Psychonauts

Over a Decade Later, still a great game:

Psychonauts is a game that has been out for over a decade, and in that time it has stood the test of time as a great game. To this day this game remains one of the best 3D platformers I've played, the controls feel satisfying and polished (even though this is an early 2000's game) the writing is comedic yet deep, and the music is better than most modern games. Even most of the problems people have with the game, like the requiring of seemingly optional abilities and items to get to later levels, or the some character designs being hard on the eyes did not bother me at all, I am very aware this is subjective and purely my tolerance for things like that, but I enjoyed the game, and I think you should try it out and see if you enjoy it too.

This game did not work on my steam deck. The camera kept spinning and it was unplayable. So please be aware if you are planning to play it on a steam deck.

Because of that steam deck issue, I played it on my desktop PC and it was great.
The level designs are very creative and I really liked how they tried to tackle mental illness in a very creative way.
Platforming and collecting is fun and engaging too.
I really recommend this game.

It's a little dated, but the imagination is tangible. There are so many creative and interesting ideas thrown your way. So many memorable and interesting characters are brought to your attention. There are some poorly telegraphed puzzles, and some dysfunctional ones. a lot of the jokes and concepts have aged really poorly. But this is a weird and wild journey that everyone should experience at least once.

What an amazing 3-D Platformer and such a good PC port too. This is definitely one you shouldn't skip. I bought this in preparation for the new one but fell in love with it right away. Nuanced dark humor, great art style, and a mix of platforming and light combat.

There is only one issue. If you're going with 100% completion, there are a few missable achievements, but hey, some might just find an excuse to play the game again. Almost a flawless masterpiece. Now I believe why it's considered a classic gem. Solid "9/10"

I enjoyed the game a lot. It has decent platforming and a bit of action. The story and characters are really good. It may be an older title but it's still worth your time. I feel like it has aged well.

Pretty good overall. I really enjoyed the game, especially because of its dark humor and interesting premise. Each level has its own unique and distinctive feel, and the whimsical art style pairs nicely with the themes and challenges. That said, there is some jank that can take away from the experience, and the frequent cutscenes that interrupt moment to moment gameplay can get pretty annoying.

When it comes to gameplay, there were a lot of things I liked, but there were also some rough spots, Some of the platforming felt a bit off, and the combat system is pretty basic, lacking much depth. Still, I can overlook these issues because this game is one of the most original and creatively designed 3D platformers I've played in a while.

It’s definitely made me curious about the sequel!

I'm really glad I played it, though it has a few imperfections. A fun, deeply creative game!

If your game holds up after almost two decades of it releasing, I think that means you've succeeded as a developer.

Not a bad game but, there are definitely better platformers out there. The setting is good though.

It's defined as a 3D platformer but, the platforming in this game is so rare that even FromSoft games contain more platforming than this, to be fair. The sense of humour is just standard animation sense of humour and the sheer amount of cutscenes started to kill the immersion for me, at some point. Even if I skip them, combined with the lack of platforming, I started to get bored around the half of it.

I had to drop 4 games in a row. I'm sad tbh.

in someone's cruel, malformed world, this game is called Normalnauts

Psychonauts is a good time, just kinda sloppy. The most endearing and unique part of the game compared to other platformers is definitely the characters and story and the general 2000s Cartoon Network aesthetic. It's all really fun and the dialogue is pretty entertaining to listen to. All the psychic powers are really cool to play around with too, even if some of them don't feel as utilized as others. The general platforming though, the controls and moment to moment gameplay is kinda mediocre. The controls don't feel as smooth as the genre's best and I think some of the level design can have pretty poor visibility and clarity in the environment. The platforming can just be very basic at times. The bosses are also often really boring or obnoxious to deal with. The mutant fish boss for example just drags on for so long. All the unique qualities of the game helps it rise above a lot of it's shortcomings, but I still wanted a little something more. I'm hoping the sequel cleans up the gameplay and bring it up to a the level that matches the series' other best qualities. I'm interested in more of this!

Dopest fucking game of its decade. Play this shit. Idk about the 2nd one who cares? Buy and Play Psychonauts or Ernest Hemingway yourself. Ernest Hemingway, by the way, was a transgender faggot writer from the mid-20th century who was obsessed with Africa due to there being so much AIDS and darker shades of peni to slap him in his big santa claus cheeks. Fuck Ernest Hemingway. Play Psychonauts. Play Psychonauts. Play Psychonauts.

Very good game with some definite warts. There is no doubt that this is an older game with some of the issues it suffers from, but if you are going to play it you know it is an old game so you shouldn't expect modern design. I had a very good time with this for the most part. There were moments of frustration, but nothing that made me think about stopping or taking a break.

