The Escapist Game Circle: Psychonauts

Due to popular demand, we’re going to give a sort of poetry circle / book club a try. Vishnu help us.

The game for August is Psychonauts, the wacky, but surprisingly deep platformer by Doublefine. This one got a lot of critical acclaim, but tanked at retail. Which means its right up our alley.

Check out Lara Crigger’s fantastic article on the game.

Some of the folks in the forum got a head start on this, so go ahead and run with it if you’re into the game already. Let’s set the spoiler date at August 13th, which is two weeks from today. Until then, please try to avoid too many spoilers.

That gives us two weeks to work on the game and two weeks after that to talk it out, crying on each others’ shoulders. Should be fun.

The game is available for Xbox (360 compatible), PS2 and PC, and can be found practically everywhere games are sold for $20 or less.

FAQ

What is it?

It’s pretty simple. Once a month we’ll pick a new game, and suggest you pick up or rent a copy. Then we’ll play it. Then we’ll talk about it. It’s really that simple.

What do I need to do?

Keep an eye out for posts like these. They will usually occur near the beginning of a month (in this case, August). Then, if the game and the concept interest you, find a copy of the game of the month and play it.

How do we discuss?

By checking the forum thread frequently, adding a thought when one occurs to you and commenting on messages left by others. It’s simple.

Nothing is unimportant. If your first impression is the graphic look like ass but the dialogue is neat, say that. You’d be surprised how easy it is to start a discussion.

Do I have to finish the game?

Ideally, but it’s not technically necessary I suppose.

Do I have to finish the game to start talking about it?

Absolutely not. That’s part of the fun of sharing the experience, sharing our impressions as we go.

Naturally some folks will have more time than others, and will play faster as a result. That’s OK. Let’s try to be aware of not posting plot or puzzle spoilers if we can help it.

We’ll set a deadline toward the end of each month after which it’s OK to talk about the full plot and whatnot. If you can’t help but talk about every detail, or don’t want to know anything about the game until you discover it yourself, then it might be a good idea to avoid the thread until the last week of the month. But I think we can promise to be good and avoid trouble here.