Session 1 Instructions:

Each of these question aims to get at a general notion, “what expectations (about this game) am I coming in with?” The goal in this reflection is not to test the accuracy of your predictions; rather, the goal is to identify and reflect upon the assumptions and biases you, as an observer, are bringing into the experience, as catalyzed by the games’ promotional material, introductory screen, any other descriptive or suggestive information.

Answer the Questions

With this in mind, respond to each of the following questions:

What will I like / dislike about it?

What will I find interesting about it/boring or tedious about it?

What will I need to do in it?

What will I need to learn within it?

What will it be like / similar to (other games I have played)?

Game: Psychonauts 2

Level of anticipation: Extremely high

Psychonauts 2

In preparation for this assignment, I intentionally did not listen to podcasts about Psychonauts 2 or read articles about it. I used only the promotional materials on Double Fine’s website and I know about only the reputation of the game (that it’s good) from end of year best in game lists for 2021.

Prior Knowledge:

I know that Psychonauts 2 is a sequel, obviously, it’s in the name. I also know that the first Psychonauts underperformed commercially though I don’t actually know why having never played it myself or seen much media on it. I don’t know anything about the plot or universe except what was written in game promo.

Like/Dislike

I know the game is a type of platformer and I like games that involve a lot of platforming. I also tend to like games that are more limited in scope with either linear or branching paths. Friends call me a game completionist since I dislike wandering through open world environments without direction or purpose (though I think the term is a little disparaging). I also know that the game is about psychic spies and from Double Fine’s promotional materials I understand that my main character Raz, will be delving into different minds for clues to solve a mystery. I love (like love, love) mystery stories and the idea of being inside different minds to experience different environments and challenges is extremely appealing.

I noticed in the trailer that there are a lot of cinematics. I might be wrong given that trailers sometimes focus on the cinematics to give players an idea of the story, but it does look very much like there will be many important cut scenes. I don’t tend to like cut scenes since they take control away from the player and for me, it takes away from the flow. I’d rather discover the story through lore. I’m also hoping I don’t need to control a camera. I know the game isn’t technically an RPG as it’s third person but there’s still often camera control in third-person games. I loathe camera control.

Interesting/Tedious

I love the look of the environments and since I sometimes play games purely for the art I think I’ll find entering new minds and seeing different map areas visually interesting. It looks like the game employs a few different animation styles as well which I also think will be interesting depending on how they reinforce the game mechanics or narrative.

Once the initial novelty of new environments wears off though, I may begin to find traversing the map tedious. Often, with platform games that also have large maps, I find travelling to be dull, especially if I have to go back because I missed something necessary or beneficial. Since this game has a story to follow in what I’m guessing will be in a particular way, I’m a bit wary of that happening.

Need to do:

I need to find clues to solve the mystery of what’s happened to my boss, Truman Zanotto, as they are acting oddly. I’m a member of a psychic espionage unit and to uncover these clues I’ll need to enter the minds of other characters and explore them while defeating enemies created by those minds. According to the press information provided by Double Fine, there’s also a mole in the organization that I’ll have to uncover who wants to bring back an enemy from the dead called Maligula. I assume given that they describe my character as a psychic acrobat, that there will be a number of interesting abilities to learn and employ both with my body and mind. I know that the story continues from the first Psychonauts, which I haven’t played so hopefully that doesn’t present too much of a barrier to enjoying the story in its sequel.

Need to learn:

I’m really not sure about this. I’ll need to learn new abilities for sure, depending on the mind and the enemy. I also think there’s a fair amount of backstory that I’ll need to learn about in order to find value in the missions and catch up on what I missed in the first game. I do know based on Double Fine’s available screenshots, that the learning system is evident, not stealth. It looks like it’s scaffolded a bit like Ori and the Blind Forest. I think I’ll learn abilities, then immediately practice them, then incorporate them into my repertoire of tools to use in the game.

Be like/ Similar To:

I feel like the combination of the third-person perspective, platforming, and point and click functionality reminds me the most of Little Nightmares. Even the way the character moves reminds me of the character in Little Nightmares. Same with the style of 3D animation. Also, same perspective, same point and click nature, and it has platforming elements. Story-wise (and also combat-wise and because of the psychic element), it reminds me of Control (which I loved but was super-bad at). The more physical controls look like they might be somewhat Portal-like (also the ‘portal’ of entering new minds/ potentially the puzzle-solving elements).

