PS2 Gets Psychonauts

If a PS2 is the only console in your house, you may not have been keeping tabs on Psychonauts, Majesco's upcoming action game that aims to put players into the surreal world of a psychic detective. Today, the company announced it's working on a PlayStation 2 version of the game, which will ship simultaneously alongside the Xbox and PC versions in March 2005.

The buzz behind Psychonauts stems less from its design (it's an action game similar to Jak and Daxter) and more from its proposed themes and settings, which could best be described as bizarre. Players assume the role of Raz, a young psychic detective who gathers information by invading people's minds. Each level is set in a different person's mind and presents an environment made out of the wackiest things possible–street lamps made out of meat, trees that walk and talk, dogs with cat-like heads, etc. The man responsible for the concept is Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine Studios, the game's developer, and creator of highly acclaimed PC adventure games, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle.

"We're totally excited to see Psychonauts reach an even broader audience by shipping on the PlayStation 2," says Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine. "We've had fans contact us since the game was announced asking about a PlayStation 2 version and I'm happy to finally be able to say 'YES!'"

Psychonauts will thrust players into a third-person psychic odyssey across thirteen incredibly unique levels: three set in the real world and 10 set inside the mental worlds of misfits, monsters and madmen. Once inside a mind, players can rise in rank by collecting figments of other people's imaginations; sort through their emotional baggage; clear out their mental cobwebs and crack open their memory vaults. As their rank rises, players are endowed with new psychic powers such as telekinesis, invisibility, pyrokinesis, clairvoyance and confusion. Along the way, players must conquer an array of challenging puzzles with alternate solutions that self-tailor themselves to the player's own strengths and abilities.