Psychonauts 2 is a game so good, I’ve had dreams about it. Every second is brimming with wild imagination, instantly classic characters, and unstoppable joy. Not only does the sequel quell any concerns that arose during its protracted development, but it signals the start of a golden era for the studio that brought it to life.

Which actually makes my job harder, because it’s tricky to structure a review that’s nearly 100% positive. Especially in this case, where the premise takes a lot of explaining for those new to it. If you don’t know anything about Psychonauts, it might be hard enough to accept the concept of psychic secret agents diving inside of people’s brains. The sequel opens with a cute “previously on” video to refresh players, but how well it works for newcomers I can’t say. To save time, I’m assuming some familiarity going forward.

The first game came out 16 years ago, but for Raz, it’s only been a few days since he ran away from the circus to become a Psychonaut. After proving himself at summer camp, he finally arrives at Psychonauts HQ. But there’s no time to rest – intel suggests there’s a mole in the spy ring, and they’re trying to revive the Psychonauts’ deadliest enemy, Maligula. It’s up to Raz to uncover the truth behind the plot and stop it before Maligula drowns the world.

It’s a more involved story than before, and it does a better job at linking together the brains you explore. In the first game, some of the best levels were in the minds of people who just happened to be around. Here, pretty much everyone is a Psychonaut, and they all have connections to the larger backstory. On one hand, you lose some of the discovery that comes with more independent characters. It’s inherently less surprising seeing different perspectives on the same events. But the picture that emerges is satisfying, and the level theming itself never suffers for it.

In fact, I can guarantee that every level in Psychonauts 2 will show you something you’ve never seen before. No matter how great a platformer’s mechanics are, I’m a little let down if the game sticks to the standard fire world, ice world, desert world, etc. Setting the game in abstract mental planes bypasses the need for these tropes. When the tutorial takes place in a horrifying toothy landscape, you know that some wild stuff is ahead. The game’s personal mission is to surprise and delight the player with ideas that exceed the highs of the original. In one section, you run on giant bowling balls in a city full of irate germs. In another, you compete in a cooking game show where the animate, enthusiastic ingredients are also the studio audience. Anything more, I don’t want to spoil. And while the concepts are amusing at a glance, it’s the full-hearted commitment to them that makes them unforgettable.

The scope of each brain is well-split between expansive worlds, where mechanics and ideas evolve over time, and shorter experiences that are none the less fun to explore. Double Fine knows exactly how long each concept should last before moving on. Keeping the element of surprise is essential for a narrative game, and Psychonauts 2 masters the craft. I was constantly anticipating whatever insane place came next. Happily, I can report that there’s no Meat Circus-level calamity at the end of this one.

When it comes to exploring these one-of-a-kind environments, platforming feels solid and modernized. Being an acrobat, Raz can do all sorts of athletic feats. Whether it’s swinging on bars, walking on tightropes, or bouncing on trampolines, it leads to engaging level design to traverse. Raz picks up a few new powers in this one, and each gets some pretty good use. My favorite is the archetype, a little two-dimensional helper that has an endless supply of quirky lines. The returning powers are smartly updated. They work on cooldowns instead of needing ammunition, and their area of effect is made much clearer. Levitation, the most mobile ability in the series, has been scaled back, but it’s in the service of more varied platforming challenges that can’t be bypassed.

Fans of the collect-a-thon are in for a treat – it’s returned in full force. Across the game, there are hundreds of figments to pick up. I’ve always loved these drawings because they tell a story about the mind where they are found. I think the developers got annoyed by chasing down the really fast figments in the first game, so they are thankfully a lot better behaved here. And plenty of pun-tastic larger collectables are hidden throughout: Half-a-minds, emotional baggage, memory vaults, and more. The overworld has its own set of goodies to turn in for extra quests and upgrades. If Raz went in my brain, it would be stuffed wall to wall with collectables because that’s just what I like to do. Collecting EVERYTHING is a big ask, but it’s doable. Invariably, you will have just a handful of figments left in a level and no idea where they could be. I had to comb through a guide for certain brains, but I got there. It’s a great sign that, unlike the original, this game actually incentivized me to go back and pick everything up. It wasn’t even that much of a question. I beat the game and simply wanted to keep playing for as long as I could.

If the Yin of Psychonauts is wildly inventive levels, its Yang is hilarious characters. There are dozens of lovable people to meet here. When Raz gets to the Mother Lobe, he’s promptly assigned to the intern program. The other kids pick on him, of course, but they’re still fun. My favorite is Sam, the sister of Dogen from the first game, who has tense conversations with animals and seems to be living in a different reality from the rest of us. But the game’s real highlight is Raz’s acrobatic family who visits partway through the game. Right away, they embarrass Raz in front of the interns in one of the game’s best-choreographed scenes. Each Aquato is distinctly funny, and they give insight to Raz’s backstory and weight to the greater narrative. The amount of writing in the game is staggering, just like the original. Every character has plenty of dialogue and hidden lines for using different powers on them. Schafer’s adventure game lineage is preserved because he planned for using everything on everyone. It’s always a kick to use clairvoyance and see how each character views Raz.

The plot is twisty and revelatory in an enjoyable way, even if a few moments had me like the blinking white guy. It’s curious because, on paper, it’s a darker storyline. However, the writing has a slightly lighter touch than the 2005 game. Not only has comedy evolved over the years, but so has the visibility of and conversation around mental health. From what I can gather, Psychonauts 2 is successful in creating a lighthearted yet respectful representation. In the process, though, it’s lost a little of the edge that made the first so subversive. Ultimately, this is a net good, and replicating the exact tone would feel inauthentic.

So, Psychonauts 2 is a triumph. It’s Tim Schafer’s best game in 20 years and my current game of 2021. But I think we need to look at the context surrounding it to see where we go from here. I was emotionally prepared for the sequel to be yet another compromised, limited result of crowdfunding – something we’ve seen many times with old-school revivals and from Double Fine themselves. That would have been the case had the studio not been acquired by a megacorp. I don’t like cheering for artists losing their independence, but it’s undeniable that Psychonauts 2 is a better game because of Microsoft’s resources. And, knock on wood, Phil Spencer and Xbox have been playing to their new studios’ strengths and giving them what they need to excel so far. This makes Psychonauts 2 the herald of a new age for Double Fine, where their funds have finally caught up to their ambition. It’s a game that promises a glorious future in the way that, say, Grabbed by the Ghoulies did not.

The biggest problem is that I found it even harder to leave Psychonauts this time. Is this the last word on the franchise? The continuing adventures of Raz are tailor-made for an animated series. Better yet, make True Psychic Tales into a real comic book. While these prospects are exciting, they aren’t especially realistic. Right now, the studio is probably starting from scratch on their next project, which may be so unique as to be unguessable. I doubt they want anyone else putting their hands on the series. Even if there is no more Psychonauts, whatever comes next from Double Fine is just as exciting. Decades from now, developers will look back at Psychonauts 2 as a career highlight. For Schafer and the other industry veterans, it’s an affirmation that they’ve still got it. But pay attention to the younger names in the credits and follow them closely. These are the people that will shape the most memorable experiences of gaming’s future. Great things are in store.