After what feels like an eternity, Double Fine's Psychonauts 2 is finally releasing for Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S with Xbox Game Pass on Wednesday, August 25. It's been a long wait!
Fortunately, it's also been worth the wait, as it's been getting superb reviews across the board, including here at Pure Xbox where we gave it our coveted 10/10 ("outstanding") rating for only the second time this year.
Here's what the critics are saying about Psychonauts 2 so far:
Pure Xbox (10/10)
"Psychonauts 2 is an extraordinary achievement in both its gameplay and storytelling, balancing heavy themes of mental health with its whimsical world. In lesser hands, it could have been a disaster, but the team has taken every aspect of the original game, built upon it and respected the fanbase in the process. Psychonauts 2 is the best game of 2021 so far and one of the greatest sequels ever made."
GameSpot (9/10)
"It's an emotional, hilarious, and, at times, devastating story, but a story about forgiveness and second chances. It's an astonishing achievement in nearly every regard and the quintessential display of Double Fine's mastery in story, gameplay, and distinct direction, making it the studio's best game to date."
Trusted Reviews (4.5/5)
"Psychonauts 2 is a fun, endearing puzzle platformer full of quirky challenges and entertaining dialogue. If you’re a fan of the original, or just enjoy platformers, Psychonauts 2 is a great purchase. The only downside is that its graphics and combat mechanics can feel a little outdated."
IGN (8/10)
"Psychonauts 2’s weird and wonderfully written story is full of interesting, nuanced characters that I instantly fell in love with. Most of its fresh ideas go a long way toward elevating the Psychonauts formula into the modern era, though its enticing new equippable pin system can be a little too stingy."
VideoGamesChronicle (8/10)
"It’s always a risk creating a sequel to a cult classic so long after the original, but in Psychonauts 2, Double Fine haven’t only made a game that respects the original and takes it’s characters to new heights, they’ve set themselves, and new owners Microsoft, up with a platforming franchise that can thrive for years to come."
Psychonauts 2's average review score is still being calculated on Metacritic at the time of writing, but it looks like it'll sit somewhere around the 85-90 mark. Meanwhile, it currently has a top critic average of 87 on OpenCritic.
Will you be trying Psychonauts 2 on Xbox Game Pass this week? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 8
So if you remove the "Xbox tax" would be around a 9-9.5 which seems pretty solid..
@LordMonkfish I know it is a multiplatform game. But sense Xbox bought double fine this was being pushed as close to a Xbox exclusive as possible.
And the Xbox tax is debating and no way to prove or not prove it. As most people in the industry do have there biasim and lean towards a platform hell even IGN and GameSpot breaks people into platform eccentric people.
@LordMonkfish sure I am not gonna respond after this one as said it's impossible to prove one way or the other but as someone who has been on the Xbox platform sense the og Xbox. But it seems to always be the case that an Xbox review is always added a few extra nitpicks as critisim just to lower the scores compared to a PlayStation or very much Nintendo reviews.
Hell even some in the media have called this ***** out in the past but again no way to prove or disprove anything but I am not the only one who thinks this.
Amazing scores!
Can't wait to get hands on with the game on Series X!
As soon as I beat Hades, I'm playing this.
I don't believe there is an 'Xbox tax' in game reviews. However, I'm positive there is a Nintendo... what's the opposite of tax? Anyway, Nintendo games are scored much higher than they deserve. Specially if they are called Zelda 😉
@LordMonkfish I actually agree with you. Xbox has been underwhelming in the matter of 1st party games for a while. Other than Forza Horizon, the only Xbox games that could be regarded as some of the best of last generation are the Ori games - which are not exclusives, since they're both on Switch - and maybe Sunset Overdrive, whose developers are now owned by Sony.
I really hope Microsoft will step up their game this time around.
@Terrin Exactly that. Any Sony or Nintendo game gets the 10% free bonus, no idea why.
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