Recap / Psychonauts

Warning: Massive spoilers for Psychonauts ahead! Read at your own risk; you have been warned.

Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp

Introduction

Coach Oleander: "The Human Mind: 600 miles of synaptic fiber, five and a half ounces of cranial fluid, 1500 grams of complex neural matter... a three-pound pile of dreams. But I'll tell you what it really is. It is the ultimate battlefield—and, the ultimate weapon. The wars of this modern age—The Psychic Age—are fought somewhere between these damp, curvaceous undulations. From this day forward, you are all psychic soldiers. Paranormal paratroopers! Mental marines who are about to ship out on the adventure of their lives! This is our beachhead! And this is your landing craft. You shall engage the enemy in his own mentality—you shall chase his dreams, you shall fight his demons, you shall live his nightmares! And those of you who fight well, you will find yourselves on the path to becoming international secret agents— in other words... Psychonauts!! The rest of you... WILL DIE."

The game starts with a speech by Coach Morceau Oleander, talking to recruits about becoming Psychonauts; an elite group of international secret agents who use psychic abilities to keep peace around the world. It then turns out that the "recruits" are in fact children at a summer camp for psychics; specifically, PSI Cadets for Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. Just then, an intruder suddenly falls from the trees, scaring the kids. Oleander, alongside Psychonaut agents Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello detain it; only to learn that it is just a boy, albeit with a head heavily fortified against psychics. The boy reveals himself to be named "Razputin" ("Raz" for short), an acrobat from the circus. Due to being an intruder, Raz can only stay for a few days before his parents come to pick him up. Despite this, Raz vows to become a Psychonaut before they come. Meanwhile, Sasha requests to use Raz for his experiments, only to be shot down by the Coach, stating he has "big plans for that brain." After going to bed, he mets a strange old man who gives him an eye exam and explains how PSI Challenge Markers work before disappearing.

Coach Oleander's Basic Braining

After waking up, Raz follows the PSI Cadets to the Kids' Cabins, where Coach Oleander is hosting his obstacle course and the first class given to the campers of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. Oleander uses a small, door-like item called the Psycho-Portal to teleport the campers' astral projections into the course. Raz initially appears in a small room, with a projection of Oleander, who tells him to attack him. This knocks the wall down, and reveals a war-field area that serves as the main portion of his mind to be traversed. After reaching the end of the course, Raz discovers a white corridor with a set of red curtains at the end, but Oleander pulls him back before he can open it and gives Raz his first merit badge.

Sasha's Shooting Gallery

After leaving Oleander's mind, Sasha tells Raz to report to his lab for "advanced training", and gives him a button allowing him to access the lab through the GPC Isolation Chambers. Sasha uses the Brain Tumbler to bring Raz "deep into [his] own psyche" but pulls him out after encountering a monsterSasha sends Raz off to a passageway, leading him to a secret base where he meets the former head of the Psychonauts, Ford Cruller (also the old man who gave him the "eye exam" earlier on). While Ford went crazy years ago, he explains that the massive amount of Psitanium in the base allows him to stay sane, though this effect wears off once he leaves. Ford then gives Raz the Marksmanship Learner's Badge, and Raz returns to Sasha's lab to learn how to PSI-blast.Once inside Sasha's mind, he is introduced to censors, which attempt to remove foreign or unwanted parts of the mind, including Raz. Raz is tasked with defeating a massive number of censors but, getting impatient, turns up the censor control valve, allowing the censors to overtake Sasha's mind and forcing Raz to contain them. Raz eventually closes off all the valves, but the building pressure creates Mega Censor which Raz must defeat. After this is done with, Sasha gives Raz the Marksmanship badge.

Milla's Dance Party

After being pulled out of the Brain Tumbler again, Sasha gives Raz an Oarsman's Badge and tells him to go to the camp's beach, where Milla can teach him Levitation. While making his way to her, it's revealed that Raz has a fear of water, with his family being cursed to die in it (touching water causes a hand to attempt to pull Raz under, drowning him), and he also learns about rumours of a giant lungfish that kidnaps campers. He also comes across a brainless Dogen, revealing his vision in the Brain Tumbler to be true, though none of the Psychonauts believe him.Milla's mind takes the form of a massive party, where Raz must use Levitation (taking the form of a bubble which allows him to float and jump over large distances) to progress. This is a mostly straightforward level, with Raz bouncing his way through obstacles and - at one point - taking part in a race. Accessing a balcony brings Raz to a hidden room, with a chest leading to a burning hellscape with monsters surrounding you (which Milla explains are her nightmares, and a memory vault revealing that Milla used to run an orphanage before it burnt down with all the children inside (with her tormented by the fact that she couldn't save them).

