Psychonauts 2: All Emotional Baggage tag and bag locations
Finding every Emotional Baggage location in Psychonauts 2 is no easy task. If you need some guidance, here's where you can find all bags and tags in the game.
Psychonauts 2: Scavenger hunt side-quest guide
If you're scratching your brain trying to find any of these scavenger hunt items in Psychonauts 2, our guide will help clear up any mental blocks in your way.
Psychonauts 2: All Half a mind locations
If you're in need of some extra HP to help you on your quest to save the Psychonauts in Psychonauts 2, we'll help you track down all the Half-A-Minds there are.
The best badges in Psychonauts 2
Psychic abilities, known as badges, have many uses, but not all are created equal. Here is everything you need to know about the best badges in Psychonauts 2.
Psychonauts 2: Nuggets of wisdom locations
Ranking up can be time-consuming normally, but there are 29 Nuggets of Wisdom across all the levels in Psychonauts 2 to help give your brain a mental boost.
Psychonauts 2: 9 tips and tricks for combat
Psychonauts 2 combat isn't too challenging, but it's very different from its predecessor. Here are some tips and tricks to make combat easier in Psychonauts 2.
Psychonauts 2 review: Empathy and creativity go hand in hand
This charming platformer is not afraid to tackle the topic of mental health with great empathy and sincerity.
New Gang Beasts Update Incoming as Boneloaf Moves to Self Publish
One of the earliest virtual reality (VR) compatible party titles was Boneloaf’s Gang Beasts for Oculus Rift back in 2016. This week the studio has announced details regarding its next update as well as going into self publishing due to its publisher Double Fine Presents being wound down.
As part of Microsoft’s big splurge on videogame studios in the past few years, Double Fine was acquired and brought under the Xbox Game Studios banner. However, this meant that publishing arm Double Fine Presents was no longer required, shuttering operations in the process.
So this required Boneloaf to look for another publisher or do that work in-house, of which it chose the latter. In addition to this, the studio is preparing a new build which will be released as a Steam beta in July.
Currently going through testing, the new build v1.13 will feature a modified wheel stage supporting online gameplay as well as optimisations and fixes for UI, audio, costumes, gameplay, and achievements.
Here’s the full statement from Boneloaf:
“So, we wanted to let you know what’s going on here at Boneloaf. We have some information regarding Double Fine and us, and when the next Gang Beasts update is coming.
“As some of you know, Boneloaf has been working with Double Fine Presents for some time. They’ve given us advice, they’ve given us splendiferous support, and most importantly, they’ve become friends and mentors to us.
“We love Double Fine and they have been really fantastic to us. What Tim and his company built is pretty wonderful, but with Double Fine Presents winding down due to Double Fine’s acquisition by Xbox Game Studios last year, we think it is a good time for Boneloaf to stand on its own… legs and publish Gang Beasts ourselves.
“Anyway, that’s the news about Boneloaf and Double Fine. What about Gang Beasts? Currently we’re testing build 1.13, the next release. Build 1.13 is made with Unity 2019.3 and includes a modified version of the wheel stage with support for online game modes and a series of optimisations and fixes for UI, audio, costumes, gameplay, and achievements.
“We plan to make this build available for testing as a Steam beta next month. The 1.13 build will be released for supported platforms (Steam, Humble Bundle, PS4, Xbox One, and Oculus Rift and Oculus Rift S) when testing ends. We are also working on new stages and costumes, more information coming soon.”
In Gang Beasts players take control of gelatinous characters to fight one another in melee combat, with silly results. As Boneloaf continues to update the title, VRFocus will let you know.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Out Now for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift
A little over a year ago Double Fine Productions released its first virtual reality (VR) title for PlayStation VR, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, bridging the story gap between the original Psychonauts and the forthcoming sequel Psychonauts 2. Today, the studio has announced the release of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin on Steam, supporting both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a mind-bending adventure puzzle videogame where players will assume the role of Raz, an intrepid young psychic and fully fledged member of the Psychonauts — an elite group of international psychic secret agents. Taking place through Raz’s eye in first-person, players will be able to use his various psychic powers to affect the world, and solve the various challenges. Double Fine Productions has designed to be fun for long time fans, as well as those new to the franchise.
These powers include Clairvoyance, allowing players to see through the eyes of others, and explore the environment, whilst other abilities such as Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis enable them to move things around with the power of their mind, or just set them on fire.
The story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Psychonauts (2005)—with Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Coach Oleander flying off to rescue Truman Zannotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. Their mission takes them straight into the heart of the Rhombus of Ruin—a mysterious part of the ocean as deadly as two Bermuda Triangles back to back.
To keep things consistent with the first videogame original voice actors Richard Horvitz, Nicki Rapp, and others have returned to reprise their roles, and original composer Peter McConnell has written brand new music for this latest adventure.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is available now for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift for $19.99 USD. For the first week there will be a 20 percent discount available. For any further updates from Double Fine Productions, keep reading VRFocus.
Review: Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin
Double Fine has become know for its unique approach to creating videogames, which usually boast an individual style and look that makes them stand out. One of its most beloved properties is Psychonauts, which has gained a substantial cult following. Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin came out on the PlayStation VR in March 2017, over a year later it has made the jump to PC, has the platform switch done it good?
Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin acts as an interquel between the original Psychonauts and the upcoming Psychonauts 2, picking up almost directly where the original title ended. The group, consisting of Raz, Lilli, Sasha, Milla and Coach Oleander stumble upon the mysterious Rhombus of Ruin, the location of a long-abandoned Psychonauts facility where our heroes find themselves trapped, forced to solve the mystery of the facility before they can escape.
Knowledge of the original Psychonauts does help, here, but isn’t completely essential, as Rhombus of Ruin has a largely self-contained story, though there are some interesting character insights to be had for fans of the series. The writing is top-notch, containing sharp, observational humour without being mean-spirited. The characters posses a camaraderie which helps build the world and contribute to the sense of immersion.
The graphics maintain the peculiar, almost Tim Burton-esque style of the first Psychonauts, featuring strange and surreal environments that work surprisingly well in virtual reality (VR). The animation is excellent, and everything moves along at a great pace and smooth, stable framerate. The story plants you in an area that causes hallucinations, which can result in some very strange and trippy visuals, though despite this, nothing that cause headaches or simulation sickness.
In fact, its a very comfortable experience to play overall. The gameplay is primarily puzzle-based, with Raz trapped in a chair for the majority of the story, using his psychic powers to body-hop around, meaning that this is mostly a seated experience. The controls are very good, and using the Oculus Touch is decidedly a step-up from the somewhat clunky PlayStation Move controllers, and everything quickly becomes second nature.
As with the first Psychonauts, exploring and playing around is pretty much encouraged, and there are some cute and amusing Easter Eggs to discover – in fact, at least one of those might be new to the PC version, though this is yet to be confirmed. Of course, messing with psychic powers in VR is glorious fun.
The only two real issues are the body-hop mechanic, which works as a means of providing movement, does get tedious later on, and can be frustrating at times and feels a little primitive in a time where an increasing number of titles are using free locomotion. The other is the length. It is very short, at roughly two and a half hours of content and not a huge amount of replay-ability unless you want to hunt for Easter eggs.
In all, there feel like somewhat minor gripes for a well-crafted, if somewhat brief, VR experience that delivers great storytelling and characterisation in a fascinating and funny universe. If it had a proper ended instead of just..stopping, it would be truly sublime.
80%
Awesome
-
Verdict