Session Fieldnotes

At the end of your fieldnotes for session one, craft one or two sentences (no more) that, for you, summarize your expectations prior to playing, and what these expectations are based on. Include one image that catalyzed and/or supported your expectations.

My expectations before playing are that while the mechanics of the game will feel familiar and will follow typical platformer/point and click genre conventions, the story and way the mechanics are applied to the story will feel fresh and meaningful.

Session 2 Instructions:

Play the game on your own: familiarize yourself with the controls, mechanics and interface; get an initial understanding of the game’s narrative and its aesthetic. Your goal is to “get a feel” for what it is asking from you, in terms of: inputs, emotion, and attention.

Note: If you use outside help at any point, make a note of that. The effort here is not to do anything “correctly”, but to diligently record whatever you do as you try to get a ‘handle’ on the game.

a) Descriptive Notes

Just write as you play -- write anything descriptive, records of objectives, hints, fragments of ideas, anything. You may elect to write as you play (i.e. pausing the game) or right after you have completed a play session. Try to get at least 60 minutes of play time.

Intro & Loboto’s Labyrinth

Full disclosure: I didn’t write while playing. I turned on my voice recorder and talked while I was playing, then went back and transcribed my speech. Labor-intensive but worth it to capture all of the nuances in Psychonauts 2 and more authentic than pausing and playing constantly.

Play session 1:

Mental health advisory at the very beginning identifying any triggers in the game as some themes relate to PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, and addiction. Also fears related to dentists and vomit?!?

Really long preamble about the first Psychonauts game and the rescue of the Head of the Psychonauts. (Felt really long but when I played it back it was maybe only 4 minutes.)

Clicked on a brain in jar to start a new game. New game picks up the narrative 3 days after the kidnap of the head of the Psychonauts, Truman Zanotto and one day after his rescue. Jib shot to overhead view of my cubicle and now I’m in a 3D view of my character. Play hasn’t started yet, still in cut scenes. The Psychonauts try to lure Dr. Loboto into telling them who hired him to kidnap TZ by having him win employee of the year and getting ‘his boss’ to sign off on a tropical vacation as a ploy to reveal ‘his boss’. Raz follows Dr. Loboto. Player has no control over when running/walking. Pop-up: X to punch. Loboto outpaces me and puts up barriers. Pop-up: A to jump, A twice to double jump, hold A down to jump longer before landing or double jumping.

Gravity changes in the corridor and I have to navigate the obstacles and new gravity issues by jumping from ledge to ledge of the cubicle/shelving. Pop-up: When hanging from a ledge, press A to pull up and B to drop. Confusing as I don’t know where gravity has shifted to (the side). Push against a wall while in the air to wall slide. Pop-up: A to wall jump. Another cut scene. Coach comes running by, fell in a hole? Pop-up: Press LB in any direction then press B to dodge. See first figments (of the imagination?) to collect to increase rank (every 100 figments collected – 1 new rank). Pop-up: RT to pick up and throw items using telekinesis. Pick up a tooth and replace it in a jaw to create a set of stairs and escape the hole.

More cut scenes. The next room is not on ‘Sasha’s’ plan. It’s a trap. Attack ‘thoughts that don’t belong’. Coach leaves me to my own devices to fend off the bad thoughts (censors) while he finds a way out. Pop-up: Brains represent the strength of Raz’s connection to the mental world, when mental energy is depleted, he will be reset to his last checkpoint. Attacks can be made by throwing objects, health can be picked up by defeating enemies or breaking open green objects. The combat was super fast and I don’t know how I defeated the enemies. There’s something wrong with Loboto’s brain. I see a crying duffle bag, and find an emotional baggage tag, and then sort the baggage out with the tag. Pop-up: Break open repressed memory cases to see what’s inside. How? Give up and keep collecting figments. Look at other rooms but they are separated from the playfield by glass. Go through the door.

