Psychonauts 2's story takes players on another psychic adventure centered around Razputin Aquato, a kid set on becoming a member of the legendary Psychonauts. Raz's mission in the newest game is to uncover a mole within the Psychonauts and solve the mysteries of the nefarious Maligula, a psychic with terrible powers that her followers are trying to bring back to life. He also has to deal with the surprise appearance of his circus-centered family, with one particular member playing into his adventures more than he could ever expect.

It's a more ambitious project from Double Fine, with the sequel being published by Microsoft to allow the developer to go bigger than ever before. This results in a game that takes the world and characters established in the original Psychonauts and expands upon them with humor, emotion, and platforming galore. It also tackles the subject of mental health in a unique fashion through the brains that Raz enters, with Double Fine consulting a psychologist to help them depict the mental health conditions respectfully.

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Psychonauts 2 accomplishes the feat of resonating with players of the original two Psychonaut titles, as well as those who are experiencing the series for the first time. The story twists and turns its way to the epic conclusion, keeping players invested throughout the entire runtime. Ultimately, the game is a jolt of goodness for gamers in a time of seemingly constant unrest in the world, and credit goes to Double Fine for crafting a fantastic story. Here is the full story of Psychonauts 2 explained.

[Warning: Spoilers for Psychonauts 2 are below.]

The Beginning Of Psychonauts 2's Story: Dr. Loboto & Maligula

Raz wearing goggles in Psychonauts 2.

The story of Psychonauts 2 picks up immediately after the events of the VR title Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, with Raz and the Psychonauts having saved the comatose Grand Head of the Psychonauts (Truman Zanatto) from the evil clutches of the dental-obsessed Dr. Loboto. On the way back to the Motherlobe, Raz and the other Psychonauts journey into Dr. Loboto's mind to figure out who hired him to kidnap Zonatto. Loboto's mind is heavily guarded against the Psychonauts, but Raz encounters a vision of a terrifying woman that Sasha Nein identifies as Maligula.

Maligula was an evil psychic adept at controlling water, using her powers to flood and destroy the capital of Grulovia, which was the home of Raz and his family. The Psychonauts explain that Maligula was supposedly killed by Psychonauts founder Ford Cruller and the Psychic Six years ago, but that a group of Maligula's followers (the Deluginists) had been looking into necromancy to try and resurrect her. The agents also consider that a double agent in the Motherlobe helped Loboto kidnap Truman Zanatto and make it a point to find out who the mole is.

After arriving at the Motherlobe in the early portions of Psychonauts 2, Second Head of the Psychonauts Hollis Forsythe inducts Raz into the Psychonauts Intern Program and assigns him to the mailroom to work under Nick Johnsmith, the only member of the Psychonauts who doesn't have any powers. Raz enters the mailroom and finds a package addressed to Truman Zanatto, but the contents include the body of Nick (missing his brain) and a key to a room at the Lady Luctopus Casino. The Psychonauts team sets out on a mission to the Casino to find some answers, with Hollis keeping Raz and the other interns behind to keep them safe.

Related: Psychonauts 2 Review: A Colorful Comedic Romp Through The Psyche

During a training exercise inside Hollis' mind, Raz decides to tamper with her thoughts in hopes of convincing her to allow the interns to partake in the mission to the Casino. He succeeds in doing so, but unexpectedly brings out Hollis' repressed gambling addiction in the process. This throws a wrench in the mission, leaving Raz to enter her mind once again to set things right. After defeating Lady Luctopus and fixing Hollis' mind, Raz enters the room that Nick's key unlocks and finds evidence of the Deluginists and a piece of paper that points to Lili Zanatto (Truman's daughter and Raz's possible girlfriend) as the double agent.

Psychonauts 2's Story Sheds More Like On Raz's Family & Backstory

After completing this mission in Psychonauts 2, Raz visits Lili at the side of her father and shows her the slip of paper he found at the Casino. Lili refutes Raz's line of questioning about a potential connection to the Deluginists and storms off, and Raz receives a surprise when Truman sits up and begins to talk to him. He explains that he has been pretending to be comatose, and employs Raz to find Ford Cruller and piece his mind back together to uncover the secrets about Maligula.

After receiving his orders from Truman, Raz gets a message over the intercom about some visitors being there to see him. It turns out that Raz's father Augustus and the rest of his family (including his elderly Nona) made an unexpected visit to the Motherlobe to see him at work, but Hollis Forsythe kicks them off of the property quickly. The Aquato family sets up camp in the Questionable Area outside of the Motherlobe and Raz can visit his family at any point to learn more about them and tackle side missions. Their inclusion in the game initially seems intended to flesh out Raz's backstory, but the Aquato family has a significant bearing later on in the story, especially Nona.

