Psychonauts (game)

Psychonauts is a third person collect-a-thon 3D platformer game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco. It released on April 19, 2005 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox and on June 22, 2005 for Playstation 2. It was later rereleased as part of a Humble Bundle on in June of 2012.

The game follows Razputin Aquato as he runs away from his family's circus to participate in a psychic summer camp in order to join the government spy organization, the Psychonauts. While there he uncovers a mysterious plot involving his fellow campers, and strives to get to the bottom of this before his dad arrives.

Plot
See Psychonauts 1 Storyline.

Gameplay
Players play as Raz, who can perform a variety of acrobatic maneuvers and psychic powers in order to platform around both the physical world and colorful mental worlds. His goal is to save the camp and become a Psychonaut by traversing the various minds he encounters, learning different psychic powers along the way.

Raz starts as a rank 1 psi-cadet, and he can increase his rank by collecting a variety of items throughout both the physical world and the mental worlds. One of these items is mental cobwebs, which can be crafted into psi-cards (which can also be collected around the real world), which can then be crafted into psi challenge markers, which allow Raz to go up a rank. Other items include scavenger hunt items scattered throughout the real world, figments of the imagination scattered throughout mental worlds, memory vaults that hide in mental worlds, emotional baggage which must be reunited with their tags in mental worlds, items that increase ammo and "mental depth" capacity found in mental worlds, and brains in jars found in the real world late in the game.

Psitanium arrowheads can also be found buried throughout the real world, as well as in mental worlds, and Raz can use his psychic powers to dig them up or smash items to obtain them. These are used as currency to buy items from the camp shop, including a dowsing rod that helps Raz obtain more arrowheads faster, and a mental cobweb duster which enables Raz to collect mental cobwebs. The arrowheads are also used in one of the mental worlds in order to buy items specifically for that mental world.

While the game is mainly a collect-a-thon platformer, it is known for having a number of "point-and-click" elements, such as inventory puzzles that require Raz to present certain items to certain characters. As well, the game has a number of easily-missable cutscenes that can only be discovered by exploring the real world repeatedly after every major event in the game.

As Raz ranks up, he is able to learn different psi-powers and upgrade others. Some psi-powers however are only taught through specific characters during specific parts of the game. These powers help him fight different enemies (such as psychic animals in the real world and mental enemies in the mental worlds) and access more areas in both the mental and physical worlds. (Raz is never able to enter the water, however, due to the supposed curse on his family; falling into water causes a hand to reach out to grab at him, which Raz jumps away from twice before getting dragged under and back to shore after the third attempt.) However, the highest rank does not bestow any special powers on Raz, but instead unlocks a special cutscene for finishing the game to "101%."

Raz dives into the heads of different characters throughout the game, but these minds can be revisited via the Collective Unconscious. The real world, however, will eventually become inaccessible after a Point of No Return, which the game warns the player about ahead of time.

Achievements
See Psychonauts 1 Achievements.

Behind-the-Scenes
Psychonauts was the first game released by Double Fine Studios, which is run by Tim Schafer.

Reception
Psychonauts was released to critical acclaim, but was considered a commercial failure, selling fewer than 100,000 copies in North America.