Psychonauts 2 is 66% off on Steam right now alongside other Double Fine discounts
Psychonauts 2 is 66% off on Steam right now, and a whole bunch of Double Fine titles are discounted too.
Psychonauts 2: Queepie location side-quest guide
You will get some clues as to where Queepie has hidden himself when you get close enough. Here are all of his hiding spots in Psychonauts 2.
Psychonauts 2 beginner’s guide
Psychonauts 2 is a game filled with collectibles, unlockables, and plenty of ways to upgrade your skills. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get started.
Xbox Game Pass adds Myst, Psychonauts 2, and more in August
Xbox is bringing Myst, Psychonauts 2, and Twelve Minutes to Game Pass all on day one.
Psychonauts 2 brings psychic goofiness later this summer
Psychonauts 2 got a new trailer and a release date at Microsoft's E3 show.
‘Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin’ for PC Review – a Veritable Saturday-morning Cartoon in VR
Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin takes place between the events of Psychonauts (2005) and the upcoming Psychonauts 2 due out later this year. Exclusively available in VR, In the Rhombus of Ruin strays from the 3D platformer genre of its flatscreen cousins and harks back to the early days of point-and-click games using a locomotion system that lets you teleport your consciousness into other living creatures.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Details:
Developer: Double Fine
Available On: Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows VR), Oculus Home (Rift)
Reviewed On: Oculus Rift
Release Date: April 19th, 2018 (Feb. 21st, 2017 on PSVR)
Gameplay
The story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Psychonauts—with Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Coach Oleander flying off to rescue Truman Zannotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. For Raz’s first mission as a honest-to-goodness member of the super hero team, you’re taken into the heart of the Rhombus of Ruin, an ultra mysterious and dangerous part of the ocean similar to the Bermuda Triangle. With the rescue party’s plane drawn into the Rhombus of Ruin and held prisoners, you find yourself immobilized with only your psychic abilities to reunite the rest of the Psychonauts, reveal the identity of the mysterious kidnapper, and free Truman before the madness of the Rhombus turns everyone crazy. In short, it’s basically the plot of an animated adventure you might find in theaters or on Cartoon Network.
Despite being kidnapped and having your team put under a mind-bending spell by a mysterious nemesis, the game includes only one (very tame) combat situation while primarily focusing on puzzles. With the ability to teleport your consciousness to any living being in sight, you’ll explore levels and generally solve puzzles through buttons and levers, but also using some of your other psychic skills such as pyrokinesis and a psy-blast, a percussive surge of psychic energy.
Puzzles range from extremely simple (find the code) to a little more taxing, but ultimately pretty easy difficulty level. Much to my chagrin, Raz the protagonist is voiced, so you’ll always have that helping hand to lead you through each puzzle. Personally I find this annoying on principle, because if you don’t immediately get something right, you’ll be forced to hear an exclamatory (and entirely unprompted) bit of repeating dialogue to the effect of “I wonder what will happen when I do this obvious solution.” The voice acting itself is very well done however, taking the edge off what might otherwise be a fun-breaking annoyance. In the end, I found the puzzles varied, but too simple to really keep my attention.
Humor is on the campy side, but it’s the sort of corny dad jokes that make you groan, but also smile a bit too; that’s the Psychonauts franchise for you.
Level design, while only allowing for a straight path through the game, takes you through an interesting assortment of environments. After a while though, the whole forward push through got a little too paint-by-numbers for me, as you teleport from nodes that always appear on cue, be it a fish that conveniently swims into view or a rat that scurries out from a hiding place just in time. Combined with the fact that you’re constantly swept along by Raz’s helpful direction, there’s unfortunately little to no true exploration to be had—a shame considering how inviting everything seems.
In the end, I found the 1.5 hour gameplay length on the short side, including an abrupt ending that left me a little deflated.
Immersion
One of the first things you notice about the Psychonauts in Rhombus of Ruin is just how good everything looks. The art style totally captures an incredible vibe that actually makes you feel like you’ve stepping straight into a late ’90s Saturday morning cartoon.
The character design is nothing short of masterful, not only making good use of color and texture, but also shows great attention to detail in how characters express themselves. To that effect, I felt the world’s humanoid characters creep a little too close to the uncanny valley—if only because of how human they acted while still appearing truly bizarre from the 1:1 immersive viewpoint of a VR headset. It’s not something I got too hung up on though, because most of the time you’re zipping from one cartoony animal to the next, or to the occasional diving suit-wearing antagonist.
