Psychonauts is a platform-adventure game developed by Double Fine Productions and released in 2005. It follows Razputin “Raz” Aquato, a young psychic who runs away from the circus to attend a summer camp for aspiring psychonauts. Players explore imaginative levels set inside the minds of different characters, each reflecting their mental states. Gameplay combines platforming, combat, and the use of psychic abilities such as telekinesis and levitation. The game was praised for its creativity, humor, and distinctive art style.
About the story
Razputin ""Raz"" Aquato, the son of circus performers, flees his family to sneak into Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a government facility disguised as a children's camp where young psychics train to become Psychonauts, elite agents with supernatural abilities. Despite being told he cannot participate without parental consent, Raz impresses the instructors enough to earn advanced training. During one session, he witnesses a disturbing vision of a mad dentist extracting a camper's brain. When Raz discovers the vision was real and that a conspiracy is underway to harvest camper brains for use in psychic weaponry, the adult Psychonauts refuse to believe him. With his fellow campers disappearing one by one, Raz must venture alone into the abandoned asylum across the lake, entering the fractured minds of its residents to gain their help, all while racing to rescue those he cares about before the plot reaches its terrifying conclusion.
Platforms
Linux Mac PC PS2 PS3 PS4 XBOX X360 XONEGenres
Adventure Platform PuzzleThemes
Action Comedy
Languages: English and 2 more
| Interface | Audio | Subtitles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | |||
| French | |||
| German |
Media
Critic Reviews
GamingTrend
By David FlynnPsychonauts is an incredibly unique experience from beginning to end and is worth playing and replaying over and over. It's heartfelt, hilarious, memorable, and a joy to play.
Cubed3
By Brandon (Michael) HowardThere are not really enough good things to say about Psychonauts and most of them have already been said at this point. It's still an amazing platformer that married gameplay and storytelling better than any other title like it. It's a fantastic adventure that everyone should at some point play. With Psychonauts 2 on the distant horizon, though, there's never been a better time to get reacquainted with Tim Schafer's old masterpiece.
Eurogamer
By Kristan ReedWhat's unavoidable is the fact that almost all of the problems that weigh Psychonauts down are borne out of the legacy that the platform genre itself has, and Double Fine - like so many other developers - has largely been unable to avoid falling into the same pitfalls of inconsistent level design and unwise difficulty spikes. Dammit.
SECTOR.sk
By Sector.sk StaffDouble Fine built a really fun title on traditional platformer elements and blended several game genres in a nonviolent way. Psychonauts is not only the pilot title of this studio, but a game to which Tim, with a reputation for not doing sequels, is highly likely to do the second part.
IGN
By IGNThe first half of this game is easily one of the most enjoyable I've had in the past year. But as is the case with many humorous games, the laughs begin to fade in the home stretch and in the end Psychonauts started to wear on me.