I’m in a conference room, and my camera is limited. I hear Sasha, and I have to find another emotional baggage tag. Sasha keeps telling me it’s a trap and the Loboto couldn’t do this himself. Pup-up: RB blasts psychic energy from my head ‘PSI Blasts’. Plot for someone more ‘sinister’ helping Loboto is laid. I blast away the dentures but Sasha gets caught and carried away by some other dentures. There’s flying teeth holding a gold tooth that I need as a platform to move forward. Everything is still mouth themed and weird, more cut scenes.

I’m back in the ‘trap’ room but Sasha is with me not coach. Now there’s regrets in the room and I have to battle Loboto’s regrets. I’m mostly just pressing X to punch because I can’t remember all the combat mechanics yet. Two flying teeth (teeth characters are like two jersey shore characters or Italian mobsters) holding a golden door fly overhead after I defeat the regrets. The door is freed and I go through the door alone.

RB: PSI blast

RT: Telekinesis

LB: Pyrokinesis

LT: ?

X: Punch

A: Jump/double jump

Y: Dialoge

B: Drop/ exit

Play Session 2:

The pop-ups don’t last very long, have to be quick to read them. I go through the door and run to find Lili (Truman’s daughter – my girlfriend?). I jump over water and lose some health when I touch it. Cut scene. Lili asks me to burn down the posters in the room using my pyrokinesis. I have trouble aiming at where I need to burn with the camera. This section is really boring until I figure out there is a door behind one poster. I don’t know why the posters are a thing – maybe something from the first Psychonauts? I thought I had to burn all the posters but actually I couldn’t. When I break through to the next corridor I am confused by the posters, do I have to keep burning them all? Or just the ones I think are doors?

Platform mechanics are taking some getting used to. The distances aren’t clear between platforms and I’m not sure of the best camera angle to use to view the platforms. I find another emotional baggage and match it with a tag. Loboto says he’s protecting himself. I find myself in his office and I try to get all the figments. There’s a bag here but I don’t see any more tags. I burn another poster to get through a wall but there are enemies that I have to defeat and I can’t control the camera well enough yet to aim at them properly. Loboto really regrets his actions and says he wants to take it back. The two Lobotos in the scene (is he talking to himslef literally?) are like good shoulder angel, bad shoulder angel. Lili leaves me in combat while she tries to find a way out. I have to fight off the censors, regrets and doubts. Doubts are slimy purple enemies that are best burnt. There are waves of enemy combat in increasing difficulty. I die. I come back in the office room and go through to the combat area again. I use a combination of pyrokinesis, punches, and running away. I forget about the PSI blasts which I really should have used. I also don’t use telekinesis. Because I keep omitting these abilities, I keep dying. I die maybe 8 times before I get through the combat.

I finally break through and there’s yet another cut scene. Loboto keeps stalling and being defensive. Lili threatens to burn his poster. The control is back to me now though it takes me a sec to realize it and I burn the poster. Loboto grabs me and I fall down a hole where I meet Milla who is meditating and levitating at the same time.

LT = levitation

Combo = A long, A double jump, LT glide

I navigate through another set of platforming challenges using this combo in a room that looks like a cave. I have to jump on moving dental mirrors and teeth/parts of jaws to traverse the environment. I fall through a lot and die maybe 5-6 times. I finally make it through and with most of my health (brain power) intact.

New ability, to ‘roll’ with my thoughts, and literally roll on a ball through a maze over a glittery, electrified floor (LT = levitation can be used like this on the ground or like in the previous stage to glide while jumping). I get through the maze to a new environment. I’m all alone now, no Milla, Sasha, or Lili. It’s a watery world where I’m on bits of mouth and have to platform over moving teeth to reach Loboto. Small cut scene, and now I need to traverse the final stages to reach Loboto. I am blocked by all of the enemies I’ve encountered so far. I’m still learning the combat and so it takes me several times dying to get through. I get through by using my rolling ground level levitation. I reach Loboto and see the mysterious enemy (ID as yet unknown) who reveals our ultimate enemy is Maligula.

The Motherlobe Part 1

Play session 3:

Cut scene in the Psychonauts’ ship on the way to the Motherlobe. I reveal what I saw while with Loboto. Sasha identifies the ultimate enemy is Maligula. I reach the Motherlobe only to discover that I’m not really a member of the Psychonauts. Ford Cruller didn’t have the authority to make that really happen in the first game. The Lesser Head of the Psychonauts, Hollis Forsythe wasn’t impressed and made me an intern. I check in at the front desk, get my field manual and ‘thinkerprint’ for intern access.

