What Made Psychonauts Special

Let me tell you about a game called Psychonauts. It came out in 2005 and it is a cult classic. Which means it's really good - but also that nobody one actually bought it. And that means there will be plenty of people watching this video who have no idea why this game is held up in such high regard. And that is what I, internet video man, am here to explain. But first, some background. Psychonauts was the first game by Double Fine Productions - a studio formed by Tim Schafer, and a few of his friends from LucasArts, which is where he made point and click adventures like Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle.

And in that last one, Schafer wanted to have a section where biker hero Ben would take peyote, and go on a psychedelic vision quest inside his own mind. But, Lucas wasn't really into the whole hallucinogenic thing, and the vision quest got scrapped. Until, a decade-or-so later, when that idea got reworked for Psychonauts. In this game, circus runaway Raz has the power to enter other people's minds and bounce around in their subconscious.

But this isn't a point and click adventure - though it does have some item puzzles. Instead, it's a 3D collect-a-thon platformer, like Banjo Kazooie. Though, where games of that nature generally had pretty random world themes, in Psychonauts, because every level is set inside someone's noggin, each world gives the player a unique insight into that character's personality. The mind of grizzled war veteran Coach Oleander, for example, is a constant battlefield, while extravert Milla Vordello has a lively party playing in her head.

And the brain of stoic Psychonaut Sasha Nein is a well organised, monochromatic cube. Dig a bit deeper, though, and you'll find repressed memories and emotional baggage lurking beneath the surface. A hidden memory vault reveals that Oleander never actually made it into the army. Milla keeps nightmares looked away in a secret room. And Sasha's tightly packed mind explodes out into vignettes from his troubled past. SASHA NEIN: Raz, what have you done? This is not control, this is chaos!

Those three brains are just the tutorials, though, teaching you how to jump, shoot, and levitate. As you leave the camp, enter the mental asylum across the lake, and start exploring minds that are, let's say, unmoored from reality, things start getting really good. A fan favourite level is The Milkman Conspiracy. This level takes place in the twisted mind of Boyd Cooper. And I mean twisted - his brain space is a cozy suburbia, that has been bent and skewed, tied in knots and folded over on itself.

Boyd is also rapt by paranoia, and so, his level is filled with cameras, prying eyes, and government agents in trench coats, who are poorly hiding as housewifes, plumbers, and grieving widows. AGENT: The dead people are underground, and I have brought flowers because... I am sad. Because Boyd feels like he is being watched... BOYD: Be careful! They're watching. All... the... time. The actual gameplay of the level has you obsessing over how other characters see you. You need to find disguises to infiltrate the agents' groups, and can use the level's new power-up, clairvoyance, to see how other characters perceive you.

Also, where Milla's nightmares are locked away, Boyd's roam free, and take you on in a scrappy boss fight. And while other stages feature censors, who block out unhealthy thoughts, Boyd's level is missing these enemies, showing just how far his mind has gone. Both the disorientating design of the level, and the perception-based gameplay we perform, reveal that Boyd's mind has been twisted by delusions of persecution and paranoid conspiracy theories.

And so, while Boyd is just a gibbering mess in the real world, we get to understand how he truly feels, by playing his level. The Milkman Conspiracy is certainly the best level in Psychonauts, but other stages offer similar treasures. In Black Velvetopia, we explore the mind of tortured artist Edgar Teglee, and Raz must contend with a rampaging bull - a manifestation of Teglee's rage - who charges down narrow streets. If Raz gets hit, he's pushed back earlier into the level, perhaps showing Edgar's unending battle with this part of his psyche.

To really understand this level, you need to get these mental vaults. Now, each level in Psychonauts features collectibles. Like, loads of collectibles. Probably too many, including figments of imagination, emotional baggage, and mental cobwebs. But the vaults are the key, as each one reveals more about the characters on screen. Teglee's vault show that this guy's girlfriend was pinched by a football player. Heartbroken, Teglee ends us losing his next wrestling match.

With the vault in mind, we can understand why Raz must fight four wrestlers: they represent Teglee's bitter team mates. And we can see how Edgar has buried his high school memories beneath a delusional bullfighting drama - by literally burying bits of a high school in the sewers, deep beneath a black velvet city. Raz must also use art to help overcome Teglee's troubles, by using paintings as doorways and magic props - which reflects Edgar's actions back out in the real world.

And let me show just one more level, Gloria's Theater. Gloria Von Gouton is a fallen actress who suffers from severe mood swings, caused by bipolar disorder. The level, of course, takes places in a theatre, with a play that recreates the story of her troubled upbringing. ACTRESS: Your mom has a career and a boyfriend to think about. She doesn't have time for an ugly little girl like you. To match the bipolar disorder, Raz can whack a switch, to change the mood from happy to sad and back again, which changes the mood of the play and can make enemies appear on the stage.

To finish the level, Raz must use both sides of Gloria's personality, to finish a puzzle based around the play and its set, so he can get up into the rafters, beat up Gloria's inner critic and, uh, cure her. Yes. In each of these mental asylum levels, the end goal is to fix that character's disorders so Raz can bypass them. And yes, Psychonauts does run the risk, at times, of representing mental illness in too simple terms, with stereotypes and easy cures.

But it's notable that it doesn't turn these characters into villains, or even jokes. Psychonauts is a rarity in that it's a genuinely funny video game, but these asylum patients are rarely the punchline. In fact, the game allows us to empathise with these people, by letting us see what it's like to be inside their head. And I think that's what makes Psychonauts special: it uses level design in such a way that what the level looks like - and what you end up doing in that level - says so much about the character in question.

And it's also more interesting, I think, than just getting these stories through a cutscene or a dialogue tree. Instead, you need to think about what each element represents, and how it ties into the secret clues you've found scattered throughout the level. You're doing archeology and psychotherapy and English lit - all while punching a giant fish in the face. The point is, level design can tell a story. And you don't have to go inside someone's brain to see this: as I talked about in my episode on Fort Frolic, Bioshock explored the character of Sander Cohen - a much less successful portrait of mental illness, I should note - through the design of the level, and the tasks that you're asked to perform, specifically photography and dance.

Loads of great games are packed with this sort of narrative, with environmental storytelling and mechanics that double up as metaphors. So I'll definitely be exploring more of this stuff in the future. For Psychonauts, though - it might not be the world's greatest platformer. Or puzzle game. But the way it weaves level design and characterisation together, so you can better understand the game's troubled cast of characters simply by playing the game - is perhaps the main reason why it deserves its cult classic status.

RAZ: They may come for me Dogan, but they'll be looking for Raz, the boy. What they're going to find, what they don't expect, is Raz, the Psychonaut. DOGAN: And then you'll make their heads explode? RAZ: No! Do you do that? DOGAN: No! Well, once... kidna. Hey there. Game Maker's Toolkit is funded over on the crowd-funding website Patreon. These are my ultra-special top tier supporters. Psychonauts was actually the first game we played as part of our new GameClub, which is where Patrons and I vote for a game, play it, and then chat about the game's design.

Thanks to everyone who joined in and gave their thoughts, and definitely helped me sound more smart in this episode than I actually am. More smart? Smarter? See, that's what I'm talking about.