#WHEN DOES PSYCHONAUTS 2 COME OUT FULL#

Schafer says he loves exploration in video games, so he wanted to lean into that with the sequel. After Broken Age, which was a great exploration of the 2D space, I really wanted to make a big 3D world again.”

“It was often just that there was something new I wanted to do. “After Psychonauts, we could have pushed for a sequel, but I really wanted to make Brutal Legend,” Schafer says. While the renewed popularity of Psychonauts certainly bolstered interest in the sequel, Schafer doesn’t think he could’ve made it any sooner than he did. Psychonauts gets weird, but it always does so in a charming manner.

It raised a whopping $3,829,024 from fans eager to see the saga continue. That’s why it was so exciting when Psychonauts 2 was finally confirmed at The Game Awards 2015 and had a crowdfunding campaign on the website Fig. Nearly a decade after the game’s initial release, demand for a sequel was greater than ever. It takes a while for that to get around.”Īnd it sure did get around. “It’s a word-of-mouth type game where it’s very hard to compare it to other games. “It is the kind of game that took a while to find its audience, and I think the advent of digital distribution really was helpful,” Schafer says. Schafer also believes that Psychonauts needed digital distribution to build up a die-hard fanbase that would sing its praises across the internet.

#WHEN DOES PSYCHONAUTS 2 COME OUT FULL#

In a market full of indie and AA games like Undertaleand Biomutant that aren’t afraid to be weird, Psychonauts 2 is in good company. That’s not because of any political or mechanical relevancy, but because developers can afford to take more risks now. Psychonauts was far ahead of its time in 2005 but still feels right at home in 2021. “If we didn’t get the chance to do it, it wouldn’t be a tragedy, but it’s really nice to pick up, expand, and pay off all those things in the sequel.”įor those who haven’t played the original or Rhombus of Ruin, a cute animated video within the game does a great job at getting you up to speed. “They were left up in the air just a little bit,” he says. “I put a lot of seeds in the first game for story hooks,” Schafer explains, referencing the curse put on Raz’s family, the fracturing of Psychonaut Ford Cruller’s mind, and the open-ended nature of the ending. “I wanted to leave ourselves a lot of options,” Schafer says.įor Schafer, Psychonauts 2 is an opportunity to explore hints from the first game. Psychonauts may have ended on a bombshell of a cliffhanger, but Schafer never knew if he’d ever be able to revisit the world. What began as a few humble Easter eggs in the first game are now serving as the foundation for a game that’s survived a crowdfunding campaign, development woes, and a massive acquisition. Now, the studio is wrapping up Psychonauts 2’s development with help from its new parent company, Microsoft, which acquired Double Fine in 2019.Īhead of the game’s launch, Inverse spoke with Tim Schafer about how the sequel finally came to be years after the original. Psychonauts was its debut title.ĭouble Fine has since come a long way, putting out classics like rock 'n' roll RTS Brutal Legend and adventure game Broken Age. In 2000, he founded an independent studio called Double Fine. Schafer is a renowned video game developer known for his humor and the cynical wit of his games, thanks to his work on LucasArts classics like Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. I didn’t know what our options were going to be.” “Spoilers: Back to the Future ends with him flying off in the DeLorean! But you could easily have a sequel. “I always thought of the ending as a Back to the Future ending,” Game Director Tim Schafer tells Inverse. Developer Double Fine didn’t get the chance to continue that story until 2017’s VR game Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, and now it’s happening in earnest with Psychonauts 2. The game also ended on a massive cliffhanger where the leader of the Psychonauts is kidnapped. While the game flopped initially, it grew into a cult classic that has steadily gained a loyal following since 2005. The quirky platformer sees players control a psychic boy named Raz, exploring other people’s minds to become a member of the titular organization. There is no other game quite like the original Psychonauts. Psychonauts 2 is a video game sequel more than 16 years in the making.

When does psychonauts 2 come out