By John Walker on January 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am.
You need no more information than this. Until Thursday Steam has one of the loveliest games ever, Psychonauts, for £1. It’s hilarious, it’s so beautifully written, and it’s bursting with invention and ideas like nothing else. And if you want to complain that the platforming is often a bit dodgy, I reply with: IT’S ONE POUND. A pound.
A pound. (Or two dollars.)
Buy it, buy it you sons of mothers!
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2 Euro :(
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Yes, the currency gods have forsaken us yet again… but it’s still a great deal.
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Anybody who hasn’t already bought and fallen in love with psychonauts doesn’t deserve it for £1.
Fact.
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They don’t deserve the pound either. Somebody take it off them.
And give them a copy of Psychonauts so they know what they’ve done.
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I tried the demo awhile ago and found it boring tbh
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It’s OK, Bob, the demo found you boring, too.
A lot of people dismissed Psychonauts after playing the demo, which is a shame. While the demo utterly captivated me with its imaginative designs and great writing/music/everything, it really isn’t representative of the full game, which expands exponentially with new gameplay elements and surprisingly varied settings that continually turn the game’s formula upside-down.
ONE POUND.
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I’ve nothing against humour-centric games, but it just sounds way too weird for me. And the main character is some little cartoon kid? No thanks.
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Who’d want to be a little cartoon child when you could be a burly space marine, amirite men?
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TITS
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A cartoon kid WHO CAN BURN PEOPLE WITH HIS MIND.
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Yeah sure, cartoon kids, the scourge of all times, just imagine how much better the video gaming world would be without those pesky cartons. We could get rid of that annoying Crash Bandicoot, Mario, Sonic, Lucas, Ness, Jak, Ratchet, etc… etc… good rid those cartoons?[/sarcasm]
I would buy it except I already have it. And now I want to play it once more.
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The funny thing is that the whole “happy go lucky rainbow cartoon” feel of the beginning of the game has a very sinister undertow. There’s the two super-happy spazz kids who’re actually trying to commit suicide if you pay closer attention, and there’s the kid that blows up squirrels with his mind (and has to wear a tin hat cause he “kept exploding people’s heads”).
Psychonauts may look childish and even cheerful, but it’s all about the dark corners of our world and minds, the places we know exist but choose to ignore or forget. Dismissing it because of its superficial look is a bad mistake to make. But hey.
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You know, Dexter, that reminds me:
Ness and Raz get in a fight out back by the bike rack. Who you got?
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Yeah, the only reason to not buy this is if you own it already or you’re an idiot. Seriously. A beer costs more than this. And it’s over quicker. And is prone to being spiked.
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and if you do already have it – seriously its a 1/3 of a pint and then you don’t have to worry about disks any more…
like I will.
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Seriously, if you like any of the following, buy it:
- Brutal Legend
- Monkey Island
- Good stories & writing in games… See more
- Things that make you laugh
- Fun platform games
- Imagination
- Ridiculously good deals
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And Grim Fandango, dammit!
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- Happiness
- Oxygen
- A colour (any of them)
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or Lungfish (and the abuse of…)
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- Sanitarium
- Dig
- The Loom
- Donkey Kong Country
- Crash Bandicoot
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And turtles.
MR:POKEYLOPE!
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I borrowed the PS2 version from a friend ages ago and played a little of it. The sense of humor and story seemed good, but I couldn’t get past the shoddy platforming control, and in general I’m finding I have less and less patience for the genre.
I must say, though, it’s a statement about sales of late (Gamersgate, Steam, GOG, and otherwise) that I have such a backlog of games to play and so little time to play them that I’m not even tempted by a $2 game. Cheap or not, I doubt I’d ever get around to playing it.
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@Vinraith
I’m in the same boat, sort of. Tried the demo, and I can see why people love it so much, but this platforming is really not my thing, great writing/story/characters/ideas notwithstanding.
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The PS2 version wasn’t up to par to the Xbox and PC versions.
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Being a child of the 80s I think I burnt out my urge to jump in games with Mario and Sonic et al.. So I’m not a major platform game lover, but I did enjoy this game.
