Psychonauts 2was first announced six years ago, and according to developer Double Fine Productions, it’s still set to arrive later this year. The long-awaited platformer will continue the story of Raz as he begins his internship with titular spy squad. He’ll need to navigate a world of espionage and intrigue if he wants to survivePsychonauts 2, but first he’ll need to confront his family curse.
Razputin Aquato belongs to a long line of traveling circus performers, which explains his penchant for acrobatics. Long ago, his family was cursed by the Galochio family, who ran a rival circus. The curse manifests in several waysthroughout the originalPsychonautsand seemingly promises to create an interesting obstacle in the upcoming sequel.
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The Hand of Galochio
The Aquato family was originally cursed by Zalto Galochio, who’s actually Raz’s grandfather. Long beforethe events ofPsychonauts,a member of the Galochio family died during a tragic accident at one of the Aquato family’s shows. Seeking revenge, the Galochios murdered the Aquato family and cursed all of their descendants to die in water.
Whenever Raz tries toenter deep water inPsychonauts, an evil hand appears and tries to drown him. Other characters can’t see the hand, so it’s likely a manifestation of Raz’s fear rather than a physical entity. Regardless, it still presents a major obstacle. Raz is pulled underneath the water if he isn’t able to escape the hand in time, appearing back on dry lands a few seconds later.
It’s a clever design choice that serves a functional purpose while reinforcing several themes of the game. On a practical level, it meant that Double Fine didn’t need to include a mechanic for swimming underwater. Many 3D platformers struggle to make swimming a fun experience, so the omission was likely a welcome relief. While other games would simply kill a character the moment they touched the water,Psychonautsused Raz’s fearas a way to deepen the story.
Breaking the Curse
Raz may try to free himself and his family from the Galochios' curse inPsychonauts 2, which creates a lot of opportunity to flesh out the world of the game.ThePsychonautsuniverse is wonderfully weird, but outside of psychic powers, there doesn’t seem to be any other sort of magic. It’s entirely possible that the curse is a sham, invoked for the sole purpose of paralyzing the Aquato family with fear. While Raz might be relieved to find out that there’s no sinister magic at play, it would also be devastating for him to discover that his family had been tricked.
It’s also worth considering why the curse will need to be confronted. Though it was a major part of Raz’s backstory inPsychonauts, it was only an inconvenience when it came to actual gameplay.Psychonauts 2may feature some amount of underwater exploration, which will force Raz to break the curse and confront his own fears. Some sort of secret underwater base doesn’t seem out of the question given the tone of the series. It’s also possible that Raz’s work with the Psychonauts will put him in contact with another member of the Galochio family, who might provide the key to lifting the curse.
There’s a lot ofinteresting backstory to explore inPsychonauts 2when it arrives later this year. No release date has been announced yet, but hopefully Double Fine Productions will announce more soon.
Psychonauts 2is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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