Field Manual Pop-up: The guide through the world of Psychonauts. Progress is tracked in it, along with information about locations (maps), mental energy, resources, items, enemies, missions (to-do list), etc. Apparently, I’m trying to become a ‘true Junior Psychonaut’. The guide will therefore also keep track of my rank. I also learn that with my intern credit I can choose to upskill my powers. I realize when looking at the list of skills that I’d forgotten I can dodge.

Increase rank: By finding PSI challenge cards and markers (real world), Nuggets of Wisdom (in minds).

First mission, find and go to class in the Motherlobe classroom. I had some difficulty using the map. It didn’t tell me how I needed to highlight the features in the field guide to access them. I work out how to use the map and where to go to access the classroom.

The motherlobe is very cool. Like a round spaceship-y area with neon signs for the bowling alley, noodle bowl, classroom, mail room, etc.

On the way I find the Otto-Matic shop and I stop to buy a PSI core and got bonus PSI cards to achieve level 2. There’s also pins (like charms) to suit your style of play. I picked up 3 levitation pins that change my levitation ball color. Resources: PSI core, PSI pop, dream fluff, PSI-fold wallet, fluff pockets, minds eyelets. 3 resources, 3 ways to hold your stuff.

Cut scene where I meet new interns. I got freshered and now I’m in my underwear and locked in a storage room. I have to find a way out. I don’t really know what I’m looking for to get out. I spot a poster and I burn it to find another door. I look around and there’s a door I can’t get through. I need a key. I see a key and see a storage container and open it with the key to get a batch of psitanium metal.

I go back to the door I can’t get through since I realized that the key wasn’t for the door but for the storage container. I approach the keypad next to the door which I didn’t notice before and get a cut scene. I am apparently enabled with another ability called clairvoyance which means I can see through the eyes of other people and animals displaying an eye aura to learn hidden information about the world. It also makes the animation 2D. I have to equip the power with my cross arrow button thing. I enable clairvoyance by equipping it to a power slot (LB, LT, RB, or RT). I use it on RT and remove telekinesis. Now I can see the world from Harold the Rat’s perspective. I get the door code and disable clairvoyance to go through and continue.

I travel through the air ducts (visible through a window!), and overhear more information about Loboto since I’ve found myself in Sasha’s? lab. I get a new outfit because Sasha gives me clothes to replace my old ones. I meet the equipment guy, Otto, like in James Bond. I got some new intern credits while exploring the lab and achieve rank 3. Nothing else is interactive in the lab and I don’t get anymore information about Loboto.

I encounter another intern Norma on my way to Hollis’ office and get a scavenger hunt side mission (optional). I look in the plant for glowing purple psitanium. Mean other interns are mean. I use my clairvoyance on a random office person to get more psitanium. When I get to Hollis’ office, I get an assignment to help sort mail in the main room. I receive my assignment, and explore the rest of her office for resources. After looking carefully, I go back outside, have a weird side discussion with two other interns about a forbidden pirate radio (?) and then encounter Lili. She comes out of a hatch in the floor. I ask her how she did that and she give me thinkerprint access to the Otto BON (Otto’s Brain Only Network) for quick travel around the motherlobe. I follow it to the atrium and go to the mail room for my assignment. The doors scan me for my thinkerprint and off I go.

I can’t find Mr. Johnsmith in the mailroom (he’s meant to be my mentor). I hear another voice talking about getting Nick into trouble and that he’s usually really organized and wondering whether he’s okay. I have trouble with the clairvoyance ability on a new rat. It’s like the rat keeps running away and I get stuck with the camera. I meet the receptionist and I get blamed for not sorting the mail. I start sorting the mail by sending mail of the same color and symbol up the appropriate chute using telekinesis which I have to re-enable by removing clairvoyance (or another ability). Once I have my telekinesis enabled I can start sorting the post by throwing at the appropriate chute. I sort the post for a minute or two but then it turns into a cut scene. There is a large rectangular box addressed to Truman to be sorted and Raz decides he wants to deliver it personally. That becomes my new mission. I used my telekinesis to pick up the package and start back up toward the atrium. I lose control again at the atrium for another cut scene. It turns out the box has Nick inside and his brain has been sucked out. A crowd gathers around Raz. Nic is carrying a Lady Luctopus poker chip and the Psychnonauts say that the agent they sent there (33) is late to report their status. They plan a mission to find out what happened to Agent 33. Hollis Forsythe refuses to let the interns go and instead keeps them back to perform training exercises, safely. Raz is obviously unhappy with this decision.

