Recently, Tim Schafer promised to talk again about his new game: Psychonauts 2. Is it finally the promise to see this game resurface? When will it finally have a release date? Focus! In 2006, Psychonauts was released. One of the most underrated games of old-gen consoles. Behind his offbeat humor and his "cartoonish" approach was a more intelligent work than one could have thought. Born from the imagination of the creator of Monkey Island, the concept of Psychonauts was very attractive. The player had to get inside the heads of the characters and help them heal from a malaise, in order to acquire new powers. Reflection on frustration, paranoia, repression or even the Oedipus complex… The game offered a true ode to psychoanalysis, through a black humor and an aestheticism sometimes reminiscent of Tim Burton. 
The player put himself in the shoes of Razputin, "Raz" for the intimates, in the extravagant colony of the Whispering Rock! Aware that he has special powers, he joins this summer camp in order to become an agent of the mind: a Psychonaut. Very quickly, Razputin discovers a conspiracy… Unfortunately, sales were not at the rendezvous. The title of Double Fine will however find a second wind when it goes on sale on Steam and its readaptations on next-gen consoles. And this, despite the lack of improvements or graphic redesigns.
An unexpected development of the second part:
Faced with the failure of Psychonauts, Tim Schafer embarked on the creation of Brutal Legend. A game about heavy metal with Jack Black in the title role. The game was released in 2009 and was more successful than its predecessor. However, the author does not give up the idea of following up on Raz's adventures and mentions it in an interview with Schacknews.
"That would be great, wouldn't it? I think that would be great. I love this game and I would like to do something with it one day… But for the moment we are not working on it. If the fans keep talking about it, maybe it will happen." Tim Scafer – 2009
He returned to his remarks again in 2012 with the idea of finally following up on Psychonauts. Unfortunately, Double Fine does not find the necessary budget, despite the notoriety of Brutal Legend. 
"I mean I get a lot of daily questions on Twitter or otherwise about Psychonauts 2. And I'd love to do Psychonauts 2. In fact, I've presented this to editors several times and no one has taken the bait so far. So it's hard because fans often don't know how the business works… Unlike a developer and a publisher, it is difficult to explain this. I'd love to make this game, but I'd have to convince someone to give me just a few million dollars, that's all."
At The Game Award 2015, Double Fine announced the creation of a crowdfunding for the development of Psychonauts 2. December 4 to be precise. It was an immediate success. Almost $4 million! This allows the development team to have a considerable budget and find investors. Broken Age, another game from Double Fine, had exploded its budget despite the creation of a crowdfunding on Kickstarter.
A new Psychonauts game!
While fan funding advances, Double Fine is releasing an exclusive game on PlayStation Store: Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruins. Taking place after the events of the first part, the game cannot be played without a Playstation VR headset. But it is ultimately only a technical demo (paid) showing the progression of production in one level. If the result is awfully short, it is no less promising. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYkNKO9F28s Also, Double Fine decides to learn from his financial failures. He decided not to create a graphics engine specific to the game, but to be satisfied with all the possible performances of the Unreal Engine 4.
"We're going to use Unreal this time. So we don't write an engine from scratch. So it's a big part of our budget that we don't have to worry about."
Double Fine had originally planned a 2018 release for the title. But he finally announced in December 2017 that with the game in full development and their roadmap, they didn't expect to release the game until at least 2019. It is finally only at The Game Awards 2018 that Psychonauts 2, in alpha version, presents its official trailer. Another piece of good news is coming for the game. Because in June 2019, Double Fine is bought by Microsoft as part of Xbox Game Studios. However, the game will not be an exclusive, unlike the studio's next game which will be an Xbox Series X exclusive and whose development began in April 2020.
What is the situation today?
Since then, no one has heard from Psychonauts 2. It must be said that the Covid-19 crisis must have slowed down the final progress of development. But it seems that no hype is really present in France. Indeed, the forums talking about the game are very few and not very active, to the detriment of the big expectations of the moment (including The Last of Us 2). Finally, a little hope returns! During the presentation of the new Xbox Series X and the Inside Xbox, Tim Schafer reveals that the game continues to move forward.
"This year, we had a big plan to bring psychedelic and exciting gameplay from Psychonauts 2 during E3. And it suddenly failed. We were very excited to unveil more of the game, so we're very happy to have plans to present it anyway. Hurrah! As our good buddy Matt Booty announced yesterday on Inside Xbox, there will be a showcase dedicated to Xbox Game Studios in July. And Psychonauts 2 will be one of them, oh yes! Stay tuned to Xbox Wire for more information." (Crowdfunding news as of May 9, 2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=356&v=2BebC8SJhOM&feature=emb_title As you can see, the game should finally be entitled to new information. And especially a release date very close, although the year 2020 seems compromised. In a recent video published on Youtube, the studio confirms continuing the development of the game via teleworking. The game is therefore progressing more slowly than expected.
"So many millions of people around the world are affected by this in so many different ways… And we are extremely grateful to be our position, where we are able to shelter and continue to work, although with some modifications compared to the usual routine. We're happy to say that work on Psychonauts 2 continues , but with changes and things to work around."
Psychonauts 2 is a game that deserves our full attention. Justfocus will be there when it is marketed. However, we sincerely hope that a game of such caliber that has been waiting for so many years does not end up as a vulgar wet firecracker. We believe in it!
Psychonauts 2 trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76INCOjtRGQ
