Psychonauts
Psychonauts is a game that has been highly recommended to me through various channels, but I never got around to getting it. It's been described as a game where you attend psychic summer camp, training to become a psychic soldier by entering the minds of the staff and students and running around inside them. Sounded interesting, but I still couldn't be bothered to buy it until it went on sale for $2, because honestly, at that price I'd be stupid not to buy it.
I wandered around for a while, collecting leveling tokens and exploring the camp. Couple of staff pulled me into their heads to teach me about some cool technique, etc. The game handles badly, but has consistently interesting visuals, good voice acting and is well-written. I was enjoying myself. I certainly felt like I had spent two dollars on worse things, which in my opinion makes it money well spent.
The basic instructor's mind is a never-ending World War II-style battle. The marksmanship instructor's mind is a huge cube covered in black and white geometric shapes, in which terrifying chaos leaps out with little provocation. The levitation teacher is a surpassingly thin woman who says "Dahlingk!" a lot, and her mind is an eternal dance party. There's funky music, rooms shaped like half-pipes, people dancing everywhere, and also TVs showing live videos of people dancing. Everyone's having a good time.
I spotted an out-of-the-way door. I went over and opened it. "Dahlingk, you don't want to go in there!" she exclaimed. The room was very plain and white, containing no people dancing or video screens of people dancing. It did contain a Vault, a cache of suppressed memories. She was reading a bedtime story to a circle of attentive children. She was preparing their meals, and singing with them. One day, returning with groceries, she found the building on fire. She clutched her head and screamed as the wails of the children rose above the roar of the fire, and the memory ended abruptly.
I blinked. There was a trunk in the corner of the room I hadn't seen before. I opened it.
"There's nothing in there you'd be interested in. Come back to the party, dahlingk!" She sounded desperate and anxious. I jumped in. The music stopped.
I found myself in the middle of an enormous golden birdcage with bent bars. Outside, in the darkness, I could see misshapen beasts milling around frantically. They were whispering to me. I found the door and tried to open it, but I couldn't. "See what you've done?" the teacher said. "It's a good thing I've got my nightmares under control! Come on now, come back to the party."
I shrugged, and jumped through the hatch on the floor, the only exit I could see. As I fell, the twisted demons whispered to me from outside the cage. "It's hot," they murmured. "It's burning."
I went back to the party, but found I couldn't enjoy it.
I wandered around for a while, collecting leveling tokens and exploring the camp. Couple of staff pulled me into their heads to teach me about some cool technique, etc. The game handles badly, but has consistently interesting visuals, good voice acting and is well-written. I was enjoying myself. I certainly felt like I had spent two dollars on worse things, which in my opinion makes it money well spent.
The basic instructor's mind is a never-ending World War II-style battle. The marksmanship instructor's mind is a huge cube covered in black and white geometric shapes, in which terrifying chaos leaps out with little provocation. The levitation teacher is a surpassingly thin woman who says "Dahlingk!" a lot, and her mind is an eternal dance party. There's funky music, rooms shaped like half-pipes, people dancing everywhere, and also TVs showing live videos of people dancing. Everyone's having a good time.
I spotted an out-of-the-way door. I went over and opened it. "Dahlingk, you don't want to go in there!" she exclaimed. The room was very plain and white, containing no people dancing or video screens of people dancing. It did contain a Vault, a cache of suppressed memories. She was reading a bedtime story to a circle of attentive children. She was preparing their meals, and singing with them. One day, returning with groceries, she found the building on fire. She clutched her head and screamed as the wails of the children rose above the roar of the fire, and the memory ended abruptly.
I blinked. There was a trunk in the corner of the room I hadn't seen before. I opened it.
"There's nothing in there you'd be interested in. Come back to the party, dahlingk!" She sounded desperate and anxious. I jumped in. The music stopped.
I found myself in the middle of an enormous golden birdcage with bent bars. Outside, in the darkness, I could see misshapen beasts milling around frantically. They were whispering to me. I found the door and tried to open it, but I couldn't. "See what you've done?" the teacher said. "It's a good thing I've got my nightmares under control! Come on now, come back to the party."
I shrugged, and jumped through the hatch on the floor, the only exit I could see. As I fell, the twisted demons whispered to me from outside the cage. "It's hot," they murmured. "It's burning."
I went back to the party, but found I couldn't enjoy it.