Hollis’ Classroom

I have control back now and return to the classroom and find Hollis teaching at a podium while the class is all lying down. I have a new mission to enter Hollis’ mind. I ask her a few questions using a pop-up dialogue option (my first time encountering that feature). She refuses to talk any more about the mission. I ask when class starts and she uses a door to open her mind. Raz jumps in (well a 2D ghost of him does, anyway). Another cut scene. Norma is put in charge and we learn about mental connection. I have a new ability now to make mental connections. I enable the ability and enter Hollis’ ideas about cilantro. I connect it first to delight, then to disgust, changing her mind about cilantro. The interns want Raz to change Hollis’ mind about the mission so they can all go. Enter a platform challenge. I use my mental connection ability to enter Hollis mind. I jump up the platforms to a barrier, smash through it with my psi blasts and find a hallway leading to an ambulance. The Hollis NPC is talking but not saying much so I go out of the back door of the ambulance. I’m in a hospital parking lot and there is another small cut scene. Then, a bad idea enemy in shape of an evil rabbit pops out and I have to defeat it. My psi blasts work well, then another bad idea and two censors come. I defeat these as well, with a combination of psi blasts and pyrokinesis and then explore the environment, collecting figments and health.

I enter the emergency room and now I’m on a 2D lightbox with x-rays on. I learn about Hollis Forsythe’s medical technique she invented as Dr. Potts is revealed to be using it and trying to take the credit and that he wants to fire her. The cards fall away and now I think I’m in the morgue. I find half a mind, jump through more mental connections and then the other half comes out of a door? And I find it on the top platform. I jump through another hallway and find a memory vault describing through an illustrated slideshow how Dr. Potts stole Hollis’ idea as his own after she finished what looks like her thesis. Her voiceover is all about money and trying to manage the Psychonauts’ cashflow problems. I see a sort of chapel where Hollis says she’s afraid of an intern dying on the risky mission. It shows the mental connection between risk and death. The game control reverts to me and I jump through the mental connections to reorganize them and connect risk to money. Then something weird happens in another cut scene where a ton of connections are made at once, like her mind was overloaded, ending in an ominous octopus silhouette. She mentions debt in the narration as well.

The interns all wake up and Hollis has decided to take them on the mission but she’s acting really strangely. More cut scenes to emphasize her weird behaviour and that she’s feeling lucky.

Hollis’ Hot Streak

Play Session 4:

I’m somewhere now near the casino where Hollis is meant to be manning the mission. I can see monitors watching the other agents and my mission is to talk to Hollis. I cross the floor the meet her. More cut scenes. She tries to get rid of me by sending me back to the jet for some goggles. She takes that opportunity to creep away to gamble. Raz realizes he’s made a bad mental connection. Back in ops I learn the other agents are in trouble and my new mission is to find Hollis. I can’t use the elevator so I scale some neon lights on the side of the building and drop down to ground level chasing Hollis who is on a shuttle. I look through a telescope to find her gambling. Cut scene. Raz pulls out a door and jumps into Hollis’ mind. I see the same environment as before but now it’s a mix of medical stuff and casino themes items. Same mechanics to make mental connections along the platforms in her mind. It’s harder this time and the connections are not clear at all. I die a few times by falling through her mind.

