Psychonauts 2 is almost finished, will release in 2021

Starting off 2021 with some excellent news indeed, as Double Fine Games confirmed over the holiday break that Psychonauts 2 is on the cusp of completion. The update, which was released as a nine-minute video wherein Tim Schafer, one of the industry’s most prolific and wonderfully whack designers, speaks on the state of the game while showing off some footage of production meetings clearly held throughout the year. Schafer states in the update that Double Fine has entered “the last stage of production”.

December of 2020 marked the final month for the developers to add anything new to the game and now that we’re in January, the gang is focusing on finishing up and polishing everything.

Schafer also confirmed that “all the levels are in the game” and explained which aspects require further development, including a few cutscenes, the user interface, and the end credits. Perhaps the best part of Schafer’s video, beyond that very well decorated Christmas tree, is a discussion on how the work process has changed at Double Fine. The team was committed to develop the game with zero crunch time in mind, a far cry from the original Psychonauts which Schafer describes as being one of the worst crunch experiences he had ever experienced during his time in the industry.

Beyond that, the majority of the video features Schafer playing Psychonauts 2 while the rest of the team looks on and discuss other aspects of the game that need to be fixed or updated. It’s not only an interesting insight into how Double Fine has adapted to a work from home policy but also a very cool behind the scenes look at the development of such a highly anticipated game. While we don’t have a specific release date, it certainly seems from all the footage that the game will be ready for this year.

It’s been a long time coming and personally, I can’t wait.

Last Updated: January 4, 2021