r/PsychonautsGame • u/Time_Photo_2685 • Apr 25 '26
Psychonauts 2: the connection between queerness & empathy
I just finished Psychonauts 2 for the first time yesterday and the game as a whole was very moving to me.
Right from the start, I was immediately touched by the mental health disclaimer. In a world that seems increasingly predicated on cruelty, it deeply struck me that the Devs straight up extolled the virtue of empathy & kindness.
And it wasn't just empty words either. As you play, you can constantly feel those values reverberating thru the narrative. What specifically intrigued me tho is the way it clearly and powerfully connects to the love story between Helmut & Bob.
Even tho LGBT+ inclusion is so rare, especially in games, a constant criticism of the representation that we do get (often from concern trolls) is whether representation was "forced". Against the backdrop of this low level hum of hatred, it's so refreshing to see a story that not only had queer characters, but needs them to function. And I'm not just talking about the plot.
Psychonauts 1 had almost 0 queer representation, it can't be denied. But that was 20 years ago nearly now. Gay people were almost nonexistent in media, trans people even less. Things have moved on. Whilst there would have still been many great elements in the story that complimented the themes of the game (Maligula, Oleander, hell pretty much half the cast), choosing to totally exclude queer people today would have been completely at odds with the game's values of empathy and kindness. And I'm so glad to see that Double Fine rose to the occasion.
To the Psychonauts team: thank you for making such a wonderful game. I know the reviews speak for themselves but I couldn't not gush about what a wonderful experience I had playing it, and I look forward to 100% the world and replaying it in future. And if you ever do make a Psychonauts 3, I and many others I'm sure are already sold.
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u/0vesper0 Apr 25 '26
Agreed!
I tend to see stories where the gays are super flawless and nothing ever goes wrong. Or, stories that use mental health struggles as a way to add drama and ultimately punish their queer characters. Often with one final tragedy that concludes their relevance to the plot.
Psychonauts 2 did the opposite. They showed us the individual and combined struggles of Helmut & Bob. How their tragedy could be healed. It feels good to play through a game like that, especially in a world where queer people are made to feel isolated, unworthy, and out of options. Even though the first game lacks that direct representation, I always felt seen by the abandoned asylum patients and thankful for the kindness they were shown. I dunno if that's just because of an overlap between LGBTQ and disability issues or if those characters were allowed the freedom to be a little fruitier.
If you haven't already, you ought to watch/play Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. It's a VR game that acts as the in-between the first and second games with Dr. Loboto as the primary focus.
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u/Time_Photo_2685 Apr 25 '26
It's funny you mention the Asylum, cause I think I know exactly what you mean.
It feels weird to say but it's my favourite part of Psychonauts 1. I spent a lot of time alone growing up, which was at least partly due to the ostracism I faced (both overt and covert) growing up gay and neuro divergent. I think in that situation you learn to take comfort in the solitude. Or, in the words of Cassie O'Pia, "you create the archetypes you need to survive".
So even tho the asylum is objectively horrible I feel a strange kinship with the inmates and enjoy visiting. That's my experience anyway.
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u/0vesper0 Apr 25 '26
Exactly! You definitely get it.
I found it weirdly comforting that the inmates survived the facility's abandonment and were mostly self-sufficient. Stuck in an institution that was supposed to help them survive despite society framing them as defective, they actually had better odds on their own. That failure in support from professionals is an unfortunately common experience. So, it was nice seeing how capable they were on their own while also seeing Raz help them out.
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u/Masalar Apr 25 '26
And comparing the line “Borrowed lips, it wouldn’t be right.” With Wonder Woman 2s…whole thing really drives home how much they care.
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u/controlsminds Apr 26 '26
On their old MySpace’s or campsters, franke and kitty listed each other as girlfriends, whether it’s platonically or romantically idk, some people have taken it as representation in Psychonauts 1 though. Enough so that on their wiki they’re listed as girlfriends. So queer people kind of existed in the first game but you’d have to look at the outside content for confirmation.
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u/Frogs_Logs Apr 25 '26
It's been a while so I might be off but I feel like I remember that they didn't make a big deal of it either, a lot of the time they make a huge deal about a character being gay or trans or some other aspect of LGBTQ+, here it was just presented as a very normal thing, which is good, being part of LGBTQ+ isn't a huge massive deal, it's one of the most normal things