Microsoft's Acquisition Of Double Fine Helped Make Psychonauts 2 Bigger

Psychonauts 2 began as a crowdfunded venture, before Microsoft later swooped in, picked up Double Fine and dropped a boat load of cash and extra time on the project. That's what some of the game's developers said in a recent report, which revealed how the acquisition helped the studio expand the game.

The report from Axois says developers have opened up to the outlet about how being an Xbox studio has helped flesh out Psychonauts 2. It's something that's been mentioned before by the team, but now they appear to have elaborated on how it's actually been made bigger.

It centres around the game's combat, as the extra time allowed them "the ability to build the game's big 'boss' enemies," according to lead environment artist Geoff Soulis. Not only that, but it also translates into normal encounters, as the resources ensured they could build a wider range of smaller enemies to tackle. Double Fine's senior system designer Lauren Scott said this was something that "needed some more love".

"We definitely got a bit of breathing room for our enemies that were more on the tail end of things that needed some more love."

Replaying the original Psychonauts these days (which you can do via Xbox Game Pass), you can see the combat is a bit lacklustre. It's something the team at Double Fine have previously said they'd love to have worked on a bit more, but unfortunately they couldn't. It seems their wish has come true with the sequel, and we'll find out if it translates to a bigger and better product when Psychonauts 2 hits Xbox Game Pass on August 25.

Glad to see more time and resources put into Psychonauts 2? Let us know in the comments below.

[source axios.com]