Brain Tumbler Experiment

Upon entering his own mind, Raz comes across the Collective Unconscious, a series of doors allowing him to access peoples' minds. Entering his own door brings him to a void with his family's caravan, which going inside of brings him into a forest. However, before he can make it further in, he comes across a monster, and Sasha pulls him out to teach him Marksmanship.Re-entering his mind, Raz eventually comes across a tower, and through a window he sees a mad scientist (Dr Loboto) preparing to remove Dogen's brain. He tries to make his way up but is blocked again, forcing him to leave the mind and have Milla teach him Leviation.

Re-entering again, Raz makes his way to the top of the tower, where he sees Loboto remove Dogen's brain and go off to find a locked-up Lili. Raz enters the tower and follows Dogen's brain down a chute, where he finds himself in a blueprint-like room where he has to fight a tank with the brain inside. After destroying the tank, Raz finds himself back in the corridor in Oleander's mind, where he finds out that Oleander is planning to debrain the campers and use them to power an army of psychic death tanks. Just as he realises this, Sasha pulls him out of the Brain Tumbler and leaves before Raz can tell him anything, saying something "unbelievably urgent" has come up. Ford tells Raz to make his way to Thorney Towers.

Lungfishopolis

Raz eventually goes back to the beach, where he finds Lili and tells her what's happening before she's abducted by the giant lungfish. Ford becomes a "psychic stowaway" in Raz's mind (able to be lured out and contacted using a piece of bacon) and tasks him with returning the campers' brains. Raz then enters the diving sphere so he can follow the lungfish underwater, which he eventually manages to defeat.Raz finds himself as a giant monster making his way through a city, populated by civilian lungfish who name him Goggalor. He then comes across a small resistance group, who reveal that the civilian lungfish were brainwashed by another monster, Kochamura. Raz then makes his way through the city, destroying tanks and planes, before defeating Kochamura (revealed to be Oleander) and destroying the tower used to brainwash the civilians.After returning to the real world, the giant lungfish (Linda) befriends Raz and takes him to an island on the other side of the lake, revealed to be the location of Thorney Towers.

Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed

Milkman Conspiracy

After gaining access to the island on the other side of the lake, Raz finds he can't actually get in, due to the guard, Boyd Cooper, who is rambling about some "Milkman," telling Raz that he cannot let him in as the Milkman has the key. Deciding to take a look into his head, Raz uses the door and jumps inside, entering a house full of Boyd's conspiracy theories. Raz complains to Boyd that he can't understand any of it, so Boyd supplies him with the power of Clairvoyance to see the world through his eyes. Raz figures out that he has to find the Milkman to get Boyd to open the gate to Thorney Towers. Wandering out into the neighborhood, Raz avoids capture from government agents searching for the Milkman, and meets with Rainbow Squirts who appear to be keeping the Milkman's location a secret. He ends up running into their home, drawing the ire of the Den Mother, as the G-Men and Censors launch a full-scale attack. After Raz has dealt with the Den Mother, however, the Milkman awakens, revealing that Boyd was the Milkman the whole time, making short work of the Censors with some molotovs. Returning to the real world, Raz finds that the Milkman has taken over Boyd. He opens the gate, but he pulls out a molotov once he leads Raz inside, aiming it at the tower.A memory vault reveals that Boyd wasn't actually a security guard - he was another inmate, who ended up at the asylum after being fired from his job and burning it down. Oleander brainwashed Boyd and implanted the Milkman persona in him, ordering him to burn down Thorney Towers as a means of disposing of evidence.

Gloria's Theater

Making his way through the asylum, Raz finds various brains scattered throughout and comes across Gloria, an actress who appears friendly but changes her tune and becomes aggressive when Raz inspects her trophy (believing he's trying to steal it).Entering Gloria's mind brings Raz to a theatre, where stagehand Becky has him find Bonita Soleil, the star of the show and Gloria's muse. After putting a candle into the mood light, a spotlight on the side of the stage, a play starts but one of the actors has a spotlight dropped on them. Jasper, a man in the audience representing Gloria's inner critic, blames Bonita's bad acting and has her retreat to the dressing room again.The real culprit is revealed to be the Phantom, who lurks in the catwalks above the stage, and Raz has to run through a series of plays so he can make his way up there via a prop balloon. Up there, he gives chase to the Phantom, who is revealed to be a disguised Jasper. The two then fight and, after defeating the angry critic, Gloria is cured of her internal self-deprecation. Bonita puts on an awe-inspiring play while a now barely-noticeable Jasper shrinks, presumably disappearing completely.Back in the real world, Gloria is cured of her mood swings and gives Raz the trophy.

Waterloo World

Further on in the asylum is Fred, a former orderly who constantly switches between his regular, defeatist personality and that of Napoleon Bonaparte (actually one of his ancestors). Going into Fred's mind brings Raz to a small room, where Fred and a genetic memory of Napoleon are playing a board game. It's revealed that Fred lost multiple games against Crispin and became a defeatist as a result, resulting in the genetic memory taking over to get his fighting spirit back.Raz is tasked with helping Fred win the game (moving a knight into Napoleon's castle), which involves convincing various pieces to help (a carpenter, to repair broken bridges, multiple warriors to attack Napoleon's forces, and a knight to move into the castle). Though Fred is reluctant to play at first, he gains some motivation after the victories he and Raz have won so far, and he and Raz eventually win.Napoleon finally relinquishes control from Fred's mind and, back in the real world, the former orderly gives Raz his straitjacket, and agrees to take down Crispin after a nap.