My biggest gripe would be the inventory/power system is cumbersome and you can't avoid that. As long as you stick to the critical path and play it for a casual fun action/adventure/platformer I think you are in for a good time. The creativity is tremendous. If you pus yourself to collectal all or even collect most, I think you will ruin your time with the game. The collecting is the worst part of the game, don't waste your time, the payoff is not there and it will water down your experience.

I'm very excited to play the sequel now.

If you really like Nickelodeon cartoons I'd suggest watching those instead of playing this. The game constantly stops for dialogue and cutscenes, with its admittedly charming characters, but I much prefer to play my video games than watch them.

After a couple hours I started skipping all scenes and eventually figured this game just wasn't for me.

A great example on how to make a great family game for everyone to enjoy, it's a fun platformer with cool psychic abilities to spice up the gameplay and it has great humor, definitely recommend it!

This game is peak Small Circus boy wants become good psychic and fights lawyers who stamp you with giant stamps, also every girl in the camp wants to kiss one of the boys idk why

This game is beloved for a reason, give this absolute gem a go.

One of the funniest games ever made play this and then the sequel which is just as good.

An absolute gaming classic. In every sense of the word, for better...and for worse sometimes. However-the writing, characters, music, and gameplay creativity on display make for an unforgettable experience.

The absurd writing will crack you up as much as it will enthrall you into delving deeper. The wide breath of abilities and inspired gorgeous designs make each level unique not only in it's presentation, but also in how you as a player think about and interact with each level. This can sometimes make the levels feel a bit obtuse, but nothing too obstructive (outside of the final level...which wasn't difficult as much as it was irritatingly cumbersome...) That being said, there are few dated elements to be weary of. Some of the platforming elements and puzzle solutions come to mind. But considering when this game came out, any downsides are severely outweighed by the impressive variety of gameplay, creative presentation/design, and interestingly absurd story.

Overall, if you have not given this game a chance yet, please do so! If you're interested in it's sequel (as you should be, it's also fantastic so far) and have the time, I would also highly recommend playing this through before. Not particularly for story reasons (2 has a pretty comprehensive catch-up), but just to experience everything unique this game has to offer.

(Side note, as many guides will tell you, don't worry about 100%ing the game, as it's absolutely not worth it. Just focus on what gets you from level to level. For the most part, it's a fairly linear experience.)

Great fun, the last level was really hard but i managed

good platfroming, good characters and the best voice lines and voice acting

It was Fun and that's everything i wanted.

This game is just so good. It has a lot of flaws but never fails to show off it's biggest strenghts.
Play it if you love collectathons.

Eric Wolpaw's best writing. We all know him from Portal anf Half Life, but his humor and imagination shines best here, in the summer camp. Every character , every line of dialogue is perfevt

a lot of ppl say the first game is tedious and dismissible. while it might be a little counterintuitive at times, it's a phenomenal game with a worthwhile story, great writing, great environments; great mechanics!

highly recommend, love Psychonauts forever <3

Really neat storytelling and quirky gameplay, even if it's a little tough sometimes. Great game.

One of the best platformers I've ever played! The levels all feel and look very unique compared to each other, and the story did a really good job at keeping me intrigued. The writing is also pretty funny and the jokes still hold up to this day. My only issue is that the controls (especially jumping) can feel a little clunky sometimes, especially on the last level. Other than that the game is very enjoyable, I highly recommend.

Not often do I play a lot of a game in one sitting, but with this game, I made it all the way to the mental institute. Such a great game, and also very humorous.

Such a great game from the old era, i love most parts and hated to death others, the platforming is good but sometimes frustrating, the bosses are super good and most of them require you to puzzle them to deafeat them which sometimes is infuriating, the characters are such a joy, especially Raz, i would 100% recommend it, just beware that some parts are annoying

What incredible charm, it's both nostalgic and mindblowingly advanced. To think that this game came out in 2006 is absolute insanity. The detail is incredible if you look in the right places 10/10
Please for the love of god do not try to 100% it like I did, do not suffer as I have suffered.

Psychonauts was more entertaining than I thought it would be. I got it on sale and played through the whole thing on my Steam Deck. If you want to play it on Steam Deck, you're going to want to force Proton Experimental compatibility. If you don't force proton compatibility, it tries to use a Linux build and the camera gets stuck rotating for some reason... Also, when you start the game, you'll have to use the touch pad to go into the game controls > key bindings, and set the Default key bindings every time you load the game. I don't know if this is an issue for everyone or just me. After figuring this out, the game played great! The controls, on screen, didn't match what I pressed on the deck, but once I figured out what button did what action, I was good to go. If you like playing old-school Xbox genera games, give Psychonauts a shot.

