Psychonauts

For Double Fine and Tim Schafer this was their first outing and what a great first game it is! Synopsis: Young acrobat Raz ends in Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp to achieve his potential of becoming a Psychonaut. In his travels through the peoples minds he will unleash a great potential and discover a conspiracy at hands. The gameplay is the following, it's like most 3d platformers of the old age, the controls can be wonky at times if you are using keyboard and mouse. If you get a controller you will have it easy at the end levels, trust me. But man oh man, if you love the unique level design and setting then you will be in a real treat, and I wouldn't like to spoil any of it, because it needs to be experienced. Graphics have aged a little bit, altough they choose a cartonish 3d style which held up over a decade, but a little graphical upgrade wouldn't hurt it in the long run. One of the best aspects of the game except the level design, is of course the humour, it oozes from every scene and character interactions that you have within the game, and it still holds up quite well after all these years. I would also like to mention that there are some great ideas about the powers which you gain through the playthrough which I didn't see implemented into any games after this one, which is a shame because with the technology nowadays it could have been experimented more. I gotta give props to Peter McConnell which did the whole OST, basically every track sticks to your mind and gives life to every level you go through, also you can hear a lot of finesse in the usage of strings and percussions and the piano and how it all comes well produced and arranged for every track. This is a game that I have played more than five times in my lifetime and every time I go through it I spot more details which I didn't the first time. I also cannot wait for the sequel to finally come out, hope that they will upgrade on everything and provide us another treat.

A quirky puzzle-action-platformer with a charming aesthetic, and unique storyline. Marred only by some finicky controls, and the occasional lack of clarity as to what you should be doing. Gameplay doesn't deviate much from puzzles, platforming, or combat. However, there is enough variety to keep it from every feeling stale. Secondary objectives focus on hunting down different kinds of collectibles. These provide a direct gameplay benefit, or reveal more about the different characters; making collecting them worth it. The setting and characters steal the show. The quality voice acting, writing, and character designs make even the lesser characters memorable. A game that's definitely worth your time.

Psychonauts is so filled with flawlessely executed modern mechanics you almost can't believe it's been made 15 years ago. Fifteen years! Graphics are amazing, vivid and original, world and overall lore is pretty bizzare, level design is super clever. Movement feels extremely fun and unobstructed, combat can be too if you're creative! All in all an amazing game that outpaced its time.

This game has built an absolutely stunning and unique world to set the game in, that is fully realized with a wonderful story, imaginative level design, and an excellent cast of characters to inhabit it. It is a terrible shame that this game undermines this game at every turn. It is a platformer that has some stunningly made levels, but has poor controls and a camera that never seems to let you see where you're going or what you're doing. It gives you fantastic powers, but most of them don't work unless the plot calls for you to use that specific one. Some examples: You have a ranged psychic blast that you can't aim at anyone unless you're at near melee range. You get invisibility, but anything you'd want to sneak by can see though it. You can lift enemies up with your telekinetic powers, but can't actually do anything to them other then let them down gently where they were already standing. You CAN light a lot of enemies on fire, but that doesn't stop them from attacking you, and now they'll light you on fire as well. There are epic boss battles, that turn out to be frustrating games of 'guess which environmental hazard or psychic power the devs want you to use at this point'. Hint: It's never the one that you'd think would be the obvious choice. There's tons of things to collect, many of which you can barely see, even if you're standing in front of them with the camera focused on them. Oh, and at some point, we'll lock you out of backtracking to collect the items you've missed. It's like the game was designed by the whims of a cursed monkey's paw.

A well polished quality game. Looks like a kids game but to be fair I think kiinds would get too frustrated with the challenges. its a unique expreience and fun too play & really strange and surreal at times. lots of problem solving & exploring, vary varied content, its not a rinse & repeat type of game its very different as you progress. would be fund for the kids too as its got good story telling acting almost like watching cartoons but I think on the gameplay side some would need help on what needed. so yeah its a quality game and a quality exprience, its worth paying for. good to see its available on linux too not just windows, thanks >GOG