Tim Schafer talks Psychonauts 2 story
Chance of a Double Fine Monkey Island game "very, very low".
Double Fine boss Tim Schafer has divulged story details for his studio's freshly-funded Psychonauts sequel.
Psychonauts 2 will pick up mere moments after the original, which launched more than 10 years ago.
Speaking via a new Reddit AMA, less than a week after Psychonauts 2 hit its crowdfunding goal Schafer explained that he'd had the sequel's story in mind for a long time.
"The story for Psychonauts 2 is something I wanted to do back when Psychonauts was released," he wrote. "In the intervening years I've been keeping a document of ideas going, with new mental worlds and story ideas going in as I think of them. So I'm starting this game with the rough story figured out, ideas for brains and mechanics, and an engine (Unreal).
"In Psychonauts 2, Raz will finally get to go to Psychonauts headquarters - his lifelong dream. There he can see Sasha and Milla in their natural environment - international espionage. But he finds several things strange about the organisation.
"While Truman Zanotto was missing, several changes to the direction of the organisation were made by his second in command. Funding was cut from traditional psychic research and peacekeeping, and redirected to unorthodox, fringe endeavors, including the discredited practice of necromancy.
"Raz soon uncovers sinister things at work in the shadows of Psychonauts headquarters, including double agents and evils of the past. Raz's own family history plays a pivotal part in the story, and Raz must confront the roots of the curse placed on his family once and for all. And also deal with this whole 'girlfriend' term and what it really means. :)"
Double Fine's return to Psychonauts follows remasters of old LucasArts games such as Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle. But there's one LucasArts franchise that it looks like Double Fine won't be working on in the near future.
When asked the chances of gaining the rights to LucasArts' seminal Monkey Island series, Schafer replied the odds were, sadly, "very, very low".
"But maybe we'll make up something new you like!" he concluded.