Category:Psychonauts -> The Rise in My Brain
The Precursor
It's August 2021. A new game, Psychonauts 2, has released, and it's everywhere. Everywhere I look, someone's talking about Psychonauts. My friends liked Psychonauts, my favorite artists began only posting Psychonauts, my entire online presence was flooded with this stupid game. I didn't know any of the characters' names, but I began to silently detest them. Their designs? Ugly. Their stories? Likely more than stupid. Who the hell cares about the inherent "queerness" of it? "Smol bean" SJW bullshit. Psychonauts becomes a daily nuisance on the internet, to the point where I almost completely unplugged so I could STOP. SEEING. PSYCHONAUTS!
Throughout the rest of the year and into the next, it followed me. It watched me through YouTube algorhithms to make sure I ALWAYS got recommended Psychonauts videos. Character analysis, level analysis, cutscenes, gameplay, it was all pointless gargbage. However...
First Contact
October 3rd, 2022. I sat in my room, bored, watching Noodle on YouTube. I was planning on watching all of his uploads, except for one. Psychonauts 2 is good, you'd like it :)
As if I could ever enjoy Psychonauts.
Though, as the catalogue of available videos went down, a small ache pained my stomach. I had to watch the Psychonauts video. I needed to get through every Noodle video.
So I watched it.
I found it quite funny.
I began subtley making references to the things mentioned in the video, such as the Milkman Conspiracy.
But I didn't actually like Psychonauts.
I just found Noodle to be quite humorous.
The Deep Dive
December 18th, 2022. Once again watching YouTube in my room, one video kept popping up on my recommended: The Psychology of Psychonauts -The Milkman Conspiracy
Something about this drew me. The Milkman Conspiracy was a level I was only mildly interested in from back when I watched the Noodle video, and before I knew it, the video began to autoplay.
I was entranced. Everything in the video was just so interesting, so shocking, so cool, and I felt like my body was moving on its own as I went through every available episode on the playlist.
I stopped watching after I finished the Loboto's Lobotomy episode; I needed to experience the game for myself.
I played it the day of, and I was hooked. I could not put it down, I would get so excited every school day to come home and play the game.
I never actually formally beat the first game.
I made it to Meat Circus, spent several days trying to beat it, and ultimately gave up to play Psychonauts 2.
What a game that is...
Psychonauts 2
This game changed my life. No, seriously.
Psychonauts 2 is one of those games that I can play over and over and over again without ever getting bored of it. As of April 9th, 2023, I have 100%ed the game 10 times.
The main thing about Psychonauts 2 that gets me is the characters. The Interns/Junior Psychonauts are some of my favorite characters of all time, and I can't help but gatekeep them. This is to be expected, considering they have their own shrine.
Other characters are especially important to me as well. The Psychic 7, Hollis, the Aquatos...the Aquatos broke me.
I'll get more sappy in the 'Personal Impact' section.
