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Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

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Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Information
VR/AR Virtual Reality
Developer Double Fine Productions
Publisher Double Fine Productions
Platform PlayStation VR, SteamVR, Oculus Rift
Device PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive
Operating System PlayStation 4, Windows
Type Game
Genre Adventure, Puzzle
Input Device Gamepad
Play Area Seated
Game Mode Single-player
Release Date PlayStation VR: February 21, 2017; PC VR (Oculus Rift, HTC Vive): April 19, 2018
Price US$19.99 (digital)
App Store PlayStation Store, Steam, Oculus Home
Website https://www.doublefine.com/games/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin
See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a first-person virtual reality adventure puzzle game developed and published by Double Fine Productions. It was released exclusively for PlayStation VR on February 21, 2017, and came to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on April 19, 2018.[1][2] The player controls Raz, a young psychic agent, who has to rescue his captured teammates using only his psychic powers. Double Fine describes the game as a standalone chapter of the Psychonauts series that bridges the story between the original Psychonauts (2005) and its sequel, Psychonauts 2.[1][3]

The game was Double Fine's first VR game and its first project built in Unreal Engine 4.[4] It was funded entirely by Sony.[5] The PlayStation 4 version holds a Metacritic score of 71, and the game was a finalist for Immersive Reality Game of the Year at the 21st D.I.C.E. Awards.[6][7]

Reviewed 4 October 2026. Release dates, platforms, prices, developer and publisher credits, development interview quotes, review scores, Metacritic and OpenCritic figures, and D.I.C.E. nomination checked against the cited sources. About review dates.

Gameplay

The game is played from Raz's first-person perspective, unlike the third-person original.[5][8] After the rescue party is captured, Raz is immobilized, and the player solves puzzles with three psychic powers: clairvoyance, which lets Raz see through the eyes of other characters and explore the environment from their position; telekinesis, which moves objects; and pyrokinesis, which sets things on fire.[1][9] Jumping into another character's mind with clairvoyance is also how the player moves through a scene. UploadVR described this as body-swapping between characters, and Road to VR compared it to node-based teleportation.[2][10]

The game is designed to be played seated, and the story keeps Raz in his chair, which Gamecritics noted reduces the risk of motion sickness and fits the psychic theme.[11] Objects and characters are selected by looking at them. Road to VR found that this gaze-based selection "can be fiddly at moments".[10] On PlayStation VR the game uses the DualShock 4 controller and requires the PlayStation Camera; PlayStation Move motion controllers are not supported.[12][11] The Steam version requires a gamepad, with Touch controllers usable as a gamepad as an option.[9]

Double Fine split the game into sections with natural stopping points so it can be played in short sessions.[4] Reviewers reported a play time of about two hours (Destructoid, Gamecritics) or about 1.5 hours (Road to VR).[13][11][10]

Story

The story begins immediately after the ending of Psychonauts. Raz has been made a full member of the Psychonauts, a group of psychic secret agents, when word arrives that Truman Zanotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts and the father of Lili, has been kidnapped.[3] Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla and Coach Oleander fly to the Rhombus of Ruin, a mysterious part of the ocean that the official description calls "as deadly as two Bermuda Triangles back to back".[9][14] When the rescue party is itself captured, the immobilized Raz has to reunite his friends, find out who the kidnapper is and free Truman.[9] Game Informer reported at the announcement that the story leads directly into the beginning of Psychonauts 2.[5]

Development

Double Fine announced the game at PlayStation Experience on December 5, 2015, as a PlayStation VR game for PS4 planned for the following year.[3] The studio was trying to fund Psychonauts 2 through a crowdfunding campaign at the time; Game Informer reported that Rhombus of Ruin was instead funded entirely by Sony.[3][5]

Chad Dawson led the project. Development took about a year and a half, and it was the studio's first game in Unreal Engine 4 replacing an in-house engine that Double Fine had used for about twenty games over the previous ten years; Psychonauts 2 was also being made in Unreal.[4] Dawson presented the game's design at the VRDC Fall 2016 conference in a talk titled "Reinventing 'Psychonauts' for VR", covering camera perspective, control iteration, navigation and interactive dialogue.[15]

