I've been picking my way through Psychonauts 2 ever since it came out, and aside from gathering all the game's collectibles, I'm finally nearing the end of the game. It's been a fun ride so far, and I feel like the premise of the game - going into people's minds to help them sort out hang-ups - has aged extremely well.
I really like this game. The story is fun, the levels are diverse and interesting, the art and music are top-notch, and the heart of the game is just genuinely sweet. This game is a triumph for Double Fine!
Initially, I wrote off Two Point Hospital as just another cheap-o hospital management/simulation game - I think it was something about how the character renders looked. But after a friend recommended it to me and I gave it a try, I was hooked; it's actually a pretty entertaining game, and the way Two Point Studios managed to take on the rather serious topic of managing a hospital and make it goofy and funny is excellent.
So I was delighted when Two Point Campus, a collegiate-themed sequel, was announced during E3 2021, and I'm excited to try it when it releases in 2022. It looks like it'll be a great follow-up to the first game!
It took me a long time to try out Plague Tale: Innocence, even though it was on my radar, and in my game library, for a while. I remember looking at screenshots and thinking they looked pretty neat, and I even bought the game once it went on sale, but kept it on the back-burner as I worked on other games. When it hit Game Pass, a friend of mine played through it and recommended it to me, and I finally played it - and instantly regretted putting it off for so long.
I've grown a bit wary of games with grim settings, and so that was one thing keeping me from trying the game. I don't mind that stuff, but it just feels tiring to enter one bleak virtual world after another, each one befallen by a different catastrophe, but with the same dirty, dull end-point. APT:R is full of color, however, and the levels are varied enough that you never feel like you're covering the same ground again.
I think, also, I just wasn't sure what type of game APT:R would be. It turned out to be mostly a stealth game, with some puzzle elements, quicktime sequences, and boss fights thrown in. The skill level for the game was tuned just right, in my opinion, and I breezed through it, enjoying just about every moment. I'm glad the focus wasn't on combat, most of the time, because it would have betrayed the powerlessness the child protagonists were meant to feel.
That Asobo used a custom game engine for the game is remarkable - I assumed it was an Unreal 4 game until I found out otherwise. They put real-world scanned assets to great use, making the game world lush and believable (while simultaneously alleviating their artists from a lot of grunt work). The swarms of rats that act as the game's ever-present menace are also a technical feat.
Anyway, that's a lot of words for the short message I mean to convey here: I'm looking forward to A Plague Tale: Requiem, the sequel to Innocence!
So Psychonauts 2 is coming later this year, and it looks a lot like the first game, with eccentric characters, zany levels, and a number of twists and turns in how each zone plays out. The original game came out 16 years ago, and it's a testament to the game's creativity that anyone still remembers it.
Part of my memory of the original game is complete frustration; the final sequence, in particular, had a number of tricky jumps and it took me many tries to complete it.
Most everything else I remember of Psychonauts is pleasant, so I'm hopeful that this sequel smooths over those difficult moments somewhat, as Double Fine creates such amazing experiences, it feels extra bad when you can't muster the skill to see all of it.
There wasn't much to show for The Outer Worlds 2 at 2021's E3, but that didn't stop Microsoft/Bethesda from dropping a bombastic trailer for it. I watched this directly after Redfall's trailer, so it almost felt like a dig at the rest of the show - but that's very much in line with the humor of The Outer Worlds franchise.
Is it a franchise yet? I guess it might be, after a successful second game, anyway. Obsidian created such a fun world to explore with the first game, I can't wait to see what's next.