One of my favorite games. Super creative in it's game features and levels. Definitely check this game out it was one of the best games to come out of it's generation.

I found out about this game when my cousin sent me the "I am the Milkman My Milk is Delicious" gif. That spiraled into a hyperfixation I've had for like 2 years ATP

I now am playing this game for the second time ( first was on my Xbox ) and 100%-ing it. Milla's mind is absolutely terrible for that

2000/10 game its peak even tho milkman conspiracy makes me nauseous.

gameplay has aged a bit, specially with how it controls but that artstyle is so good I dont even mind. Outside of that it held up very well and each level has so much going for it with quirky characters and fun gimmicks that you dont expect to see in a game that's this old. Outside of a few flaws, its a very fun game and you should absolutely get it.

Absolutely gorgeous in every possible way. Psychonauts is a platformer with so much creative energy and love by the devs it is plain incredible. It does not feel like a 20 year old game whatsoever. Truely a masterpiece!

Incredibly creative game that permanently altered my brain chemistry as a full grown adult. I can only imagine the person I could of been had I been to exposed to it as a kid, I might have bought a hot topic gir hoodie.

An absolutely amazing game, I seriously wish I played this sooner. Up there as one of the best 3D-platformers even though the platforming is kinda crap and not what you're actually there for. The game is absolutely oozing with humor and life, the kind of game only a visionary leading a team of creatives who love their craft can manifest.

uhhhhh vvery fun game but uhhh NOT optimized for modern PCs.
crashes randomly at times, mouse sucks to control, but still works.
wouldn't recommend this over the original xbox version

Got all the figments and didn't get the achievement 0/10

You can see the effort and love this game was made, funny, hard to believe this game is from the ps2 era and it just 5 gb, the cinematics looks low quality but the game itself looks very good, one of the best games ever. Hard time playing it on the steam deck because of lack of controls but it was worth it downloading some controls

Psychonauts is a terribly flawed game that also happens to be in some ways brilliant and one of the best platforming games I've ever played. The main issues with the game are issues that plague a lot of games from this era- camera controls sending you off a cliff, wonky platforming sections, etc. But the core concept is so smart and well executed that it doesn't even matter.

This game was in many ways way ahead of its time because it takes place in a retrofuturistic 80s setting and has a strong emphasis on narrative among the different characters. Back when this came out NPCs were a lot more robotic. It's cool that in this game they move around and what they say changes as the game progresses. The story is also pretty fantastic because there are more developments as it progresses. Normally in a game like this the setup is everything, for example, Mario needs to save the princess. However, psychonauts story is more akin to one you would find in a point and click game as there are consistent developments that change the characters.

The game goes pretty deep into Jungian psychology. All the character levels are stored in a main hub called the "collective unconscious" and each character has some unresolved issue in their psyche that makes up the bulk of the level. For example, one character is completely focused on being mentally neat and orderly but goes nuts when that order is upset by the protagonist Rasputin. The humor in this game is actually pretty well done, I laughed a few times at the overall silliness of the story, and if you pay attention there are a lot of visual gags that are just brilliantly done. For example, the senior agent is hiding around the camp in different disguises. When you confront him in the underground area, he claims he cannot go above ground and is trapped because the psychic crystals underground are keeping him sane. During the end sequence, there is no explanation as to how he's above ground, but you see a crystal strapped to his back as though he found a rudimentary way to solve the problem, but occasionally just says insane things. It can be inferred that he is actually crazy and goes up and takes on other roles at the camp without realizing it. There are tons of things like this in the story and it's really a ton of fun to play a game that rewards you for paying attention.

Likewise, the platforming and combat aspect is just great in concept, and only somewhat flawed in execution. Attacking can be a little unresponsive, but this game is more platforming than combat. As you progress you get tons of powerups like the ability to levitate on a bouncing ball and pick up and throw objects with your mind. Beyond this just moving around in this game is more fun than it ought to be, as Razputin can swing, slide down rails, double jump, climb, hang from ledges, etc. It's probably the most impressive number of individual acrobatic maneuvers I've ever seen in a 3D platformer. Further, as you progress you get more upgrades and become more powerful. The game gives a rank from 1-101 which is like a level that bestows new rewards as you progress. It's really well done and makes collecting everything in the game a lot more fun. This game has thousands of collectibles and for some reason collecting things never gets old in this game. I like the idea of collecting "figments", which are basically little two dimensional drawings on the 3D plane that represent ideas. Because each figment is unique it makes the collectathon aspect a lot more fun. I used the guide on Steam and found all the collectibles with few issues, but it was very time consuming.

