Psychonauts 2 has an invincibility mode because ‘all people should be able to enjoy games’

Double Fine Productions has announced that Psychonauts 2 will have an option to permanently enable invincibility.

The studio revealed the news while replying to a tweet made by the official Xbox account that said: “Beating the game on the lowest difficulty is still beating the game.”

It replied: “If you beat Psychonauts 2 with the invincibility toggle on, you still beat [Psychonauts 2].”

It then went on to criticise players who believe that those who don’t play games on their hardest settings don’t deserve to take part in discourse about those games.

“‘Uh, excuse me I beat Sword Guy Serious Time on a no hit hard mode and if [you] didn’t do that I don’t respect you’,” it mocked. “‘And like, can you even comment on things if you’re not diamond six rank in Shooty McBlam? I don’t think so.’ Cool bud. You’re soooo cool!”

It concluded: “All people should be able to enjoy games. All ages, all possible needs. It’s an ongoing and important process for our industry and a challenge we need to met.

“End of the day? We want you to have fun, to laugh, to experience a story that affects you. On whatever terms you want.”

Psychonauts will be released for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC and PS4 on August 25.

Developed by Double Fine Productions, the title was originally scheduled to release in the fourth quarter of 2019, but it was delayed on several occasions.

The sequel to 2005’s Psychonauts was revealed at The Game Awards in 2015, with Double Fine going on to raise over $3.8 million on crowdfunding platform Fig.

Microsoft announced at the Xbox E3 briefing in June 2019 that it had acquired the San Francisco-based studio behind Brutal Legend and Broken Age, along with the publishing rights to Psychonauts 2, although Double Fine was quick to assure fans it would honour backers of the game on all platforms.

Double Fine founder Tim Schafer has said Microsoft’s focus on creating a diverse range of content for Xbox Game Pass subscribers meant his studio will retain the same identity and spirit it enjoyed for almost two decades as an independent developer, while continuing to make “experimental” games.