Psychonauts

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox One
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Double Fine Productions

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'Psychonauts' (ALL) Update Adds Achievements, Cloud Saves, Modified Meat Circus

by Rainier on Sept. 29, 2011 @ 1:51 p.m. PDT

Psychonauts follows the story of a young psychic named Razputin in his quest to join an elite group of international psychic secret agents, the Psychonauts!

Any mind, any time. For years, the Psychonauts have deployed their psychically-armed operatives all over the world, but this time trouble is brewing right in their own backyard. Someone is abducting students from the Psychonaut boot camp—a deranged scientist who only wants their brains. One cadet—a mysterious and powerful new arrival named Raz—stands alone against the lunatic. Raz must develop and unleash an arsenal of paranormal powers, including telekinesis, firestarting, clairvoyance, and his most powerful weapon of all—the ability to launch himself telepathically into someone else’s mind, and run around in the demented amusement park of their imagination. Raz takes on their inner demons face to face, wrestles with their nightmares, and digs up their secret memories. Ultimately he must enter the mind of his worst enemy and destroy his dark plans at their source, while trying not to lose his sanity in the process.

As of today, Steam users may download a free update to their Psychonauts game which includes--for the first time--achievements, cloud saves, and a slightly modified Meat Circus.

“We are really excited,” said Double Fine President Tim Schafer, “to finally be answering fans’ requests for a more difficult Meat Circus.”

Mr. Schafer was probably joking about that last part, as Meat Circus, one of the original game’s most difficult sections, has been made slightly less punishing in this update.

“Mostly because I’m getting older and it’s hard for me to press buttons that quickly. Hey, don’t forget to mention the achievements!” Schafer added, unnecessarily, because we already mentioned that feature.

“What about the part I paid for?” asked Steven Dengler, CEO of Dracogen Strategic Investments, which is a private investment firm interested in making cool things happen, and not a clan of evil dragons, plotting to take over the world like it sounds. Double Fine has partnered with Dracogen to bring Psychonauts to the Mac OS X. The Mac version is available now on Steam and the Mac App Store, as well as several different online digital retailers.

“I have been a fan of Psychonauts and Double Fine for a long time,” continued Dengler, “and I’m extremely happy to be helping them bring their games to new platforms like the Macintosh. All hail the supremacy of Dragons!”

To show how excited they are about their first ever Apple product, Double Fine has also produced a free Psychonauts companion app for iPhone/iPad. The Psychonauts Vault Viewer lets players view all of their favorite Memory Vaults from Psychonauts (even the ones they never found) on their handheld iOS device. Every vault from the game is included, plus newly-recorded audio commentary from Tim Schafer and Scott Campbell for every slide of every vault. The app is available now in the iOS App Store.

“Excellent,” Said the dragons. “Everything is moving forward as planned.”

Key Features:

  • Embark on a third-person psychic odyssey through thirteen incredibly unique levels: three set in the real world, and 10 set inside the mental worlds of misfits, monsters and madmen
  • Rise up in rank as you collect figments of other people’s imaginations, sort their emotional baggage, clear out their mental cobwebs, and crack open their memory vaults
  • Complete special training missions to learn the power of Levitation and the ability to focus Raz’ mental energy into a powerful PSI-Blast
  • Rank up to earn more psychic powers such as Telekinesis (toss enemies or objects with your mind), Invisibility (convince your foes they can’t see you), Pyrokinesis (set the world on fire), Clairvoyance (see through the eyes of another), and Confusion (cloud the minds of your enemies, play tricks on your friends)
  • Put your thoughts to use—Raz can grab the thought bubble over his head and pull it down around himself as a shield, hang from it like a hot air balloon, or jump on top of it and ride it around like a skateboard.
  • Interact with a multitude of dynamic environmental features, such as tightropes, trapezes, ladders, poles, ledges, trampolines, climbing walls and rail slides.
  • Non-linear gameplay with incredible depth offers players multiple paths and sub-challenges (digging up PSItanium arrowheads, finding lost brains, telekinetic canoeing, and winning the psychic scavenger hunt) so there is always a goal to accomplish
  • Immersive story injected with lots of humor features vivid characters and a range of unique and wildly imaginative environments
  • Challenging puzzles span a range of difficulty, with alternate solutions that self-tailor themselves to the player’s own strengths and abilities
  • Created by Tim Schafer, the visionary designer of award winning titles including Grim Fandango and Full Throttle

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