This game also has some great boss fights, and I like that there are sequence breaks to certain problems, ala, Mario 64. Once you get the levitation ball you can skip a lot of the platforming requirements you'd normally have by jumping and floating over them. For some reason this is more fun to me because you can come up with your own ways to solve the problem. And while the overall structure of the game and its upgrades feels ridiculously confusing at first, after a few hours I found it highly intuitive and cleared the game 100% without any issues. It's clear that this game has a cult following both for its fantastic game design and characters. There is enough content in here for five platformers and each "brain" you go into almost feels like its own little game. I would put it up there with games like Banjo Kazooie and the original Spyro trilogy as a AAA platformer that's just a bit rough around the edges because it's extraordinarily overly ambitious, I can, however, forgive most of this because the game was just incredibly engrossing and compelled me to keep playing it. With all of that said, aside from the bad camera issues and minor delay in the combat I wish the music was a tad more memorable. The tunes are good but they aren't catchy, even though the voice acting is excellent and it's incredibly impressive that such primitive graphics managed to pull off highly accurate lip synching.

If the concept interests you, there's no question that you should play it.

An extremely charming game with great music, art, and creative level design. Its not perfect, but i thoroughly enjoyed my time with every level (except meat circus). To this day, despite how aged this game is, i haven't seen level design like this EVER. On top of this, some of the best representation for mental conditions I've seen. It has room for humor and personality without punching down on anyone and truly showcases the troubles associated with them and how to overcome them. I'm gonna play psychonauts 2 right now and try to get all collectibles (i will die)

very fun very cheap slightly clunky

it's been almost 20 years since this game's release, 20, GOD DAMN YEARS.
it feels like this game was made in the 2020s with the humour.
10/10
looking forward to the rest of the game

absolutely amazing retro platformer. this is the historical peak of the genre.

I've put well over 50h into the game back in the day, in offline mode I guess since Steam didn't seem to record it. But the game is a classic and considered a masterpiece for a reason and is definitely one of the best platformers ever made.

If you are looking to play it on Steam Deck however do note that it doesn't work on Deck despite Valve's "testing" indicating it is playable. Apparently it worked on an older version of Steam Deck or so I'm told. But it doesn't work at all anymore.

Super fun and probably that one game you heard about on Youtube back then that described it as "surreal", but never outright said the game's name.

I genuinely do love this game though. Fish monster lady and that weird stage level...the Milkman of course.

It's definitely a product of the time of "platformers" for 2000s, but it's definitely worth your time. Will say, if you get stuck on Waterloo don't worry! Everyone else does too at some point lol.

Funny, quirky adventure.
Although the later stages might be annoying, the level designs are really fascinating.
This game has been on my backlog for almost 8 years; finally, I played it from beginning to end.

Psychonauts is a great game that has some of the best writing in the Video Game history BUT time also hasn't been very kind to this game in terms of control and combat.

Firstly, the games story, writing, voice acting, etc is all top notch and it has some of the best environmental storytelling out there (with exception to the sequel). Raz (the main protagonist) is a fantastic character and the voice job by Horvits is top notch.

Graphically this game doesn't hold up too well and it's not for the art style. While the Art Style can definitely be divisive personally I think it's fine. It's later polished up and I think looks way better in the sequel but here it's fine if not a bit ugly at times. However the art style mixed with original xbox graphics and low resolution cut-scenes can make parts of the game just look bad and dated.

The real part that makes this game not be a masterpiece is the combat and to a lesser extent the movement. The combat is clunky and tough to get the hang of (another thing fixed in the sequel). The movement is fine but the Levitation ability is completely overpowered which while fun completely negates a lot of the platforming challenge.

The games world and main hub (whispering rock psychic summer camp) is charming and fun to explore but the first levels or minds can feel very tutorialized making the start of the game one of the weakest if you're not fully exploring the hub. The game really picks up halfway when the story pivots to its main objective (not to spoil anything) and takes you away from the camp to really go into the best minds in the game. Sadly the final level is a mess. It's not this super insane challenging level it got over time but it's way tougher than the rest of the game and the bad and clunky combat makes it a frustrating chore.

Overall you play the original Psychonauts for the incredible story, fun word, and cleaver writing and not the combat/platforming. If you do pick this up (which I recommend if you're interested) be prepare to endure some dated gameplay to get to the parts that made this game a cult classic.

8/10 - Infinite

Though this games gameplay is rough and like a 5 or a 6 out of 10 for me, the story more than makes up for that. What started out feeling like a dumb kids game genuinly turned into an incredibly dark game. Don't look anything up about the story and play this game, you won't regret it.
8/10