Player comfort shaped the design. In an interview with Gamasutra, Dawson said that earlier prototypes let the player enter the head of a patrolling guard who kept walking and turning, which made players feel sick. Asked whether the developers got sick playing the game, Tim Schafer answered: "No, because we strap you to a chair the whole time."[4] Dawson said Schafer's philosophy was to make a comfortable game: if something made people uncomfortable, the team gave it a contextual reason not to happen or changed the space, for example by placing another character in front of the player instead of making them look behind. Schafer also said the team had to test the game with many different people, because developers who do not get sick are a poor guide to how players will react.[4]

Writing jokes for VR brought its own problems. Schafer told Gamasutra that dialogue had to be rewritten because players often look away from the object they used before a character responds, so lines had to name both the action and the object. Schafer also said that NPC interactions were much more intense in VR, and that a character leaning down to look into the player's eyes could feel more intense than the same moment in a third-person game. Dawson said the characters' unusual proportions did not stand out until the team saw them up close, and the art team worked to keep them from looking scary.[4]

Release

Double Fine announced the PlayStation VR release date on January 30, 2017, and the game launched on February 21, 2017, as a PlayStation VR exclusive.[1][14] It is rated E10+ by the ESRB for comic mischief, alcohol reference and fantasy violence.[16] On June 9, 2017, Double Fine announced a physical PS4 edition sold through GameStop and Amazon, bundled with a code for the original Psychonauts on PS4.[17] Bleeding Cool reported its price as US$29.99, compared with US$19.99 for the digital version.[18]

The PC version came out on April 19, 2018, through Steam and Oculus Home. UploadVR reported that it was the same version of the game that had launched on PlayStation VR the year before.[2] Road to VR listed it on Steam for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows VR headsets, and on Oculus Home for the Rift.[10] The Steam store page states that the game requires a Vive or Oculus headset, and lists React Games as a co-developer alongside Double Fine.[9]

Platform Release date Store Launch price
PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4) February 21, 2017 PlayStation Store (digital) US$19.99[12][18]
PlayStation VR (physical edition) June 2017 GameStop, Amazon US$29.99[17][18]
Oculus Rift, HTC Vive (Windows) April 19, 2018 Steam, Oculus Home US$19.99[19]

Microsoft acquired Double Fine in June 2019, announcing the deal at E3 2019.[20] As of October 2026, the Steam page lists Double Fine Productions and Xbox Game Studios as publishers, with a regular price of US$19.99.[9]

Reception

On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version has a score of 71 out of 100 ("mixed or average") based on 36 critic reviews. The PC version has three listed reviews and no aggregate score.[6][21] OpenCritic lists a top critic average of 72, with 50% of critics recommending the game, from 34 reviews.[22]

Publication Platform Score
Metacritic (aggregate) PlayStation 4 71/100[6]
OpenCritic (top critic average) All 72[22]
Destructoid PlayStation VR 8.5/10[13]
IGN PlayStation VR 7.5/10[22]
Gamecritics.com PlayStation VR 7.5/10[11]
Road to VR PC (Oculus Rift) 7.2/10[10]
Game Informer PlayStation VR 6.5/10[22]
GameSpot PlayStation VR 6/10[22]

Critics generally liked the writing and the use of perspective but found the game short. Destructoid gave it 8.5/10 and called it a "charming, humorous, not-too-taxing puzzle adventure", though it noted limited replay value for the price.[13] Gamecritics praised the seated design but criticized the campaign for "lasting just a couple of hours and ending just as it manages to draw players in".[11] UploadVR's review was more negative: Jamie Feltham called the experience "decidedly inessential, restrictive, and dated" and wrote that pyrokinesis felt almost useless once Psi-Blasts became available, while praising the returning cast and some of the game's sights.[23]

