Here Are All The Different Ways To Play ‘Psychonauts’ Before ‘Psychonauts 2’

One of the more exciting releases that will come out soon is the upcoming Psychonauts 2. Despite the 15-year gap between games, fans of the series are finally getting a sequel to one of the weirdest and quirkiest games of the Xbox/PlayStation 2 generation. There’s a lot of excitement around Psychonauts 2, not only because it’s another example of how crowdfunding can assist in game development, but because of their focus on accessibility to the player — they’ve already told players that there will be an invincibility mode and their efforts to be a game that everyone can play are admirable.

Of course, with the game being a sequel, there’s going to be a segment of players who really can’t play it without playing the first game, especially since this game is going to be a direct sequel. Even if the game wasn’t a sequel, there would still be players out there who feel the need to play the first game before they can play the follow-up. Lucky for them, there are plenty of ways to still play the original game today.

Psychonauts 2 releases on August 25 and the original game takes about 15 hours to beat, so anyone that really wants to play the original first should be able to tackle it relatively quickly. There isn’t any version in particular that’s superior to the rest, so get it on whatever platform you would prefer to play it on. These platforms include:

Steam

The first Psychonauts game is currently available for only $0.99 on Steam. That means anyone with a PC can play the game for practically free. It’s an older game, so anyone with a decent PC should be able to play it without too many issues. That said, because it’s a 3D Platformer, most players might want to consider finding a controller.

Game Pass

Owners of an Xbox or PC who currently pay for Game Pass can play the original Psychonauts game for free. The advantage of this is that anyone who is concerned their PC won’t be powerful enough to play the game can just play it on their Xbox with little concern.

Xbox/PlayStation 2

Purists who still own their Xbox or PlayStation 2 can always go find an original copy of the game and play it that way. However, the barrier to entry is far higher than the other options just because of the price. As of this writing, the game is selling in the $20-35 range on Amazon. There also aren’t too many in stock, so some players may need to go hunt down their local retro game store to find it. If someone does take the Amazon route, they’ll have to wait for shipping, and with the sequel coming out soon, there won’t be as much time to play it before release. Play the game however you want, but this method is really only suggested for purists that want to play the game exactly as it was on original hardware.

VR

For anyone that wants to play as much Psychonauts content as possible before Psychonauts 2, they can always play the PlayStation VR game, Psychonauts: Rhombus of Ruin. Since the majority of people do not have a PlayStation VR, this game isn’t going to be required to enjoy the sequel, but it’s out there for anyone who is interested in it.