Game devs praise Psychonauts 2 documentary for showing how hard game development really is

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This 22-hour documentary is your best insight into the challenges of game development

Double Fine PsychOdyssey
(Image credit: Double Fine)

Earlier this month, Double Fine released PsychOdyssey, a 32-episode, 22-hour documentary series on the making of Psychonauts 2. Now that the world has actually had time to watch most of it, game devs are lauding the series as the absolute best insight you'll get into how hard making games actually is.

Double Fine started chronicling its production process back in 2012 when the game that would eventually be known as Broken Age hit Kickstarter. The studio worked with 2 Player Productions to produce a lengthy episodic documentary chronicling the making of that game, and 2 Player essentially became Double Fine's in-house documentarian group.

Now, Double Fine and 2 Player have released the full run of episodes chronicling the production of Psychonauts 2 with PsychOdyssey, and the results are absolutely incredible. The presentation feels so candid and honest that, even when it feels a bit voyeuristic to watch ordinary people do their jobs, it's absolutely enthralling. You don't know heartbreak until you watch a newly hired level designer have an idea gently shot down by Tim Schafer.

The documentary doesn't shy away from the hard parts, even those bits you might expect to be swept aside for corporate or legal reasons. Take this bit from the time of Microsoft's buyout of Double Fine, where Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty gives some (arguably unsatisfactory) answers about moonlighting to concerned employees.

Game devs from all corners of the industry - from folks at indie studios to lead designers at places like Respawn and Naughty Dog - have been praising the documentary for its insight into the game development process.

The only problem anybody in the industry seems to have with PsychOdyssey might be that it's a little tool real.

But really, where else are you going to find an honest discussion about how terrible it is to make a working platformer camera?

If you have any interest in finding out how much work goes into making the games you play, PsychOdyssey is essential viewing.

I haven't even finished PsychOdyssey yet and I'm already looking forward to the documentaries on whatever Double Fine's next upcoming Xbox Series X games will be.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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