Tim Schafer is well known in the gaming industry for releasing some of the best games of all time on the PC such as Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle; but back in April 2005 Psychonauts was released both on PC and Xbox in North America and then for the PlayStation 2 in June 2005 but UK/Europe didn't get the game until almost a year later on all three platforms.

The first time I've ever heard of Psychonauts was back in 2004 after seeing a trailer for this from buying and playing Blinx the Timesweeper on the Xbox. At first the trailer and seeing some gameplay footage which was one of the first trailers that was shown around 2002, the ability to read people's minds was an awesome idea to see in a video game. Then after reading gaming-comic panels on the internet and reading reviews from both IGN and GameSpot around 2006 I really wanted to get my hands on playing this game mainly because I liked the art style which had a mix of Tim Burton's animation mixed with Pixar animation.

When I got my Xbox chipped was able to play games from any region, including copied games on blank discs remember someone giving me a US copy of Psychonauts but however the whole game was in black and white. So instead I bought the UK copy at GameStation in Newcastle using my birthday money I got, I could tell that this game itself was going to be an amazing platformer and unlike any other platformer games I've played over the years like Klonoa 2, Crash Bandicoot 3 or even The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. Its story is based on Raz 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 in order to become a Psychonaut, a spy with psychic abilities sounds like something you would see in an X-Men comic when thinking about this. Raz finds out that there is a sinister plot occurring at the camp that only he can stop. This is where the game takes on the strange and imaginative minds of various characters that Raz enters as a Psychonaut-in-training/Psycadet in order to help them overcome their fears or memories of their past, so as to gain their help and progress in the game including the story. Raz gains use of several psychic abilities during the game that are used for both attacking foes and solving puzzles.

Most of its puzzles were pretty challenging but fun at the same, most of its levels were very well detailed, especially when jumping in the mind of a wrestling black velvet painter named Edgar Teglee where the whole stage is set in a Spanish city but using Black and Coloured chalk for its landscapes think of The Oogie Boogie song from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I also forget that Psychonauts have some of the best levels, including the mind of a mutant-lung fish and going around Fish City smashing tall buildings like in Godzillia. Another memorable level that most people will remember, especially when myself and two of my other friends would know it straight away after quoting "I am the Milk Man, my milk delicious" you jump through the mind the appointed guard named Boyd, who refuses to open the gates, rambling about a conspiracy and "the milkman" holding the key. Again visiting Boyd's mind, Raz discovers that the milkman is Boyd's pyromaniac alternate persona.

I could go on all day how brilliant and memorable Psychonauts is but if you have not heard of this game or even played I would highly recommend you checking out this game after reading this blog. If you either still own a PS2 or an Xbox you can also pick this up on Steam and also appears on multiple occasion on Humble Bundle deals including Charity Gaming sites at a very cheap price. After this game was released back in 2005 it got so much praise from reviewers, including myself who love this game, it didn't do too well on sales by the end of the year, and it had shipped less than 100,000 copies. Psychonauts has been re-released as a PlayStation 2 Classic from the PSN Store if you own a PS4 and backward compatible if you own the original game on the Xbox you can play it on the Xbox One.

A sequel was announced back in 2015 The Game Awards, with strong sales of the original through various outlets along with strong demand from the fanbase of the original game, Double Fine sought to acquire part of its financial capital to fund the developments of Psychonauts 2 through a $3.3 million crowd-funding and investment drive through Fig, launched simultaneously with the game's announcement; the campaign overall raised nearly $4 million by the beginning of 2016 which was surprising for many including myself which I've waited since 2006 for a sequel. It would finally be released back in 2021 and my Game of the Year, this is one of those games that I could easily go back to again and again, not just for the story, but it's how the game is well presented for a platformer and it's not often that we get really game that offers something for everyone. Even a few years back when the game was almost finished Double Fine was still struggling with money and luckily Microsoft stepped in and bought the company and told them to finish off the game and still release on other platformers other then the Xbox since Double Fine is now purchased by Microsoft.

Have you played Psychonauts, have any favourite moments?

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