Hand presence is unfortunately nill, as you are a bodiless, handless entity that pops into the minds of other people and species. But even when you should have arms, you don’t, making it a little less immersive than it could have been. Since you don’t have any hands, you interact with the world’s many objects through telekinesis, which fits in well at least.
My primary beef immersion-wise with Rhombus of Ruin is the constant chatter from both Raz and your teammates, but you’ve already heard me gripe enough about that. From the difficulty level to the art style – everything leads me to believe Psychonauts is skewing more for the younger teenage crowd, and let’s face it: those people don’t know when to shut up, so it’s a lot less damning than I make it seem on face value.
Comfort
Gaze-based controls, while fitting the whole psychic ability motif, can be fiddly at moments. Highlighting and selecting an object or node isn’t always an easy task, and I found myself having to use my neck for something it isn’t designed for—as a fine point device that I know with time can lead to neck strain. Because of the relative length of the game, I didn’t have any issues with my neck seizing up, but I wouldn’t want to go in for a 2 hour session if it the game were somehow longer.
Besides that, node teleportation is by far one of the most comfortable ways of moving through a VR game, although it carries with it the usual caveats of limiting the visual continuity, knocking a few ticks from the player’s overall immersion.
The post ‘Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin’ for PC Review – a Veritable Saturday-morning Cartoon in VR appeared first on Road to VR.
Something For The Weekend: Mid-April PlayStation VR Savings
It is time once again to explore the PlayStation store to find some of the latest deals on virtual reality (VR) titles. To help you out VRFocus has put together some of the best deals to help you find your next favourite. As always be sure to check back every weekend for even more deals right here on VRFocus.
Accounting+
If you are a fan of Rick & Morty then you are sure to find enjoyment in Accounting+, a VR experience unlike anything you have seen before brought to you by Justin Roilan. Developed by Crows Crows Crows and Squach Games, Accounting+ is a weird title full of humor that invites players to interact with a number of colorful characters and complete numerous tasks and challenges. This includes playing with bombs, cutting characters open, playing the bone xylophone and many other bizarre activities.
Accounting+ is currently on sale for for £6.49 (GBP) down from £9.49 and recently added a new waterpark level.
No Heroes Allowed! VR
Real-time strategy (RTS) title No Heroes Allowed! VR puts players in the shoes of the God of Destruction who must work towards world domination with the help of your sidekicks Badman and Badmella. VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce previewed the title saying “No Heroes Allowed! VR’s story, as may be assumed from the title, sees the player cast as the bad guy. However the aesthetic of the videogame is perfectly designed for family-friendly gameplay” later adding “No Heroes Allowed! VR provides a compelling RTS experience unique to VR.”
No Heroes Allowed! VR is currently on sale for for £19.99 (GBP) down from £24.99 with PlayStation Plus members saving an extra 20%.
Batman: Arkham VR
Become the Batman in this immersive experience that puts you into the shoes of the Dark Knight himself. Experience Gotham City through the eyes of the World’s Greatest Detective in an all new Arkham mystery. Think like Batman and utilize all the gadgets available to you in order to unravel a plot that could threaten the lives of Batman‘s closest allies.
Batman: Arkham VR is currently the low price of £11.99 (GBP) down from £15.99 with PlayStation Plus members saving an extra 25%.
The Inpatient
“The Inpatient looks set to offer an experience completely different to its predecessor Until Dawn – they’re both set in the same universe – a far more tactile tale, where exploring the story is much more key. It might be because of the hospital theme but playing the demo instantly feels very reminiscent of Wilson’s Heart for Oculus Rift and that’s no bad thing. If Supermassive Games can create an engaging storyline and gameplay to go with the impressive visuals then PlayStation VR might have another hit on its hands.” – Read VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham’s preview of The Inpatient here.
The Inpatient is currently on sale for £23.39 (GBP) down from £29.99 with PlayStation Plus members saving an extra 20%.
Sports Bar VR
“Bringing the virtual pub experience to your living room. Sports Bar VR is the ultimate social experience available on PlayStation VR, featuring an awesome set of bar games, an incredible pool simulation and an amazingly detailed sports bar overflowing with fun and silly physics props. Join up with 12 of your friends to hangout and play some air hockey, throw a few rounds of darts or build an insane dominoes setup using books, chairs, bottles and whatever else you can find. Play with friends or offline against the AI, earn experience points and unlock a wide array of collectable hats and fun objects to add a bit of swagger to your VR style.”