Reviewing the PC version, Road to VR gave it 7.2/10 (6.5 for gameplay, 6 for immersion and 9 for comfort). Scott Hayden compared its art style to a late-1990s Saturday morning cartoon and called node teleportation one of the most comfortable ways to move in VR, but found the puzzles too simple, the ending abrupt, and some human characters close to the uncanny valley.[10]

Awards

Award Category Result
21st D.I.C.E. Awards (2018) Immersive Reality Game of the Year Nominated[7][16]
IGN awards Best VR Experience Nominated[16]

At the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Immersive Reality Game of the Year award went to Lone Echo/Echo Arena; the other finalists were Robo Recall, Space Pirate Trainer and Wilson's Heart.[7][24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 James Spafford (2017-01-30). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Coming to PS VR on February 21". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2017/01/30/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-coming-to-ps-vr-on-february-21/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jamie Feltham (2018-04-19). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Comes To Rift/Vive Today". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/psychonauts-rhombus-ruin-comes-rift-vive-today/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 James Spafford (2015-12-05). "Announcing Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin". Double Fine Productions. https://www.doublefine.com/news/announcing-psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Alex Wawro (2017-02-21). "Making Psychonauts humor work in VR -- without making people sick". Game Developer (Gamasutra). https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/making-i-psychonauts-i-humor-work-in-vr----without-making-people-sick. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Marcus Stewart (2015-12-05). "Psychonauts VR Game Bridges The Gap Between The Original And Potential Sequel". Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/12/05/psychonauts-vr-game-bridges-the-gap-between-the-original-and-potential-sequel-psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-.aspx. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Finalists Announced". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. https://www.interactive.org/news/21st_annual_dice_awards_finalists_announced.asp. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  8. ↑ David Jagneaux (2016-09-14). "50 Days of PS VR #29: 'Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin' is a Mind-Bending Puzzle Game". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/50-days-ps-vr-29-psychonauts-rhombus-ruin-mind-bending-puzzle-game/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/788690/Psychonauts_in_the_Rhombus_of_Ruin/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Scott Hayden (2018-04-19). "'Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin' for PC Review - a Veritable Saturday-morning Cartoon in VR". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/psychonauts-rhombus-ruin-pc-review-veritable-saturday-morning-cartoon-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Josh Tolentino (2017-03-19). "Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin Review". Gamecritics.com. https://gamecritics.com/joshua-tolentino/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-review/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2154-CUSA05808_00-PSYCHONAUTSITROR. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Jordan Devore (2017-02-21). "Review: Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin". Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 James Spafford (2017-01-31). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is Launching on PSVR on February 21st!". Double Fine Productions. https://www.doublefine.com/news/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-is-launching-on-psvr-on-february-21st. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  15. ↑ Chad Dawson (2016). "Reinventing 'Psychonauts' for VR". GDC Vault. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023919/Reinventing-Psychonauts-for. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin". Double Fine Productions. https://www.doublefine.com/games/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 James Spafford (2017-06-09). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Physical Release". Double Fine Productions. https://www.doublefine.com/news/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-physical-release. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Madeline Ricchiuto (2017-06-11). "Double Fine Will Release A Physical Copy Of 'Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin'". Bleeding Cool. https://bleedingcool.com/games/double-fine-psychonauts-rhombus-of-ruin/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  19. ↑ Brittany Vincent (2018-04-19). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Sees the Future on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive". Shacknews. https://www.shacknews.com/article/104461/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-sees-the-future-on-oculus-rift-and-htc-vive. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  20. ↑ "Microsoft acquires Double Fine Productions". Game Developer (Gamasutra). 2019-06-09. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/microsoft-acquires-double-fine-productions. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  21. ↑ "Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/3938/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  23. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2017-02-20). "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Review: A Middling Misfire". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/psychonauts-in-the-rhombus-of-ruin-review-in-the-mundaneness-of-mediocrity/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
  24. ↑ "21st Annual D.I.C.E. Award Winners". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. https://www.interactive.org/awards/21st_annual_dice_award_winners.asp. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
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