which is just an abstract form for a neurosis
or a psychic construct of some kind, and you
help them fight it.”
Even Coach Oleander, the first game’s
antagonist, achieves some kind of redemption.
In the final stage, you discover the brutal
truth behind his inner demons, entering his
brain to finally defeat them. “I think everyone
in this world is usually redeemable,” Schafer
adds. “Because it’s very easy, I think, to write
someone off as ‘crazy’ – to use that word and
be like, ‘I don’t want to deal with them
anymore as a human being.’ Psychonauts says
a lot about how we all have these things in
our brain that we’re wrestling with, and you
can look for what they’re afraid of and help
them work through it.” If all this seems
obvious now, he admits that it was something
of a happy accident; a natural by-product of
its imaginative conceit. “I don’t think we
articulated that as a deliberate thing. I think
it’s only looking back on it that you’re like:
yeah, that’s what the spirit of that game was.”
Psychonauts 2 certainly captures that same
spirit, along with the imaginative visual
flourishes that burned the original so
indelibly into memory. One of the highlights
here is delivered almost effortlessly. Without
fanfare, as you pass through a series of arches
(instrument cases, amps, a twisted steel
truss) the world suddenly curves up and over
in a manner not unlike Animal Crossing’s old
rolling-world effect, revealing a large open
area overseen by a huge, Vishnu-like, four-
armed statue of Vision Quest. Well, as Black
observes, frontmen do tend to have big egos.
It’s one of a handful of reminders how much
effort goes into making a single level in
a game like this. “There’s a lot of bespoke
creation,” Schafer says, “A lot of one-off
things – you know, cutscenes, different art
styles.” Indeed, though the opening sequence
makes it apparent that this is just a temporary
shift in aesthetic, he’s amusingly concerned
that we might think the entire game uses this
same look, hitting us with a barrage of
questions: “Did you have that? Did you think
it, too? Did you also think that was gonna be
the look of the whole game?”
We respond with one of our own. Where
does Double Fine start when making a level
like this? The answer is a long one, and it goes
right back to the beginning. When we say this
is a sequel 15 years in the making, that’s no
hollow claim. Technically it’s only been five
years since plans were announced for a sequel,
and the game’s crowdfunding campaign on
Fig began. But Schafer has been coming up
with ideas for a potential follow-up ever since
the first launched. “The fun thing about
a Psychonauts game is that anytime you meet
a strange character or interesting personality,
you can imagine, like, what colour is the sky
in their world? What does their mental world
look like? What does this person’s brain look
like inside?” he says. “You can have a lot of
different ideas for a Psychonauts level just by
meeting people in the world.”
As a result, he’s kept a Google Doc open
ever since, thinking up potential concepts and
considering the effects they might have on
a person, or simply jotting down aesthetic
ideas. For this particular stage, The Beatles’
film Yellow Submarine was a big inspiration.
(“Do you know that’s not their voices?”
Schafer says. “I didn’t know that until I was
an adult. I just thought that was The Beatles,
and it’s not The Beatles. It’s ridiculous.”)
German-American pop artist Peter Max was
another, art director Lisette Titre-
Montgomery reminds him. And as senior
concept artist and level lead Emily Johnstonerecalls, the most crucial ingredient was one
word written on a note card: synaesthesia.
“It’s an amazing phenomenon,” she says, “But
when I saw it I thought, I’m not sure if I want
to touch this with a ten-foot stick because in
videogames it’s really hard to illustrate that
idea.” Schafer laughs. “Yep, you said you
didn’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
So we assigned it to you.”Building any Psychonauts world is
a deeply collaborative process, Titre-
Montgomery explains. “Once we have an idea
of what the central pillars of the level are, we
start collecting references and shaping the
vision before Emily and our team of concept
artists start riffing on what that means. And
meanwhile, we’re working with our design
team to figure out the mechanics that support
the story, and which of Raz’s powers also help
with that.” In this case, an unconventional
level – not that there is such a thing as a“PSYCHONAUTS SAYS A LOT ABOUT HOW
WE ALL HAVE THESE THINGS IN OUR
BRAIN THAT WE’RE WRESTLING WITH”
HEAD TRIP