jump as well as an attack for if the character is downed by an enemy by shooting them in the face with said bursts of fire or sliding backwards by propelling themselves with it, in order to properly regather your composure. All with one single concept. And funnily enough, you don't have to be limited to only one limitation, funny as it sounds. spicing and changing things up a bit is appreciated to create some contrast, which always creates for a nice and compelling effect-- when done well, of course. And i am not saying that i will be doing that on my first, second or third try. Gotta make mistakes to learn from them and all that. Too big of a mistake can be pretty darn bad, though. or too big of an amount of mistakes, for that matter. I apologize if this all comes across as rather pretentious and like i am putting my own ideas on a pedestal, making them out to be oh so special and unique whilst that isn't the case. I am simply so enthousiastic about one day making 3D platformers out of these concepts, with other types of games as well. But mostly 3D platformers. And my apologies for making this comment rather long as well. But if you made it all the way through, thank you for taking the time to read it all. And as a reward you deserve a cookie. :)
@@theharvardyard2356 Thank you a lot, both for your nice words as well as taking the time to read through it all. I appreciate that :) Likewise, i would like to wish you a lot of fun and good luck with whatever long-term projects you may have in mind yourself!
@higher flower Thank you a lot for the big compliment, dude! I really want to make that idea, as well as more than a few others in video games one day that will be fondly remembered like games like Psychonauts and Rayman. And also, thank you for commenting on a rather old comment of mine as well :)
Best Psychonauts sumary of all time im happy someone is spending so much creative Effort into making such a complex and intriguing Video Game Review of one of my absolute favourite Video Games i definetly subscribed
the layers of genius in this game in the face of the more shallow reasons it was either overlooked, misunderstood or under appreciated are very complex. if it was a person it would be one of the most fully realized and interesting people you’ve ever met, but trying to explain why it’s great is another thing all together. Aside from the psychology, humor, personal appeal, surreal visual metaphors and what have you there is just alot to unpack. it’s one of those things where you just play it. at the same time I can get why there were alot of people who it might not have spoken to.
I hyperfixate pretty heavily on Psychonauts, especially with this uhhhhh FIVE YEAR wait on the new game. I keep coming back to this video when exploring for new Psychonauts reviews on youtube, and would love to see your thoughts on the game so far, and definitely hope you'll be making a similar review video once the game is actually out. I know I'm ridiculously excited for it!! Happy Year of Raz!!
This is a really great video, thank you for doing it, the script and editing especially is brilliant ! Shows so much of what I love from this game, makes me want to replay it again.
the brief little comparison to majora's mask was such a mind blowing take away to me and really explains a lot about my tastes. i can't believe i never made this connection about both games having "lived in" worlds like that. being two of my all time favourite games, i can safely say that's a "thing" i like.
I am so hyped for Psychonauts 2, it releases august and it is the one game I have actually ever felt this amount of hype. I learned about lucid dreaming from psychonauts. Lucid dreaming is the most fun thing to do in your sleep (and psychonauts is a good representation of what you get from lucid dreams.) When you dream you are put into your own reality, things will act and feel exactly how you expect them to. when you lucid dream, you can abuse this to some psyconauting within your own mind. (safely of course). For anybody who is also a fan of psychonauts, but is disappointed that they don't get to go to some psychic camp or whatnot, try lucid dreaming! Full sandbox, accessibly localized in your own mind!
Wait wait wait, you can show Mr. Pokey Loke to the other campers and they have unique dialogue for it? I never knew that, I assumed you could only bring it back to Shegor, I learned something today.
Looking back on this video as my first of your's, this is still my favorite of what you have made. It's so well made and with a generally strong idea you're communicating.
JUMP AND PRESS THE CIRCLE BUTTON!!! Seriously though, I wish he would at least give a small "don't worry, I'm working on it!" update for his Sly 3 video. I don't mind waiting & contributing on his Patreon as long as I know he still intends to do it and is making some progress
@@MsBrendalina he said that in the last video and he hasn't canceled anything, what makes you think he still isn't working on it? Also it's probably going to be the longest of the 3 videos
This game is so special to me. I keep coming back to it every year or so and discover something new each and every time. It's one of those classics that truly stands the test of time. I think it's the shear heart the developers poured into it. The dialog, vibrant colors, amazing level design and compelling story all make for one unforgettable adventure. Thank you Double Fine and thank you for the awesome video.
There's a difference between enjoying a game while you play it and enjoying a game after you played it for the experiences it gave you or perhaps the story it told. Psychonauts has left me with many fond memories, it's the kind of game I recommended because I want others to go on the same journey.
I"ve been gaming for over 30 years.... and I think this is the BEST game I've played. Seriously. Truly excellent. I remember when it was launched thinking "eh looks meh." I then played it in 2008 because zero punctuation recommended it. Seriously outstanding story, presentation, atmosphere, wit. And the whole theme of people's minds, what forms them, and how people's experiences make them who they are- brilliant.
Great amazing analysis b-mask! I'm so glad I finally watched this video as I had been putting it off for awhile. I honestly didn't think there so much end game content after completing the main story and I never bothered doing that cause its just one of those games I wanted to finish playing and move now. but now you've kind of changed my mind.
