Review – Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin For PC

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Developer – Double Fine Productions, React Games
Publisher – Double Fine Productions
Platform – Oculus Rift, HTC Vive

2005’s Psychonauts was an instant classic with its witty humor, fun visuals and weird characters. Fans have clamored for more from the world for a long time. With Psychonauts 2 on its way, Psychonauts in the Rhombus room was originally released as a Sony PSVR exclusive game that has now seen rerelease for PC. It is a Psychonauts story that does more than hold over the fan base.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus Room starts where the first game left off, with the main character Raz and his team of Psychonauts heading off to rescue Truman Zannotto, leader of the Psychonauts. Their mission takes them to an area of the ocean called the Rhombus of Ruin.

The team ends up captured and Raz unable to move must rely solely on his psychic power to rescue his friends, find Zannotto, and expose and defeat their kidnapper before they are forever trapped in the Rhombus of Ruin.

It displays the world of Psychonauts well and even incorporates the theme of psychic powers into the controls. You see you don’t use your hands to control or manipulate objects. No, you use your head, solving puzzles with powers earned in the first game. This can make for some difficulty with selecting things we found out when we had to readjust our sensors due to the fact that we had to move our heads so much. While the original game was a 3D action – platformer, this is basically a point-and-click game. Using Raz’s clairvoyant abilities, you utilize the vision of your fellow captives to gain new perspectives and angles.

The familiar twisting and bizarre visuals of Psychonauts is there and made even more fun by not only the capabilities of its upgraded engine compared to the first game, but VR makes being part of the world feel so much more hilarious. It might sound weird to say about a game so stylized, but it really felt immersive. The comedy of the characters and scenes came off strong, and it felt good to see a return of such an iconic universe.

A detriment I can see people bringing up is the game’s length. I beat it around 2 hours, and that seems to be the average. So yes it is not a lengthy game but that’s not a thing you necessarily want with a VR game, and it does give a full and complete narrative that I didn’t feel like ended early or with any truly upsetting lingering questions that Psychonauts 2 won’t answer. Not to mention that at the time of writing it retails only for $19.99, so that length is not terrible. You are not getting the full experience that Psychonauts 1 was but like I said, the story is still full, just shorter.

We really enjoyed Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a great game but I understand if the control scheme isn’t for everyone. But if you are a Psychonauts fan who has a Vive Or Oculus, I say pick it up, you proud and skilled Psychonaut!