Psychonauts 2 prototype gameplay sees Raz return to Whispering Rock

When last we looked at Psychonauts 2, developer Double Fine Creations had raised nearly 4 million bucks on Fig and was hard at work on the early stages of the development process. What has it been up to since? Take a look for yourself. 

The video opens with Double Fine boss Tim Schafer announcing that the Fig crowdfunding platform has been approved by the SEC, meaning that it can finally collect the investment money (as opposed to the conventional reward backer money) that had been promised during the campaign. It's also still possible to invest in the game if you haven't already at fig.co/psy2

But what we're really here for is to lay eyes on Psychonauts 2, which looks very good at this point even though the recreated summer camp isn't intended for use in the game. It's very familiar territory if you've played the original, but the level of detail and "density"is through the roof.   

"For a platformer, it's really important to be able to read the world and understand where you can go and where you can't go, and where you can explore," lead designer Zak McClendon says in the video. "And so [we're] starting to explore how we lay out levels so you can understand where the points of interest are, and where you can go, and where there might be secrets hidden, but also have the level of fine-grain, lush density that people expect from a current-gen game."

The video also looks at Raz's moveset and a few of his powers, which seem to be coming along nicely. It's fun to see the Censors back in action, too. It's a long way from finished, but I have to admit that seeing Psychonauts 2 in action, even in the prototype stage, has me more excited than I expected to be about the prospect of playing it. A release date hasn't been announced, but the Fig campaign has an estimated delivery window of Q3 2018.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.