The game effortlessly gets you back up to speed with Raz and the titular Psychonauts, providing a brief catch-up sequence for anyone who's jumping in for the first time, or needs a refresher. But not only did Double Fine do a good job, they did a fantastic one. One need only look at games like Shenmue III to understand my trepidation at a sequel to a game that's nearly 20 years old. The fact that Psychonauts 2 is as incredible as it is is nothing short of a miracle. It's a game about healing, forgiveness, and, of course, empathy, which is why it will be a game that stays with me, long after having completed it.
You fight against the act of shutting yourself away from the people around you, or the mistakes you made towards your friends and family.
In Psychonauts 2, your enemies are regret and sadness. It doesn't really have a villain to speak of, not in the traditional sense. This is what makes Psychonauts 2 such a marvel. There's no room for empathy when the game industry has essentially made most games about "winning" against some other force. There's always a villain to defeat, enemies to kill, weapons to earn to make that whole cycle more efficient. They are often competitive or violent in nature. Americans are familiar with sympathy, but empathy comes from a deeper place, and it's hard to access when bombarded by a mixture of Western Exceptionalism and the belief that bad things are always one's own fault.Įmpathy is especially difficult to find in videogames.
Empathy is a good skill to have but one that feels like it isn't taught or passed along as much as it should be.
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