The video game expo E3 was several weeks ago and a lot of studios had a decent amount of new games to show off. However, the game I wanted to see the more than any other was Psychonauts 2. The original Psychonauts was a "cult classic" for the original Xbox in 2005. The game was a critical success, but a commercial flop. Over time, however, the game rose in popularity to the point were the sequel was successfully funded online. I started to wonder why this sequel to a game that was a commercial flop had me more excited than a large chunk of the games they showed off and only one word came to mind; creativity.

I'm not saying that all games released today lack creativity or creative elements, far from it, but I have noticed a lot of games are starting to feel a bit to similar to one another. It seems like most games have to be open world sandbox style games, whether it fits the game's style or not, and most games have to feature crafting elements in an attempt to appeal to the "Minecraft market". Not to mention most protagonists look like the same generic gruff guy, to the point that it's actually getting hard to tell them apart.

This is why something like Psychonauts stands out to me. The best way to describe Psychonauts would be this; imagine if Tim Burton made a kids cartoon for Nickelodeon in the late 90s and the plot of that cartoon was basically that of the Christopher Nolan film "Inception". Psychonauts follows a young boy named Raz who runs away from his home in the circus and sneaks into a summer camp that trains young psychics. That sentence alone features more creativity than a numbers of generic military shooter games trying to imitate Call of Duty. In the game you solve various platforming puzzle inside the minds of people ranging from a paranoid conspiracy obsessed Milkman to a mutated fish that views you as a Kaiju sized creature attacking a city.

The level of creativity and imagination on hand is utterly astounding and, from the trailers, Psychonauts 2 looks to continue that creativity with levels that range from a disturbing tooth world in the mind of a mad dentist to a psychadelic 60s world that looks like something from a Beatles music video. The unique art style displayed for each mind makes them stand out and makes them extremely memorable. The writing also has this wacky and, at times, not completely "G-rated" sense of humor that's always fun to see in games.

However, the most surprising thing in Psychonauts is it's level of depth. While exploring the minds of people you also get a grasp on their psyche and the personal issues they face, mostly through level design and gameplay. For example, the level following the conspiracy theorist is a seemingly colorful "normal" 50s suburban neighborhood, except the environment is warped and twisted to match his warped mind. You get to experience some pretty traumatic stuff from each character and help them work through it. The final boss of the game it literally a manifestation of daddy issues.

If you haven't played Psychonauts yet I highly recommend it. You can find it now on most platforms and Steam. I recommend it on the creative and unique gamplay and art, in the hopes that it will broaden your imagination and inspire you to demand more creativity in the video game industry. As many have said before, "variety is the spice of life", and games could use a bit more of it.