Tim Schafer says Tolkiens is responsible for ‘Psychonauts 2’ nightmarish tooth doors

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When you have an interview with a gaming industry legend like Tim Schafer, parts of the transcript will naturally end up in the editing room. With Psychonauts 2 finally out in the wild, we thought we’d share a few of our favorite snippets that didn’t make the profile, now that fans had a chance to get their hands on the game.

For example, one of the first things on the agenda was dental zippers. Specifically, who I was billed to for therapy after experimenting with dental doors in my first level preview of Psychonauts 2, Lobotos Labyrinth.

You know, we put a disclaimer on it, Schafer said. I don’t know if you noticed; we try to warn you that if you have any problems with your teeth sight, free teeth you may not want. Before the LucasArts legend can finish his thinking, a cat tail obscures his webcam.

But uh my cat, oh, uh, am I still on call? Schafer said as the feline collapsed on his keyboard. With a little reassurance, he continues: The dental, let’s say, is a tribute to the Lord of the Rings and the Mouth of Sauron, maybe that’s where it came from. I just want to take some of the blame away, so yeah, you know, it’s Tolkiens’ fault.

A gifted medium, protagonist Razputin Aquato must use his power of telekinesis to rip through a column of teeth, and you can hear each dog crackle as the zipper falls. I asked how Double Fine recorded the sound effects for such noise. Our sound team are very dedicated to bringing everything, no matter how disturbing, to life, Schafer said sarcastically. I find open sore holes worse; do you know the small sockets?

In the next mission, Hollis Hot Streak, Raz uses a platform to forge mental connections, sadly distorting a former doctor’s risk tolerance and turning the hospital in his open space into a casino. The fun part is when you get two concepts that don’t really go together like hospital and casino, because they just create weirder things that you don’t even think about when you first get the idea, Schafer said.

The fluctuating level premise allows Psychonauts 2 to thoughtfully comment on for-profit healthcare, gambling addiction, and the stigma surrounding asking for help. Understandably, it was difficult for Double Fine to keep a lid on these levels as they conceived the unfathomable infinity of the subconscious.

Psychonauts 2. Credit: Double Fine Productions

It’s really important for me to limit it, because once we create the hospital casino, people keep coming up with ideas, like there’s a computer theme here too, and you have to stop because as you start to drift in this endless world of ideas, Schafer explained. You have to stick with those two because if we keep coming back to it, we can reinforce that theme and convey it to the player. call my question line, he just picked up his cat.

Sorry, why do you want to be so disruptive! he asks his pet as a door locks out of the way. No more cats, all gone; What were we talking about? Schafer said. I ask him what his mental world might look like if Raz explored it. There will be a lot of cats in it and a lot of paranoia about cats destroying my interviews and my property, he said.

Schafer also spoke about the premise behind Cassies Collection, one of the game’s final levels that introduces the power of mental projection. This allows Raz to summon a mini version of himself to fight enemies and solve puzzles. I was reading Carl Jung and his archetypal theory, I think that’s a very useful way to think about it, you know we’ve all been through transitions in our lives where it was almost like a different version of ourselves. was taking over, because of what we had to do, you know, we graduates, we grow up or something and another takes over from you, Schafer said. And it shows up a lot at the Cassies level, just this thought that I always believed that we were several people in our heads, you hear these sometimes contradictory voices, like what are you going to win this battle?

Psychonauts 2. Credit: Double Fine Productions

Later in the interview, we also talked about moving from Whispering Rock Psychic summer camp to The Motherlobe in Psychonauts 2, and writing open world hubs. I always wanted to go [to the Motherlobe] because I always imagined it was this UNCLE man like flying and levitating super-high-tech top secret agents, Schafer said. In Psychonauts, you can walk around and chat with all the other Razs campers, but in the sequel, The Motherlobes, there are plenty of rooms full of grumpy administrative workers and gifted agents with stories to tell.

Children at the camp and administrative workers were treated very similarly, Schafer said. I think they got the same treatment, they all have little grudges, and they have a crush, and they have a lot of secrets, and as you walk around listening to them, there’s intrigue about a creator of something. ‘labels and stuff that you can sort of pick up and trace.

According to Schafer, the Motherlobes NPCs started out as background characters, much like how the camp kids were just a drawing by the art team before they were made and added to the original Psychonauts. I was like, well, I might as well find out who they are, Schafer said.

Psychonauts 2. Credit: Double Fine Productions

The original Psychonauts is now 16, which means people who played it as children could return to the show as adults, something Schafer was aware of. I feel like I’m the defender of the Psychonauts 1 player in Psychonauts 2, Schafer said. There’s some deep lore stuff in there, and I was like listening, we have to make sure that this thing matches that other thing in the first game or people will feel like you don’t care. them, you know?

Psychonauts 2 remains very faithful to the source material but replaces some old mechanics. The Confusion Grenade and Dowsing Wand are replaced with new features like Mind Connections and Thought Tuner.

And if you were wondering about a certain intelligent turtle from the original Psychonauts, I asked if Mr. Pokeylope is still roaming the world of Psychonauts, after noticing he made a cameo appearance in the preview. He is not dead ! Schafer said, I’ll say he’s not dead.

Psychonauts 2 is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S and PC.

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