Sports Bar VR is now only £7.39 (GBP) down from £14.99.
VRFC Virtual Reality Football Club
“VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club is a welcome foundation for sports simulations in VR, and with the FIFA franchise now surpassing 25 editions (not including the many spin-offs such as FIFA Street and FIFA World Cup), it’s a wonder to think exactly how much of VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club will remain in VR football 25 years from now.” – Read VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce’s review of VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club here.
VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club is available for only £7.39 (GBP) which is down from £14.99.
Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin
In this VR title players get to expereince an all-new adventure that takes players back into the mysterious and paranormal world of the Psyhconauts. Take control of Raz and carry on from where the first game finished on a journey to rescure the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. When things go somewhat wrong it is up to the player to not only save the kidnapped prisoner but also the rescue party themselves.
Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin is on sale for £10.06 (GBP) down from £15.49 with PlayStation Plus members able to save an extra 35%.
Crisis On the Planet of the Apes
“Five years since its outbreak, the “Simian Flu” has wiped out half of humanity and left other primates…changed. You are an ape with advanced intelligence, captured and held prisoner in a heavily guarded scientific facility as mankind desperately searches for a cure. Your mission: Climb, jump and shoot through the chaos of an apocalyptical world to escape with your fellow apes and return home at the crossroads of two species’ destinies.”
Crisis On the Planet of the Apes is currently on sale for PlayStation Plus members for £8.39 (GBP) down from £11.99.
Time Carnage
“Time Carnage is well-made, and is a fine, competent example of its genre, with some excellent music and sound design, though it ultimately fails to stand out amidst many other similar titles that litter VR videogame libraries. Shooting dinosaurs is still lots of fun, though.” – Read VRFocus’ Staff Writer Rebecca Hills-Duty’s review of Time Carnage here.
Time Carnage is currently only £12.79 (GBP) for PlayStation Plus members down from £15.99.
Carnival Games VR
Finally this week is the title all about enjoying the carnival. In Carnival Games VR players are able to take part in 12 different mini-games and earn tickets to win fun virtual prizes or unlock additional activities to complete. Whether it’s scaling a castle in Climbing Wall, rolling for a high score in Alley Ball or shooting basketballs in Swish – there is something for everyone in this title.
Carnival Games VR is available for only £11.19 (GBP) right now on sale from £15.99 with an extra 30% saving for PlayStation Plus members.
That is all for this week but remember that VRFocus gathers all the best deals every week, so check back next weekend at the same time to discover more.
Don’t get psyched just yet — Double Fine delays ‘Psychonauts 2’ past 2018
Psychonauts 2, the sequel to the cult hit 2005 game Psychonauts, will no longer be releasing in 2018, developer Double Fine revealed. No new release window has been offered as of yet.
The post Don’t get psyched just yet — Double Fine delays ‘Psychonauts 2’ past 2018 appeared first on Digital Trends.
Double Fine Get Physical With Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Release
Those of you with a PlayStation VR headset might want to pick it up again – Double Fine just released Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin. The game is available to purchase right now, physically, from GameStop and of course digitally via PlayStation Store. The game is also available on Amazon for pre-order, with them shipping the game on June 13th 2017.
Psychonauts is a beloved cult franchise, with fans of the series eager to get back into Raz’s unique world. VRFocus said of the sequel “A great deal of attention has been paid to the strengths and weaknesses of VR in order to make the best of the technology, and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’s preview build teases a memorable experience lying ahead. Despite all the action and adrenaline-pumping videogames on the horizon for PlayStation VR, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’s more sedate adventure is one of the most promising yet seen for the format.”
Physical copies of the game can be bought from GameStop and Amazon for $29.99 USD, while on the PlayStation Store it can be found for $19.99. As a bonus, the physical editions come with a voucher for the original Psychonauts on PlayStation 4. If you’re interested in The Rhombus of Ruin, take a look at the trailer below.
For more on Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin and PlayStation VR stay on VRFocus.
Swedish studio Starbreeze to publish ‘Psychonauts’ sequel in 2018
Starbreeze, a game studio best known for developing The Darkness and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, will be publishing Psychonauts 2. As part of the agreement, $8 million in additionl funding will be going toward the project.
The post Swedish studio Starbreeze to publish ‘Psychonauts’ sequel in 2018 appeared first on Digital Trends.