I have bought psychonauts across several platforms and have had it throughout my life. This game has been such an instrumental foundation for me and I love your channel so much for bringing this and the sly games to light. Such a great video 😍
Fantastic video. Extra impressed by the conversation about inspirations branching from that first Full Throttle idea, and the thematic tie(s) between those inspirations. Also, details like memory bank location corresponding to repression. ONLY comment: Wish the Milla side-room clip had ended with her warning about the chest. Spoilers are a complex issue with reviews/analysis, but for the record, I believe what we saw (child mental figments) would have been enough to make your point and entice new players to the game. ...I'm also biased because of how much that discovery caught me off guard.
Good point, and I was debating this throughout editing. Normally I leave a spoiler warning but I really wanted to throw the bone just because I wanted to hammer the point home, probably over-indulgent on my part. Will definitely think about that kind of thing more seriously if it comes up again.
I figured that was the reason. I wouldn't go so far as to call it over-indulgent, it sounds like you just weren't sure if the breadcrumbs were enough. Glad you're so considerate in your scripting, it shows everywhere in this video. Still really great work!
I grew up during rise of the 3-D platforming era and LOVED it. I loved you're analysis of the sly games(beats any other reviewers on RU-vid by a long shot. You even beat the Completionist's breakdown in my eyes; and he has a full studio!) I missed Pyschonauts as a kid; and have heard around the campfire its a relatively hidden gem; and i just bought a copy for myself the second i saw you're video confirming other people's opinions. i stopped at the 5-minute mark; but i'll be back !(gotta experience the game for myself first) You're gonna do well in life B-mask i know it :)
I'm looking through your sly videos right now... Could you do a Vid on Sly 3 and 4 too? we really need a 5... i hate it if Devs end a game on a cliffhanger and then don't plan on following up on it. And Penelope...
Psychonauts 2 comes out in August! :D I can only hope there's another fully Blum level ("why do I have a gun in my hand? I hope I didn't kill again." - from the all-powers cheat of confusion-bombing the assassin spies)
Okay, super funny story. A couple months ago I had a discussion with my therapist about how cool it is when games incorporate elements of psychology. The next day, this video shows up in my recommended section. I found out about what is now my favorite game because the NSA is spying on us.
This is a pretty great video on why this game is so good. I didn’t know that there was special dialogue if you revisited te worlds. Now I gotta play it again.
Thank you for making this video. I don't comment on your videos that often (though they are generally fantastic, particularly your Sly videos and the endless fascinating "Peter Pan and the purple feeling" video), but I felt like I should comment on this one. Psychonauts is a game I've never understood the love for. I've heard for years about how fantastic it is, but when I played it back in 2011, I found it to be seriously lacking. I felt the platforming was okay, but I hated how repetitive and irritating the combat was. Most of the asylum levels were obnoxious exercises in frustration (especially when I had to go grind for feathers to buy the web cleaner so that I could progress, when the game previously hadn't given much indication that I'd need to look out for them), and the attempts at changing up the framework felt misguided at best and cack-handed at worst. It's possible that these issues were exacerbated by playing the PS2 port (which I've heard was fairly naff), but it boggled my mind that this was somehow considered a classic when it didn't compare gameplay-wise to even the Taks or the Tys in what was arguably the golden age of 3D platformers. I admit that perhaps a lot of this criticism is too harsh, and this was all based on what I felt nearly 8 years ago so it's possible that I might not feel that way, but it meant that Psychonauts was one of those things where I could never understand what people saw in it. Maybe that was a mindset I tried to convince myself into thinking, just as much as I actually felt it. I'm not sure. Whatever the case, this also applied to the narrative, which didn't have that much of an impact on me - perhaps because I was one of those people who didn't wander outside the main plot and discover all kinds of things that might have given me a deeper appreciation for what was being done. For years, I was often told how good the storytelling in Psychonauts was, and it was something I never believed. And then I watched this video, and I finally got it. I finally saw that there was a great deal of thought put into the visual direction to clearly and quickly communicate ideas intuitively. I finally understood why the asylum levels were structured in such an unusual way compared to the earlier levels. I finally realized that there was a whole lot that I was missing out on (and I really respect the team's decision to let you discover it on your own terms, instead of shoving it all in your face). Thank you for making all that clear, and for making me understand on some level why people still love Psychonauts after all this time. At some point, I want to give it another go; to see it with fresh eyes; and with the hope that maybe I'll like the game. And even if I still feel the same, I'll still be happy that I tried. Thank you for making me reconsider my feelings, and for giving me the hope that I might be able to understand Psychonauts. You're honestly one of my all-time favourite RU-vidrs, and I eagerly look forward to whatever video you put out next. Thank you again, and I hope you're doing well. Have a good day. -FrDougal9000
This really means a lot to read! I was worried writing this video that i'd simply be preaching to the choir but i'm really glad it had this effect. Thanks so much for sharing, and don't worry, some of the technical mis-steps you noted are definitely an issue for me here too, even if I didn't mention so in the video.
5:33 A PotC fan? "Oh, so fish people, by dint of being fish people, automatically aren't as disciplined as non-fish people?" I love the original 3 movies.