Related: Psychonauts 2 Preview: Brainy, Zany, & Poignant As Ever

Raz uses a piece of bacon to summon Ford from his mind and proceeds to find the three fragments of his mind to help make him whole. Along the way, Raz helps Psychic Six members Compton Boole and the brain of Helmut Fullbear work through their own mental trauma. Raz ends up putting Helmut's brain in the body of Nick to help him access a fragment of Ford's mind, bringing the Psychic Six member back into action. Raz succeeds in fixing Ford's mind, and the founding Psychonaut explains the history behind Maligula.

Psychonauts 2: The Psychic Six & Maligula's Origins

Psychonauts 2 Collectibles

At this point in Psychonauts 2, Maligula is revealed to be Lucrecia "Lucy" Mux, the unknown seventh member of the Psychic Six who was romantically linked to Ford. An uprising in her Grulovian homeland caused her to return to try and contain the threat, but Lucrecia's psychic abilities were used as a weapon and treated heinously by Grulovia's leader, Gzar Theodore. Lucrecia responded to this treatment by creating the Maligula persona, with Maligula eventually losing control, flooding Grulovia entirely and driving the Gzar and his family into exile.

The Psychic Six arrived and were able to defeat Maligula in an epic battle. Instead of killing her as everyone presumed, Ford used an invention of Psychic Six member Otto Mentalis, called the Astrolathe, to bury the Maligula persona deep inside Lucrecia's mind. She was also made to believe that she was Marona "Nona" Aquato, Lucrecia's sister that perished in the flooding of Grulovia. Ford was also able to alter Augustus' memories to accept Lucrecia as Nona into the Aquato family and make the ruse more convincing. Cruller split his mind into pieces using the Astrolathe in an effort to hide the secret about Lucrecia. Raz insists on telling his family, but Ford warns against it, saying that it might unleash Maligula once again.

Raz and Ford are able to locate Nona in the Green Needle Gulch, the home of the Psychic Six and the location of the Astrolathe. Nona starts showing indications that she remembers her true identity as Lucrecia, and Ford determines that the Psychic Six may be able to use the Astrolathe together to create a deeper hole in Nona's mind to eliminate Maligula completely. Raz helps Psychic Six members Bob Zanatto and Cassie O'Pia deal with their own mental trauma, and the team sends Raz and Ford into Lucrecia's mind to take care of Maligula.

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Inside Lucrecia's mind, Raz and Ford discover that Nona had been recalling pieces of her time as Lucrecia much earlier than they realized. It is revealed that she was the one to convince Raz to go to Whispering Rock in the original Psychonauts game as a way to call for the help of the Psychonauts. Ford and Raz find Malugula and prepare to get rid of her, but Raz unexpectedly gets pulled from Lucrecia's mind by Truman Zonatto. Unclear of his motivations, Raz and Lili enter Truman's mind and find out very quickly that it isn't Truman's brain after all.

The brain in Truman's body belongs to mailroom worker Nick, who isn't really Nick either. He is revealed to be Gzesarevich Gristol Malik, the son of the exiled Gzar Theodore and heir to the Grulovian throne. Gristol created this Nick identity to enter the Motherlobe and exact revenge on the Psychonauts for his family's exile by bringing back Maligula. Gristol ended up employing Dr. Loboto to swap his brain with Truman Zanatto, which means that Raz was unknowingly helping the Grulovian heir reawaken Maligula in Psychonauts 2 the entire time.

Psychonauts 2's Ending Explained

Psychonauts 2 Gristol

The last level of Psychonauts 2 sees Maligula rear her head once more, and Raz enters Lucrecia's mind with the help of his family to defeat the threat once and for all. With the help of the Psychonaut interns, Raz is able to weaken Maligula enough to free Lucrecia from her clutches. Lucrecia lends Raz her power to grow to an impossibly large size to fight Maligula, and an epic fistfight ensues that ends with Raz and Lucrecia pushing Maligula into the depths that the Astrolathe created.

Raz is able to forgive Lucrecia for killing his real Nona, as Maligula was brought out because of Gzar Theodore's harsh treatment of Lucrecia's powers. Nona is returned to the Aquato family and pardoned by the Psychonauts, and Truman Zanatto's brain is restored to his body. The Psychonauts also place Gristol Malik in psychoisolation as punishment for his crimes.

Psychonauts 2's main story wraps up with Raz and the other interns graduating from the intern program and becoming Junior Agents of the Psychonauts. In a scene triggered by visiting Sasha's lab after completing Psychonauts 2, Raz finds Dr. Loboto escaping the Motherlobe. He insists that Raz not snitch on him because he was a reformed man at the end of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, and reveals that he left his kid at camp. It's a direct indication of Loboto having a kid at Whispering Rock summer camp in the original Psychonauts, setting the stage for potential Psychonauts 2 DLC or a third game in the series.

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