Don’t get psyched just yet — Double Fine delays ‘Psychonauts 2’ past 2018

By Gabe Gurwin Published December 22, 2017

Psychonauts 2 // The Aquato Family

It’s a miracle that Psychonauts 2, the sequel to the 2005 cult hit

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Psychonauts, is even being made. After years of working on other projects like Brütal Legend and Broken Age, developer Double Fine Productions has returned to the psychic world of Raz, but fans will have to wait at least another year before they’ll be able to play it.

In an update note on the crowdfunding platform Fig, Double Fine revealed it had entered “full production” on Psychonauts 2, with multiple teams working on level design as well as puzzles and combat. However, the studio now realizes the project won’t be able to hit its original 2018 release window.

“Now [that] we are in full swing, we know a lot more about the size and scope of the game we are going to make, how long it will take us to make it, and the amount of time we need to make it great,” the studio said.

There isn’t a firm release window now, with project lead Zak McClendon saying in a developer diary video that the studio doesn’t want to commit to a new date until it knows exactly when the game will be ready.

The video also shows off designs for Raz Aquato’s family, who were seen in the original Psychonauts inside memory vaults. Based on the early sketches from the vaults, they were given color and eventually turned into in-game models, with all the bright and zany quirks you’d expect from a Psychonauts family. Their final design resembles something out of of the stop-motion film The Boxtrolls, which fits perfectly with the tone of the series.

For those who backed the game during its crowdfunding period, your rewards will be coming shortly. T-shirts, posters, a black velvet painting, and a Raz mini-figure are all nearing production, so you won’t be waiting until the game actually releases in order to receive them.

If you’re itching to get your hands on a new Psychonauts game right now, check out the PlayStation VR game Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Rain. It takes place between the original game and the sequel, and features many psychic powers for solving puzzles.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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The best badges in Psychonauts 2

Raz near a brain in Psychonauts 2.

You would be forgiven for forgetting, but Raz is still just a kid who ran away from home to join the Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp in hopes of becoming a true Psychonaut. At the start of Psychonauts 2, Raz has moved on from just being a camper into a full-on Psychonaut ... well, at least as an intern anyway. Still, in the canon of the game, only days have passed since his first adventure wrapped up, and the themes of the original camp are still present.

Raz's psychic powers are represented, just like in the original, as old-school camp merit badges. Many badges from the first game make a return in Psychonauts 2, functioning mostly the same as they did previously, along with several new and exciting powers to play with and upgrade. Psychic abilities have many uses, but not all are created equal. Some may even start out feeling bland but could end up becoming some of the best. Here is everything you need to know about the best badges in Psychonauts 2.

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Psychonauts 2: Nuggets of wisdom locations

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Psychonauts 2 is one of the few collect-a-thon-style games to come out in recent memory. There are hundreds of figments to pick up, challenge cards, keys, vaults, and tons more to collect across the various mental worlds you dive into. All of them are unique to the world and themes of Psychonauts 2 and fairly clever as well. Along with the Half-A-Minds, which you can pick up to raise Raz's max HP, the Nugget of Wisdom item is another collectible that can give you a permanent boost to your abilities.

Nuggets of Wisdom are basically an instant rank increase. Each one you get will boost you one rank, earning you Intern Credits that you need for upgrading all the psychic powers you will be using throughout the adventure. Ranking up can be time-consuming normally, but there are 29 Nuggets of Wisdom across all the levels in Psychonauts 2 to help give your brain a mental boost. Here's where you can find them all, level by level.

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Raz hits an enemy with a giant hand in Psychonauts 2.

Combat in Psychonauts 2 plays out much faster than it did in its predecessor. Within minutes, you'll have access to multiple skills, dozens of enemies bombard the screen, and you'll need to stay on your toes in order to make it out unscathed.

Despite some radical changes, combat in Psychonauts 2 never becomes overtly difficult -- however, newcomers might need a bit of assistance to wrap their brains around its intricacies. If you're getting booted out of brains more often than you'd like, here are a few pointers to help master the combat in Psychonauts 2.