Are there any platform jumping games in existance better than this one? If so I’d genuinely like to give them a try and see if I can regain my love for the genere.
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Best platforming game I played last year was Spelunky, hands down.
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Pffft. Tim Schafer is a sellout. I vote we all buy Ubisoft games to give our bold cyborg leaders a comfortable head start.
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This and Vampire Bloodlines (in parts) has the best writing/ideas/humour I’ve found in my gaming life.
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Concurred. Well apart from Grim Fandango and Monkey Island 2 of course.
Seriously though, it’s one pound. It’s cheaper than two bars of chocolate or a hundred and one penny sweets (do you still get penny sweets?). You have no excuses folks!
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They’re 2p now. Blame the global economy.
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It would be nice to have a digital copy of this, but I’ve already bought it twice on boring old physical media so far. It really is that good.
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Its a steal!
Not a classic, but pretty sweet… got it a couple of years ago- at full price i think?
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I didn’t much care for it when I played it on GameTap (for free, which is better than $2/€2/£1). The controls are annoying, everything about the game screams “consoles! yeah!” and under the veneer of weirdness the humor is very much by the numbers. Bought it anyway, because I’m a sucker. Maybe I’ll like it more when my expectations aren’t as high as last time around.
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If you dont enjoy Goggalor and the milkman conspiracy you have no heart.
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Milkman Conspiracy = one of the best design efforts in all of gaming history.
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Honestly, I didn’t get that far. I’ll try to be a better person this time, I swear.
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This game really starts with Goggalor. Fantastic level after brilliant one after magnificent one after… sheer force of creativity – mind blowing splendour.
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Officer O’Lungfish is my personal hero.
Also,
HARD TO AVOID AREA ATTACK! OVERLY ELABORATE COMBINATION ATTACK!
/wipes tear.
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I already own it and still bought it again at this price, it’s just easier having games on steam.
especially at ONE POUND
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You already own it? Buy it for a random person on your steam friends list! MORE PEOPLE MUST PLAY THIS GAME!
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I bought 5.
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The milkman conspiracy lives!
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Anyone posting in this thread who complains about this game for 2 measly bucks will have their IP address logged, their home addresses investigated, and a visit paid by the gaming police who will take away their fun license.
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Don’t hate me for this but…..Can you play it on PC with an Xbox 360 controller?
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Yes.
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Playing it with a 360 controller is probably the better way to play it. I got through it using mouse+keyboard first time, then tried again some months later with a 360 pad and it felt better like that.
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I bought it for 2 €. Have played the demo some time ago and quite enjoyed it.
Oh, and coincidently the mailman just handed me the 360 controller I ordered yesterday… If you build it, they will come, I guess.
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His milk is delicious!
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When I read all these comments about “Only a pound!” I wonder if I’m the only person in full time work? I think it’s interesting that when I was a student I had to pirate games cos i was poor but had plenty of time to play them, now I have a job I buy lots and lots of games but have no time to play them. It doesn’t matter if Psychonauts is free, what I really need is someone to give me an extra 2 or 3 hours a day for gaming :(.
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You are the only person in full time work, in the entire world.
You’re getting a raw deal to be honest. The rest of us are having a whale of a time.
On a less pithy note, Psychonauts is worth your time, I promise.
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Getting a decently paying job does rather change your perspective, I think. For example, DLC stops becoming a worry because, fuck it, it’s only a tenner anyway, and people saying things like “yeah, if this game was $5 I’d get it, but no way am I paying $7″ suddenly seem very, very alien.
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There are those of who can’t work sadly. But I still do alright really. It pays to not have ANY vices. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke.
My vice? I GAME!
Just dropped the 2 for this. It better be good or all the people I’ve seen praise this owe me about 0.002 cents each!
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Drinking is a vice?
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Second that. Would much prefer extra hours in the day or days in the month to play all of the games I’ve bought than more discounted games.