I find my way back into her ambulance which is now driving itself. I again exit the back. Same hospital parking lot but now it looks like Vegas and it’s all my fault. Now there are huge enemies called heavy censors in addition to regular censors and bad ideas. I still suck at the combat so I die twice before deciding to cheese the combat by hiding on top of the ambulance and firing at enemies from there. I use psi blasts almost exclusively. I get my health and all the figments again (using mental connections) and a wisdom nugget and then go back into the hospital. I go back through the x-rays which are now combined with playing cards and slot machine icons. The voiceover has changed too to sound like the Dr. and nurses are betting on patients’ health. I find Hollis’ quiet place again and it’s still a chapel but now there’s a card table. She doesn’t want me here because it’s the “high roller’s lounge”. I get thrown out by a heavy censor. Now I’m in the morgue again and I’m standing on a cube. I pull on the door to the high roller’s lounge. Hollis opens a slit to talk to me in a cut scene and tells me I need to collect 3 gazillion dollars to get in. (I did only one of the challenges but there are four other doors in the cube to collect the money – the maternity ward, the pharmacy, records, and cardiology. I choose cardiology.)

I see two other interns and they say that the odds on ‘hearts’ are a gazillion to one. I clearly should bet on hearts. The interns disappear. I see a server at the bar and press Y. They ask me to place a bet. I choose hearts but it always loses. The screen changes to a tv screen with a race over an EKG line on it and I have no control again. I don’t understand what to do so I go around and get all the figments. I try to bet on all the different suits as well but I lose every time. I don’t know if I should just keep trying or if there’s something else I should do. Am I only supposed to bet until I win? I reunite a bag with it’s tag in the meantime. The environment is amazing. The spectators to the races are behind glass like in a surgery. I still don’t understand the game. It’s completely rigged but what to do about it? I try looking around at all the bodies in the room, and the people sitting at the tables representing different suits but I still can’t figure it out. I have to stop and ask for help from IGN. It turns out the double doors in the room were new. I thought they were where I came from so I’d leave if I went through them. They actually lead to a different room completely which is like a closet. I find a few more figments but I realize this isn’t right either. There is a second set of double doors where all the suits are racing with their minds. Super confusing issues with the doors. In here, I can interact with each suit ‘racer’. The first three, spades, diamonds, and clubs only have one line of dialogue to express their personalities. However, I can interact more with hearts. Hearts is all beat up which explains why they can’t race. I offer to race for her. I tell her I need a new outfit. She opens a new mental connection. I again don’t know what I have to do. It’s another set of complicated platforms that I have to navigate.

The issue seems to be that Hollis doesn’t want to accept any help and so now I have to connect her mental connections to get her to accept help. The platforms are alternating between being solid and being electrified. I get zapped when I figure it out, and then zapped a few more times accidentally. I encounter enemies (bad ideas) and lose a bit of health. I try to get more health but only have one place to collect it. I reach the end of the platforms and smash through the barrier with my psi blasts. I get Hollis to realize she needs help. Now I can go place a bet on hearts then race for the suit in my new paper bag head with a heart drawn on.

The race starts with the EKG screen from before but now I control hearts in a platformer race like a Mario-style side scroller. I go faster down white slides, and get set back with I hit a bright green EKG spike. I lose twice before third time’s a charm. I win and receive a gazillion dollars. I place it in the slot in the morgue and on to the next challenge.

End play for assignment here.

b) Analytic Notes

After playing, consider your experience more holistically -- What problems did it present me with? What options did it give me (to address those problems)? When and how does the game invoke gender, class, race, violence in ways that might be problematic? What about learning? Does anything stand out as a ‘defining’ or ‘unique’ feature of the game?

Problems Presented:

Problem 1: Physical barriers barring my way.

Solution options: Punch through or jump over physical barriers, double jump if barrier is particularly high, psi blast if barrier can’t be punched through/is too far away/ I’m on a platform.

Problem 2: Change in gravity (though I only experienced this once in the game for a short time).

Solution options: Wall jumping, pulling up, sliding across, dropping down.

Problem 3: Barrage of objects being thrown at player character.

Solution options: Dodging or later on, using the ground levitation.

Problem 4: Inability to lift physically heavy objects in order to escape map-based traps (a sunken mouth pit).

Solution options: Telekinesis (picking up and throwing objects) to form stairs to reach a door.

Problem 5: Enemies preventing me from progressing through the game.

Enemies so far:

• Censors: A commonly found enemy which targets intrusive thoughts (and me) and tries to stamp them out (with a giant stamp). Deals damage by stamping me or shouting at me, “No!”

