Psychonauts (franchise)
| Psychonauts | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | |
| Developer(s) | Double Fine |
| Artist(s) | Nathan Stapley |
| Writer(s) | Tim Schafer Erik Wolpaw |
| Platform(s) |
|
| First release | Psychonauts April 19, 2005 |
| Latest release | Psychonauts 2 April 20, 2021 |
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Psychonauts is an action-platform video game series created and developed by Double Fine Productions. The series centers around the adventures of Razputin (Raz) (voiced by Richard Horvitz), a young boy gifted with psychic abilities who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a summer camp for those with similar powers to become a "Psychonaut", a spy with psychic abilities. The series is known as a 3D platformer, based on an abandoned concept that Tim Schafer had during the development of Full Throttle, which he expanded out into a full game through his then new company Double Fine.
Overview
The first game is set in fictional Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a remote US government training facility under the guise of a children's summer camp. Centuries ago the area was hit by a meteor made of psitanium (a fictional element that can grant psychic powers or strengthen existing powers), creating a huge crater. The psitanium affected the local wildlife, giving them limited psychic powers, such as bears with the ability to attack with telekinetic claws and cougars with pyrokinesis, and rats with confusion gas. The Native Americans of the area called psitanium "whispering rock", which they used to build arrowheads. When settlers began inhabiting the region, the psychoactive properties of the meteor slowly drove them insane. An asylum was built to house the afflicted, but within fifteen years, the asylum had more residents than the town did and the founder Houston Thorny committed suicide by throwing himself from the asylum's tower. The government relocated the remaining inhabitants and flooded the crater to prevent further settlement, creating what is now Lake Oblongata. The asylum still stands, but has fallen into disrepair.
The government took advantage of the psitanium deposit to set up a training camp for Psychonauts, a group of agents gifted with psychic abilities by the psitanium used to help defeat evil-doers. The training ground is disguised as a summer camp for young children, but in reality helps the children to hone their abilities and to train them to be Psychonauts themselves. Due to this, only those recruited by the Psychonauts are allowed into the camp.
Games
| 2005 | Psychonauts |
| 2006 | |
| 2007 | |
| 2008 | |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 | |
| 2011 | |
| 2012 | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | |
| 2017 | Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin |
| 2018 | |
| 2019 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | Psychonauts 2 |
Main series
Psychonauts
The first game in the series was released on Xbox in 2005 and was the first title developed by Double Fine. The player controls Razputin Aquato (or Raz for short), the son of a family of circus performers, who runs away from the circus to become a Psychonaut, despite his father Augustus' wishes. His family is cursed to die in water, and a large hand attempts to submerge Raz whenever he approaches any significantly deep water. When at camp, Raz meets four of the Psychonauts that run the camp: the cool and calculating Sasha Nein (voice actor Stephen Stanton), the fun-loving Milla Vodello, the regimental Agent/Coach Morceau Oleander (voice actor Nick Jameson), and the aged, Mark Twainesque Ford Cruller (voice actor David Kaye), said by Razputin to have been the greatest leader the Psychonauts ever had, until a past psychic duel shattered Ford's psyche and left him with dissociative identity disorder, also known as a split personality. Only when he is near the large concentration of Psitanium does his psyche come together enough to form his real personality. During his time at camp, Raz meets several of the other gifted children including Lili Zanotto, the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, with whom he falls in love; and Dogen Boole, a boy who goes around with a tin foil hat to prevent his abilities from causing anyone's head to explode.
Psychonauts 2
The second game in the series is a direct sequel to the first Psychonauts and continues Raz's story to bigger scopes. The game will pick up immediately after the conclusion of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, with Raz (voiced by Richard Horvitz) having assisted Sasha Nein (voiced by Stephen Stanton) and Milla Vodello (voiced by Alexis Lezin) in rescuing head Psychonaut Truman Zanotto — a mission begun at the end of Psychonauts. Following Zanotto's rescue, the team returns to Psychonaut Headquarters, where Raz is made part of the Psychonauts' intern program but discovers that the organization is not all that it seems.[1] In Zanotto's absence, the Psychonauts organization has been changed by its second-in-command, Hollis Forsythe, and psychic research has been directed away from peacekeeping efforts towards more unorthodox studies including necromancy.[2]
Spinoff games
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a first-person virtual reality adventure game developed by Double Fine Productions on the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Unlike the original Psychonauts, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is not a 3D platformer, but instead a first-person puzzle-focused game similar to a point-and-click adventure. As Raz, the player always remains in a seated position, and may interact with characters and objects in the world using his psychic powers such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis.[3] The story picks up immediately after the ending of Psychonauts, with new Psychonaut cadet Razputin "Raz" Aquato Raz joining fellow cadet Lili Zanotto and agents Sasha Nein, Milla Vodello, and Morceau Oleander in rescuing Lili's kidnapped father Truman, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. Using his Clairvoyance ability, Raz discovers Truman is being held at an abandoned Psychonaut research facility in an oceanic region known as the Rhombus of Ruin (a play on the Bermuda Triangle), built to study a large underwater deposit of Psilirium (a fictional element that can inhibit psychic powers).
Reception
| Game | Metacritic |
|---|---|
| Psychonauts | (Xbox) 88/100[4] (PC) 87/100[5] (PS2) 86/100[6] |
| Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin | 71/100[7] |
| Psychonauts 2 | PC: 89/100[8] XONE: 86/100[9] XSXS: 87/100[10] |
Psychonauts received positive reception, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[4][5][6]
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin received average reviews from critics.[11] Reviewers praised the unique gameplay mechanics and their integration into the story, as well as the continued expansion of the Psychonauts universe. Criticism was directed at the game's short length, limited replay value, and abrupt ending.
Psychonauts 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[8][9][10]
References
- ↑ Nunneley, Stepheny (December 3, 2015). "Psychonauts 2: Tim Schafer and Double Fine's little engine that could". VG247. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
- ↑ Philips, Tom (January 12, 2016). "Tim Schafer talks Psychonauts 2 story". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
- ↑ Dave Tach (June 16, 2016). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a fresh take on VR and pillows as toilet paper". Polygon.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Psychonauts for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Psychonauts for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Psychonauts for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
- ↑ "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Psychonauts 2 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Psychonauts 2 for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Psychonauts 2 for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ↑ "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
External links
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