Also I’d buy more copies of this for my RL friends but I know they’ll never bother touching it unlike the copies of TF2 & Stalker (plus directions to Stalker Complete 2009) I’ve sent them in Steam sales over the past few months. When it costs less than a drink for a game, I can’t resist especially when it’s something this good even if I do already own the retail package. I just wish more of my RL friends who play games used their PCs for something other than Football Manager & didn’t automatically reach for a games console when they want to play something slightly interesting.
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I stay at home all day dreaming of becoming cat while painting colours on various walls.
Using tea bags no less.
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It has some absolutely great levels and is a steal at the price – get it.
But I’d personally caution against expecting it to be the second coming.
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Sleep is overrated. :)
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Punchy Punch Punch!
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Psychonauts starts poorly, which might be why it didn’t do better originally.
I love the game now, but I needed serious encouragement to get past the first (and, apart from the Meat Circus, weakest) level. Whoever thought that being shot repeatedly by that machine gun nest was a good idea needs to be, well, shot repeatedly with a machine gun.
As for the platforming controls, you fairly quickly get a power-up that makes jumping so much easier. If you haven’t got it yet then you’re just going to be incredibly frustrated that you can’t quite reach some areas that look like they should be accessible.
Do carry on! It has the best middle of any game in existence (and that’s about 90% of it). Every psychic journey is an absolute treat. I’ve never seen a better hidden room than the one in Milla’s Dance Party.
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Gosh darn meat circus level! I will beat it this time… maybe
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I’ve just bought this for a friend as I’ve already got it. Its one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever played. Seriously, the Black Velvetta level was jaw droppingly beautiful, there was a sharp indraw of breath when it loaded.
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Crumbs, I thought I’d been banned or something. Note to self – Log in through that wordpress thing before clicking on comments threads in future!
I’m not an enormous fan of 3d platformers so I hadn’t picked this up before now, but at that price it would be lunacy to not purchase it.
I have a pretty low threshold for pixel-perfect jumping sections with insta-death so I can tell mindboggling levels of frustration are afoot. Just so I know – are there any particular levels I particularly should watch out for in the exasperated muttered cursing stakes? Forewarned is forearmed and all that. I do recall seeing a friend play it a bit when it was first released but other than being pleasingly bonkers I don’t remember all that much about it.
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Sometimes I feel like I’m one of the 5 people who doesn’t love this game to death. I played it for a while a some time a go and I simply wasn’t that impressed. Got bored and moved on.
Is there something wrong with me? :(
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No, you just don’t find Tim Schafer amusing.
Which is fine, by the way – I don’t find him half as amusing as the majority of commenters here find him, either. People find different things funny, you know?
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I tried really, REALLY hard to love this game but it just wasn’t happening. It’s just one of them games where I don’t have any issues with it and I can see why it’s so well-loved. It just didn’t really happen for me.
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Finally, some people with sense. Not that it’s not with a £1, but Psychonauts flew under the radar for a reason, people. If you love it, you’ll defend it to the death. The rest of us will just get on with our lives…
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Not that it’s not with a £1, but Psychonauts flew under the radar for a reason, people.
Indeed. I think it was Mr. Walker that wrote a very interesting post a while back as to exactly why it flew under the radar.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/11/05/mind-games-psychonauts-gets-gog-release/
You don’t have a clue, as usual.
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And you’re being offensive as usual. Whether it flew under the radar, whether it was down to lack of marketing, some people 1) won’t enjoy the gameplay, 2) won’t enjoy the humour, 3) won’t enjoy the eccentric artistic style. Or a combination of the three.
You be one of the people that do enjoy if you want, but don’t accuse us of “lacking a clue” just because we don’t adore one of your favourite games. That just makes you sound like a fanboy.
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Oh, not people.
Just you.
Just to clarify, when you say “Psychonauts flew under the radar for a reason, people”, what reason were you referring to?
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@Liliput
How about the fact (as stated above ) the demo was shit? Because the opening levels were shit. And it gets better the more you get into it. Except he didn’t (like me) becasue the demo was shit.
That might have something to do with why it flew under the radar. At a pound I think I’m going to try it again but I certainly wouldn’t judege other people for not.
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Thanks to this deal I now own two copies of Psychonauts. It’s a single bloody pound. I spend more money on my lunch each day.