  • Solution: Use telekinesis, punch combination to deal damage to censors.

• Dentures/ wind up teeth: Easy to defeat snapping teeth that cluster around you all at once.

  • Solution: Psi blast and simple aiming.

• Regrets: Flying enemies a bit like dragonflies that drop weights on me from above and deal a fair amount of damage since the weights cause shockwave and I get caught in their radius.

  • Solution options: Psi blasts eliminate regrets in one hit, but I could use their weight and my telekinesis to throw the weight at other enemies so it might be worth saving them for last.

• Doubts: Slimy purple monsters that leave a slime trail for you to get stuck in which slows you down.

  • Punch, psi blasts all work but the doubts are fast and catch you or stick you in their slime. Pyrokinesis is most effective and then you burn them. Also good because they panic, running around and spreading the fire to other enemies.

• Bad Ideas: Creatures that look like rabbits with a projectile of some kind on their backs that deals damage.

  • Solution options: Psi blasts are good since you can stay mostly out of range of the red things they throw at you. Mental connection can bring them closer to you since they tend to evade you. in combat.

• Heavy Censors: Regular censors on steroids (literally - they are big, more muscular, hairier and angrier). They are much faster than normal censors, and deal a significant amount of damage by punching me, shouting at me, or throwing (something?) at me.

  • Solution options: These take ages to kill so a combination of pyrokinesis, punches and psi blasts. Their movement is sometimes too fast for getting a handle on the telekinesis to defeat them.

Problem 6: Points of interest puzzles or secrets that can be solved in the environment.

Points of Interest Problems:

Emotional Baggage: Sad luggage can be found throughout the game. I must reunite the baggage with its lost tag.

Solution options: Find or chase down the rogue baggage tag and match it with the emotional baggage.

Memory Vault: Little cases carrying old memories, usually hidden behind false walls/ terrain features. They look like puppies.

Solution: Find the cases where they are hidden, punch them open, watch the feature.

Posters: Often covering up hidden secrets or doorways.

Solution: Burn them away using pyrokinesis.

Problem 7: Platforming challenges. The materials the platform is made of and the shape of the platform are part of the challenge. The distance between platforms is sometimes not clear. The platforms may also sink or move around. A second platform type problem is when the floor electrifies in specific places.

Solution options: Use the jump, double jump, or floating levitation after a jump to get from platform to platform. Use the rolling ground levitation to avoid the electrified floor (can also make you go faster). Use the third person camera to help assess distance between a given set of platforms.

Problem 8: The sheer scope of the map. The environment is big and so are the ‘mind’ areas for those characters whose minds we can enter.

Solution: Field guide contains maps, to do lists, missions, and resource management options. But do maps not cover mind areas? To check.

Problem 9: Hidden objects that help you progress in the game but that you can’t see yet.

Solution: Clairvoyance to view the world through another perspective and find hidden information or objects.

Problem 10: In game missions, side missions. These make up the real color in the game and are catered to each character’s personality, emotions, and past experiences. For example, Hollis Forsythe’s mind is whirring, obsessed with protecting the interns, and managing the Psychonauts organization. The initial mission is in her mind as a hospital where she used to work. When my mission forces her to reassess risk, the new mission becomes fixing the mess I’ve made in her mind as the hospital has turned into a hospital-themed casino as I’ve triggered a gambling addiction issue.

Solution options: Any of the aforementioned abilities used in combination with each other (punch, jump, long jump, double jump, wall jump, gliding levitation, rolling levitation, psi blasts, telekinesis, pyrokinesis), in addition to connecting information learned from NPC interactions, and clues in the environment.

Gender, Class, Race, and Violence: Player plays as a 10 year old boy who codes as white. Several of the Psychonaut heads are diverse: Milla is certainly Spanish and Hollis codes as black. The other interns present a mix of ethnicites, sexual identities, and abilities. There is one differently abled NPC who seems to sit in a floating wheel chair.

Class is alluded to, so in this game mostly as status in the Psychonauts organization. However, in the previous game, I think being psychic was itself problematic and needed to be hidden, leading Raz to run away from home to escape his family’s disapproval. Allegorical for coming out?

