Release
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Critic score
85/100
Platform families
5
Editorial overview
Inside Psychonauts
What it is
Psychonauts is a platform-adventure game developed by Double Fine Productions and released in 2005. It follows Razputin “Raz” Aquato, a young psychic who runs away from the circus to attend a summer camp for aspiring psychonauts. Players explore imaginative levels set inside the minds of different characters, each reflecting their mental states. Gameplay combines platforming, combat, and the use of psychic abilities such as telekinesis and levitation. The game was praised for its creativity, humor, and distinctive art style.
The premise
Razputin ""Raz"" Aquato, the son of circus performers, flees his family to sneak into Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a government facility disguised as a children's camp where young psychics train to become Psychonauts, elite agents with supernatural abilities. Despite being told he cannot participate without parental consent, Raz impresses the instructors enough to earn advanced training. During one session, he witnesses a disturbing vision of a mad dentist extracting a camper's brain.
When Raz discovers the vision was real and that a conspiracy is underway to harvest camper brains for use in psychic weaponry, the adult Psychonauts refuse to believe him. With his fellow campers disappearing one by one, Raz must venture alone into the abandoned asylum across the lake, entering the fractured minds of its residents to gain their help, all while racing to rescue those he cares about before the plot reaches its terrifying conclusion.
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