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I was going to ignore this, what with already owning a bona fide DVD purchased at FULL PRICE the WEEK OF RELEASE. But having read all the glowing, nostalgic reminiscing I’ve decided to buy it again merely for the convenience of having it on Steam. I don’t think I’ve bought a full game for £1 since having an Amstrad…
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Or if you liked Day of the Tentacle, Tim Schafer also worked on that as a designer too. I loved this game so much I bought it twice – once for my PS2, and again on XBL.
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Does anyone know if there’s a level select cheat for this game?
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I already have it on PS2 and Steam so it has gotten my support. Buy it today or you or I will put bacon in your ear.
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Another game added to the queue of ridicuvalue steam purchases that I don’t have time to play.
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Already own it, twice actually, and for that price you can’t really go wrong. Milkman and Black Velvet are really great examples of creative level design. Probably should be played with a controller if you have one around …
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Will buy it again.
I already have it boxed, but I bought that cheap-o and it cannot be regged on Steam, so that’s a no brainer. Might even buy it for some friends, even at 2 Euro (and not 1 pound) this price is ridiculous. :]
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VICTORY! Your time has come Psychonauts. You will now be bought. Muhahahaha! (The waiting paid off.)
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Finally boughted Psychonauts. Time to see what this is all about – I best not be disappointed!
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Bought Psychonauts during the gog.com sales.
But this reminds me that I still have to actually play it :)
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Works almost perfectly with an XBox 360 gamepad. I just noticed there’s 2 actions unmapped, and you can’t use the triggers to for those. But here’s a workaround from elsewhere:
“If you want to use an Xbox 360 gamepad for Psychonauts (or a lot of
other games) look for a program called Xpadder. It’s $10 to buy, with
all future updates free, and is worth every penny. It runs in the
background and intercepts controller inputs, translating them to
whatever you want. That includes the 360 pad’s analog triggers, which
many PC games (like Psychonauts) can’t deal with natively.
For Psychonauts, I just told Xpadder to make the triggers report as two
keyboard keys, which were mapped to the ‘Target Lock’ and ‘Primary PSI’
buttons in game. The rest of the gamepad worked just fine in game
already, so I only had Xpadder handling those two buttons. Played
through twice that way, completely seamless.”
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And yes, playing with an XBox 360 gamepad is definitely the way to go; it just feels a lot better and even more precise than using a mouse and keys for this particular game. I have a feeling that’s why I wasn’t enamoured with the demo when I played it originally (don’t look at me that way!) but played the Steam sale version for hours last night.
My next Halloween party I intend to dress up as Raz.
P.
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Avoided buying this at normal prices because i never could (or at least never got around) to looking for a demo to try, i guess i can’t really use that excuse anymore. Buying now!
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Hey Jimmy! I see you sitting on the fence there, unconvinced, and worried about your machismo, biting your nails out of concern that playing a game like this could somehow hurt your potential man-cred. Well, hey, that’s okay, you haven’t got any! Ha ha ha, I jest. Seriously Jimmy, by concerning yourself with nothing but surly men and tits, blood and smut, and all those things that define a prepubescent, you’re missing out on a world of entertainment!
/fiddles with the projector
But it’s all right Jimmy, I’m here to save you from a life of utter mundanity and boring muscle-flexing, just sit back in that easy chair, try one of those hors d’œuvres, they’re delightfully piquant, oh they’re a party in your mouth and you’re the guest of honour, Jimmy! Now now, don’t eat them all at once! You’ll want to save some to enhance your viewing pleasure, now sit back and watch, watch Jimmy, and feel your mind expand!
/presses the butan
The Milkman Conspiracy
Still on the fence, Jimmy? Oh well, we can’t cure everyone of boringitis! Ha ha ha, you’ll live a full and complete life, I’m sure… maybe as a bean-counter or something.
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I’m… not sure whether I was trying to imitate The Tick or Troy McClure with that. …perhaps some sort of bastard child of the two.
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By coincidence, I’m playing this for the first time right now. But I had to install it from 5 CDs!!!(!!!) 5!!! You young Internet-savvy kids have it easy!
