How Psychonauts 2 almost cut one of its most important elements

“We really wanted to get those back”.

Double Fine boss Tim Schafer has made no secret about the fact that Psychonauts 2 would not have had boss fights if his formerly independent company had not become part of Xbox in 2019. In an interview with G4 on YouTube, Schafer explained how the studio initially made the decision to cut each stage’s boss battles to make up for being behind schedule and its then-publisher running into some financial troubles.

“And then, in talking to Microsoft, their question was, ‘What would the game be like if you weren’t as constrained by resources?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I’d put those boss fights back in,’ Schafer explained. “It’s so easy to cut boss fights, because they’re kind of separate from the level, the level’s complete without them.

“But not a Psychonauts level, because they often represent the big thing going on in that person’s mind. You’ve gotta show it and then help the host of the mind fight it, overcome it or change the power balance.”