One More Go

When people ask what are some of my favourite TV shows of the year, an answer that quickly bubbles to the surface is Psychodyssey. A documentary by Two Player Productions (2PP) following the team at Double Fine Productions as they battle the odds to develop and release Psychonauts 2. It’s no secret, Psychonauts 2 was well received both critically and by fans of the original when it released in 2021, so the team succeeded, but even when you know the ending, Psychodyssey is a gripping watch, and the volume of effort and talent needed to get Psychonauts 2 out the door is astounding.

Double Fine Productions, headed up by industry legend Tim Schafer (monkey island, grim fandango, brutal legend), has a history of letting people in behind the curtain. Their first foray into this territory began way back in 2011, when 2PP documented the development of Broken Age, the Kickstarter backed Double Fine Adventure. Since then they’ve also documented the company’s Amnesia Fortnight campaigns (2012, 2014, 2017), where the teams take two weeks off from their usual long term projects and swap focus to four smaller prototype games, some of which become full releases later down the line.

In 2014 Double Fine began creating a sequel to the classic 3d platformer Psychonauts, a game which was notoriously difficult to develop, and had the team working long hours and sleeping at their desks in order to see it through to completion. In Psychonauts you play as Raz, an acrobat with psychic abilities who is able to enter the minds of others. Each mind you enter holds a new level to conquer, cleverly designed in a way that reflects that character’s personality and any secrets or issues they may have buried. It’s fitting then, that the development of its sequel has been documented in a way that lets us delve into the minds of its creators, to see how its new worlds were crafted, and whether lessons had been learned from the development of the original Psychonauts.

2PP is no stranger to documenting these types of projects, and having been embedded within the team at Double Fine for so long they’re able to excavate interesting stories and arcs from the subjects they capture. Psychonauts 2 was in development for seven years, a long time even by AAA development standards, and Psychodyssey captures it all. Seven years of production, gameplay design, and the rest, is captured across 32 episodes and over 22 hours of footage. 2PP have been granted, and us by extension, a level of detail and access that we likely won’t see again. Considering that Double Fine was acquired by Microsoft mid way through development, and then the faced a global pandemic alongside the rest of us, it’s a bit of a miracle that 2PP were able to get this over the line at all.

Psychodyssey was commissioned by Double Fine, and yet somehow retains a warts and all philosophy throughout. It doesn’t pull punches, nor does it paint its subjects as heroes and villains, they’re all just people trying to do their jobs as best they can, but that doesn’t mean they’re all successful, and it makes for difficult viewing as they sometimes struggle against one another. You’ll see debates around crunch culture, longstanding staff members leaving, and everyone trying to figure out how to collaborate remotely during the pandemic, all while trying to make a game that’s both sensitive and funny.

Kurt Indovina wrote in his review of Psychonauts 2 – “to take a closer look at its characters, the depth of their struggles, fears, and regrets, all of which serve as the game’s foundation. It’s an emotional, hilarious, and, at times, devastating story“, which could be just as fitting a summary of the documentary as it is the game itself. Psychodyssey is an astounding achievement of its own, chronicling the development of a beloved game in real time. Whether you’ve played Psychonauts 2 or not, if you have even a passing interest in how games are made then Psychodyssey is essential viewing.