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P.S. Oh yeah, *definitely* play it with a gamepad. It’s playable with mouse+keyboard but really just a shadow of itself.
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Went to buy “Bob came in pieces” last night on steam and instead found out about the sale. I then forgot to buy the “Bob…” and find I don’t really mind.
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I knew you’d recommend buying this for a quid, so I pre-emptively bought it last night – ha, take that! :D
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EDIT: NRRRG REPLIES
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The only downside to this game is the absolutely ridiculous increase in difficulty towards the end. Otherwise, the milk is delicious.
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One of the funniest games around.
Buy it.
It has squirrels in and everything.
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Squirrels you can light on fire with your mind!
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One of my favorite games is a platformer. Turrican 2 (1991).
I even played a lot Pitfall 2 (1984). But I don’t like the gimmicky of “preccise jumping”. It was something of a era, where the skill using the joystick was all. But gamming has moved away from “joysticks”, and I think the people that are still making platformer gamers have not paid attention, and are just feeding nostalgia.
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It’s also the kind of thing that was more suited to 2D. I’ve never been a huge fan of platformers but I could tolerate them back in the 8/16 bit days, whereas most 3D platformers drain my patience really quickly. It’s just easier to judge where you are in relation to the world in 2D. In 3D, every jump feels like a leap of faith to me.
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Apart from that superb Milkman level craziness I didn’t particularly enjoy this game. It could have been so much more… Maybe if Microsoft left it alone and it wasn’t dumbed down to fit their testers.
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after the entire day group effort spent trying to complete the end of meat circus I will never play this game ever again, im still amazed we succeeded.
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YOU USED TO LIKE TO PLAY CATCH WITH ME
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Purchased. I didn’t even have to enter my CC information, Steam remembered it.
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How convenient.
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Lovely, anyone who’s not played this should get it. I first got it retail and then got it cheap from GOG to have a digital version.
This also reminded me how sad it is Brütal Legend is not out on PC… boo… hiss…
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I have tried a few times to get into Psychonauts (I have it for my Xboxmachine), but just can’t get past the art style. Ugly characters and ugly environments — admittedly I’ve only done the boot camp type section at the start of the game, but I don’t think I could stomach much more.
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The game starts off a little boring, but once you get into it you will not be able to put it down. Some of the best level design I’ve ever seen.
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I’d normally be fine with buying something like this. I’ll have to try the demo before because I’m not sure this old laptop will run it.
But…
I don’t know if anyone feels like this, but I’m finding the astronomical levels of praise and hype for this game (a gushing torrent that has been flowing for years) to be slightly offputting. The more praise it gets, the better it’s got to be; otherwise it fails.
Granted, I’ve been proven wrong; I actually hated both Dark Knight and Arkham Asylum with a passion before I experienced them myself. I’ll give it a try. But still! STOP BEING SO ENTHUSIASTIC!
*whacks with sharp stick*
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Alright, I bought it. I played the demo a while ago after Yahtzee waxed poetic about it, and though I was amused, the platforming made me want to strangle someone.
Perhaps I will yet be a convert.
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I bought the game a while ago and really expected to like it based on all the online love for it. I was charmed by the story (the little I got to see of it), but it’s a hardcore platformer game, and I just don’t like platformers – even charming, intelligent ones just aren’t fun for me.
I really wanted to play it through to see the story and the puzzles, etc, but the platforming just made it terrible, so I had to quit playing.
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If I’ve ever heard of an impulse-buy, it was this one. Been intending to buy it a long time, and this is just too good to be missed!
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PSYCHONAUTS: ONE POUND?
“That’s less than a pint!” – Anonymous Poster
“That’s two hundred thousand times cheaper than my house.” – Astonished Homeowner
“If I put a billion pound coins in a pile, buying Psychonauts would hardly make a dent in it!” – Scrooge McDuck
Thank you, ‘pint’ posters, for reassuring us the real-world value of money. We’d completely lost all grip on it recently, so it’s nice to be reminded the trade value of currency.
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I might buy this just so I can stomp around like Godzilla in the Lake Monster’s mind-city. That never, ever gets old..