Black Velvetopia

Further on in the asylum, Raz meets Edgar, who's tasked with painting a portrait of Loboto but always paints the scene of a bullfight over it, which incredibly frustrates him. Journeying into Edgar's mind reveals Edgar trying to scale a giant stack of cards to a crying woman in a window up above (Lampita), but he's always knocked down by a giant bull called El Odio.Raz is tasked with making his way through a surrounding town, avoiding a constantly-circling El Odio and finding the four cards (always having to fight a Luchadore, themed to a different animal). He learns that Edgar used to be a famous artist, but had a breakdown and went insane after his girlfriend cheated on him with a bullfighter. However, this is revealed to be a romanticisation - Edgar was a wrestler in high school and was sent into a depressive spiral when his girlfriend left him for a cheerleader, causing him to lose a wrestling tournament and gain the resentment of everyone at the school. The Luchadores represent his classmates at the wrestling club, and Lampita represents his ex-girlfriend. He additionally learns Confusion from a bullfighter, Dingo, who represents the cheerleader that Edgar's girlfriend left him for.Edgar and Raz eventually collect all the necessary cards and make their way to Lampita, where Raz ends up in a bullfighting arena and fights El Odio. However, halfway through the fight, it's revealed that El Odio is actually Edgar himself, and Raz has to defend him from Dingo instead.After the fight is over, Edgar realises he shouldn't have lingered so long in the past, and Dingo and Lampita are swallowed up by the ground before Raz leaves the mental world. Edgar manages to complete the portrait of Loboto and gives it to Raz.

Meat Circus

There's an elevator in the lower part of the asylum that Raz needs to go through to reach Loboto, but it's guarded by Crispin, a rude orderly who turns him away on account of him not being Dr Loboto. Raz is forced to create a disguise of Loboto using Gloria's trophy (acting as a claw), Fred's straitjacket (acting as a smock), and Edgar's painting (acting as Loboto's face). Raz manages to get past, and Crispin disappears after being chased by a fully-rested and motivated Fred.After getting past Crispin and making his way up the tower, Raz comes across the real Loboto, a debrained Sasha and Milla, a locked-up Lili (who has a cold, preventing her from being debrained), and Loboto's assistant Sheegor (who he berates for not finding a brain "mean" enough to power the work-in-progress Brain Tank). Raz then finds and returns Sheegor's turtle, Mr Pokeylope, who the scientist was holding captive. After this, the group agree to debrain Mr Pokeylope and put his brain inside the tank, allowing him to knock Loboto out of the tower.After freeing Lili and returning Sasha and Milla's brains, Oleander appears and the two kids are removed from the tower as they fight, sharing a kiss back on the ground. Ford, keeping his sanity using a Psitanium crystal, floats in and uses sneezing powder to debrain Oleander, and Boyd burns down the asylum once the other inmates have left. While everything appears to be over with, Oleander's brain ends up in a giant psychic death tank, which Raz defeats before being debrained himself after it releases a cloud of sneezing powder.

Raz uses telekinesis to put his brain inside the tank, causing his and Oleander's brains to become "tangled" and for their mental worlds to join together, bringing us to the Meat Circus. Raz comes across a child Oleander, named Little Oly, who is trying to rescue a bunny from his father, the Butcher. They enter a tent where Raz has to escort Little Oly from bunny demons, before following him through the "tunnel of love", before ending up in another tent where he has to defeat the Butcher himself.Raz is eventually thrown out of the tent, where a package opens up to reveal a mental projection of Raz's father, who berates him for associating with psychics. Raz has to make his way through another obstacle course, as his false father throws flaming juggling pins at him, before making his way back to the other tent and fighting the two fathers together. Raz's actual father (Augustus) then breaks through and explains that he was just trying to protect and train Raz and doesn't actually hate psychics, actually being one himself. The Butcher and fake Augustus fall into a meat grinder in the middle of the arena, seemingly defeated, but re-emerge as the Two-Headed Dad Monster.Augustus transfers his power to Raz, making him powerful enough to beat down the Dad Monster, and the mental world collapses around them. Little Oly thanks Raz for saving the bunnies and stopping his dad, and the two minds are separated.

Ending

The ending cutscene shows a now-cured Oleander apologising for his actions and congratulating Raz for stopping him. Ford then officially makes Raz a psychonaut, and the latter and Lili talk and say their goodbyes. Just as they're leaving, Sasha and Milla appear and reveal that Truman (Lili's dad and the head of the Psychonauts) was kidnapped, and Raz and the other Psychonauts set off to rescue him.