Double Fine CEO Gives a Quick Psychonauts 2 Update

Double Fine CEO Gives a Quick Psychonauts 2 Update

By Heidi Nicholas, 29 Nov 2019
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Tim Schafer, President and CEO of Xbox Game Studio Double Fine, gives a little update on Psychonauts 2. It seems he basically wants to reassure fans that the game's well, they're well, everything's going well, before they "succumb" to a few days off for a Thanksgiving "food coma". In fact, everything's apparently going so well that Schafer says progress may even speed up.

Double Fine had been working on rougelite game RAD, set in a world where humanity had already suffered two armageddons. RAD released back in August, freeing up some of the Double Fine team to come over to work on Psychonauts 2. A lot of the video below is their introduction; Nick Maksim and Janice Bell, Environment Artists, Lee Petty, Project Lead, Alex Turner, Animator, and Miyuki Richardson, Senior Animator. Schafer says these additions will help speed things along, and that it'll e their biggest development team since they launched Brutal Legend back in 2009. RAD came out before Double Fine joined Microsoft's roster of Game Studios, but now that they're under Microsoft's wing, Schafer thinks they'll be able to make Psychonauts 2 even better. He says the acquisition means "we're ensured to have the time and resources we need to make Psychonauts 2 an even better game than it was going to be before", whilst the addition of the RAD team means the game will have more detail and be even "crazier".

Schafer also mentions that they're at the stage where they have "a whole ton of things" they want to show everyone, but that it's difficult to figure out how to do so without also revealing a ton of spoilers. This video is a little in-between update whilst they figure out how best to show everyone what they've been up to, but they promise another catch up "soon". The game's been delayed to 2020, and it's been a little while since there's been any significant updates, so it would make sense for Double Fine to share some details sooner rather than later.

Psychonauts 2 is a follow on from the first game, about a ten-year-old circus runaway named Razputin and his dream of joining the Psychonauts, an elite team of psychic secret agents. The first game had him trekking through their training camp; Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. In Psychonauts 2, he's in the team, and heading to their headqaurters: the Mother Lobe. Psychonauts 2 has new abilities and new characters, who'll have their minds explored by Raz as he solves mysteries, foils plots, and generally gets the Psychonauts headquarters back into shape.

We still don't have a firm release date for Psychonauts 2, just that it'll be some time in 2020. But Double Fine are now working under Microsoft, and Schafer implied we'll be hearing from them soon, plus he seems pretty enthusiastic about the growing team working on the game, so it shouldn't be long before we hear more details. We'll update you with all Psychonauts 2 news as soon as we get it.
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Written by Heidi Nicholas
Hey, I'm Heidi! I've just finished studying a Masters in English Literature, but I've been obsessed with gaming since long before then. I began on the PS2 with Spyro, before graduating to the Xbox 360 and disappearing into Skyrim. I'm now a loyal RPG fan, but I still like to explore other genres — when I'm not playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, or being lured back into Red Dead Redemption 2 or The Witcher 3!