There is clearly violence in the combat but I feel a bit like this is totally apart from most of the game’s actual missions. It’s presented in a very Looney Tunes, comedic way that makes me think it’s there to add a bit of fast-paced fun, not to be the main point of the game.

It’s also worth the adjustable accessibility features in the game, emphasizing Double Fine’s focus on letting players play how they want to. For example, you can turn off and on settings allowing you to fall off of geographic features without taking damage, become invincible, and to deal more damage in combat. You can also adjust text settings, adding subtitles, or making subtitles larger.

Learning: Is clearly scaffolded. New abilities are presented one at a time in a situation in which they would be useful. The next few minutes of gameplay focus on practicing the new ability with some NPCs instructing you to use the ability if you haven’t done so in the challenge. The initial learning time is short and as a result I forgot some abilities or didn’t think to use them in later situations. Might be because they were anticipating that the audience for the game would have likely played the first game in the series. After the focused practice, the ability is added to your repertoire to be used in cooperation with other abilities.

Defining Features: So far, the design of the environments are standout as well as the mission design. That we’re in an ex-dentist’s mind which is a weird mouth is very meta.

c) Affective Notes

Playing and analyzing games are subjective activities -- as you played, you were likely: engaged, irritated, startled, sympathetic, angry, bored, etc. Identify the affective responses you had while playing, and do your best to account for the in-game circumstances that gave rise to them (i.e. where, when, intensity, etc.) Don’t worry about being exhaustive, just mention what you think matters.

Frustration:

• I am frustrated very early on. The game introduced figments and telekinesis at the same time and so I thought they were related but I was supposed to pick up the tooth and put it in a socket to make stairs and escape through the door at the top of the stairs. I accidentally figured it out, not intentionally. The mechanics also feel jerky and I don’t like having to handle a third-person camera.

• At the first moderately difficult combat section, I crumble. I didn’t learn the abilities well enough in earlier stage and forgot them as a result. Therefore, the combat is extremely frustrating. I’m struggling with all of the controls and the camera. I don’t usually play games with such ‘fully-loaded’ controllers. I die maybe 8 times before I get through the combat. My frustration and embarrassment at being so bad at controlling the camera and controls is escalating in the beginning.

• I also struggle in the early platforming sections. I have a lot of trouble with perceiving the depth in space between the objects. Again, I think it’s down to my lack of understanding how to use the camera. I also slide off of the sides of teeth and things when the path isn’t clear. I’m really very bad at most of this right now.

Joy:

• The travel. I was worried about hating this but the environment and traversing it with the rolling levitation ball is really amazing.

• Maybe not joy exactly, but the sheer relief of getting to the end of the dentistry platforming section.

• Exploring the Motherlobe! So fun.

Amusement:

• The voice acting is so good. It in itself is joyful to listen to, particularly when Loboto is talking to himself and making jokes. For example, on the ship back to the Motherlobe, Raz explains there’s a mole in the Psychnauts organization while there’s a squirrel crawling over Loboto who says, “If you think this is a mole, then you're dumber than you look!”. His voice is so high-pitched and croaky and it makes the jokes even better. Lol.

Empathy:

• When Raz asks Loboto, “Who are you protecting?” and Loboto answers, “Myself,” in such a small, vulnerable voice. You know he’s scared, you can feel he’s scared and starting to lose the plot, but you can’t help him.

• Throughout Hollis Forsythe’s mind. She’s so stressed out and thinking about a thousand big, stressful things at once. You want to alleviate the pressure on her, but you make it worse (at least, for the moment).

Session Fieldnotes:

At the end of your fieldnotes for session two, craft one or two sentences (no more) that, for you, summarize your experiences of learning this new game, and what specific elements/skills/etc., based on your experience of solo play, to be the most important in getting a ‘handle’ on the game. Include at least one image that demonstrated this/these crucial game elements/skills/characteristics.

The most important skills for me to master were the combat mechanics and different abilities (pyrokinesis, telekinesis, psi blast, levitation, clairvoyance, and mental connections) in order to complete the challenges presented in each mission. I also needed to figure out the way the environments were laid out since I had some difficulty navigating from room to room in the mind of Hollis Forsythe in particular but also in the Motherlobe when I was lost in the storage room.