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Any opinions on how this compares to Mario Galaxy? I ask because I love Galaxy and they’re both platformers so was thinking a comparison of sorts could be reasonably valid.
Unless it’s not and I’m wrong.
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I’m the oposite. I’ve played this, but not Mario Galaxy. I’d say if you like platform games this is a good one.
Its greatest strength is in having massively diverse levels, that each require a different set of skills. Plus it has a nice story.
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Well, I bought it so as to get rid of steams limitations but I shall definitely get round to trying it out. So many people keep extolling its virtues there must be something in it.
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How about a PS3 controller?
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Any game that features a Godzilla spoof level set inside the mind of a giant mutated lungfish and can get a laugh from the line “Lets make out!” must be played!
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I wouldn’t even describe the game as a pure platformer in the Mario vein – it’s more of an action adventure that is heavy on the platforming. I didn’t play it for the gameplay so much as for the wonderful world and characters it evokes, like the very best work of Henry Selick.
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Psychonauts has brilliant writing. The dialogs are very funny and entertaining. The gameplay, however, is not as great. In some areas, the game gets very hard.
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is funny. :D
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Sorry ’bout that. It was meant to say:
This guy is funny. :D
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The demo does not run well on my laptop. Ah well.
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Bought 2 copies, 1 for me 1 for the awesome missus.
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@EthZee: It’s grossly overhyped. It’s a really shitty platformer, and a complete waste of Schafer’s writing. Ignore the raving fanboys, they’re blinding themselves to its chronically broken game part to give the celebrity developer a tongue bath.
Get back to adventure games, Tim.
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People, people, no-ones asked the most important question of all yet!
….can haz Steam achievments now plz?
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I wonder if the PC version of this game has some sort of control problem. I played the console version, found it of medium-to-easy difficulty all the way through and absolutely delightful. And yet I hear all the time about the final levels being tough, or the platforming giving people problems – maybe the keyboard just doesn’t work for this sort of thing, I guess.
Still, Christ on a bicycle, $2!?
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I find it bewildering that an alarming number of people seem hate the platforming and controls in this game. I completed it twice, both times getting 100%, and while being frustrated a good couple of times, the platforming seemed fun and well done. I never thought about plugging a gamepad, the keyboard and mouse felt just perfect after some fiddling with the sensitivity.
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i’d buy that for a dollar.
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I have this on xbox and I also played it for free on the PC with game tap. This game keeps popping up all over the place.
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I tried the demo when it came out and did it again yesterday to see if I’m ever gonna play this game, since it is not my kind of genre. Well, I agree with the comments that the story, the characters and the humor is great, but I also agree that the platforming is mediocre at best. Therefore I’ll keep 2 €.
If it were a classic adventure I wouldn’t think about it one second and would get it immediately. Oh well…
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Surely you mean “beautiful art style and beautiful character design”? Right?
Cos otherwise I would be confused and think you were playing a different game….
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I love Tim Schafer’s graphic adventures of old but I could never get into Psychonauts. I remember playing the demo when it came out and it just felt like a mediocre console platformer. Even the cutscenes left me cold – some beautiful art, but way too saccharine for me (darker undertones notwithstanding).
I seem to be part of the (vocal?) minority, though – if you haven’t played it, you’d be mad not to spend the $2 and decide for yourself.
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I’m a good way through the game (6 hours, Raz is now rank 30), have a fairly low tolerance for platformers (I’ve never been grabbed by any of the Mario games), yet I’m loving it. Have I just not hit a ramping up of difficulty, or is it just the game is far more playable on a gamepad?
P.
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I can’t say anything on the gamepad, but on the difficulty: there aren’t any real spikes until the final level, which is very hard. Don’t let anyone tell you that’s impossible though, because it’s not. You’ll get it right after a while.
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Made sure I bought this, as I originally had the PS2 port which, to put it bluntly, sucked the big one. But this game is so quote-worthy, so agreeably out-there, and so charismatic that I needed to get my hands on it again.
I wonder who the money goes to?
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The graphics look amazing. The gameplay sounds a bit dull though. Is there bullet time?
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