In a holiday development update, Double Fine's Tim Schaffer revealed that Psychonauts 2 will include a feature that will fix the original Psychonauts' biggest issue. The release date for Psychonauts 2 still remains up in the air, but the staggered update videos continue to provide fans with exciting news about the game's development.
Psychonauts, a cult-classic 3D platformer from Double Fine Studios, was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. While sales at launch were low enough to deem the game a commercial failure, Psychonauts later went on to receive multiple awards along with being critically acclaimed. However, one of Psychonauts' most glaring issues is the lack of any post-game content. Like many games released in the early 2000s, once players beat Psychonauts' main storyline, they were unable to play in a world affected by the outcome of the story. In Psychonauts' case, this meant that players were limited to a small hub world before the final level.
Luckily, the head of Double Fine Studios Tim Schaffer has delivered one of Psychonauts 2's most exciting update logs yet. In a video titled Psychonauts 2 Holiday Update 2020, Schaffer admitted that the first Psychonauts lacked a post-game state where the player can walk around after finishing the game's main storyline, but confirmed that the second game would allow players to explore the world post-completion. However, he also mentioned that, while there are plans for a post-game world, it has not been written yet and is what he is working on currently.
New glimpses of levels and tidbits of information were also given provided as part of the video. Like Whispering Rock Camp from the original Psychonauts, the Psychonauts headquarters will serve as a hub-world where players will select different minds to enter. It can also be assumed from a line of dialogue that Razputin, the game's protagonist, is a student at some sort of Psychonaut academy. New minds that Raz will explore were also shown including one with a swamp theme and another which is inhabited by rich skeleton people.
Perhaps the greatest piece of news to come from the video is that the team working on Psychonauts 2 is on to the polishing stage. All of the levels have been completed and are now being refined to make them the best possible versions of themselves. The Holiday update video didn't give any indication as to when in 2021 Psychonauts 2 will be released, but Tim Schaffer did make it seem as if it won't be long until that date is revealed.
Source: Double Fine