https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQR-OBiHNYo

We NEED a sequel Tim!

Do we? I'm not trying to be antagonistic or sarcastic, it's an honest question.

I love Psychonauts and a whole lot of other games, but I'm a bit anti-sequels. People tend to blame "consolization" for the downfall and state of video games, but they often forget sequelitis. I firmly believe that, more often than not, sequels for sequels' sake is more harmful than good to video games or any kind of art/entertainment media. If the developer(s) behind a project envisioned it as a series, then, yes, I more than welcome sequels and continuations, but if a book or a movie or a video game was designed to be a single, complete, full experience, I'm not in favor of sequels.

Sequels only serve to appease and please fans, who want to revisit the worlds they visited once, and we demand them out of developers because we feel entitled to, not stopping to think whether the creators have a distinct plan for a sequel. Some games have a sense of closure about them, and even those that are open to possible sequels (Eternal Darkness, for instance) can very easily be seen as complete works, leaving a hypotetical continuation to the mind of the different players -- the ultimate form of interactivity, letting each one of us draw our own individual conclusions. Video games, like books or films, can be revisited, they're not one-time-only consumables, if fans feel the need to revisit the worlds and experiences contained within the games, there's an easy solution for that: replay them whenever they feel like it. I've replayed Psychonauts, Sanitarium, Grim Fandango, Nox, Terranigma, all of the Zeldas I own a whole lot of times. I do it every single time I miss certain experiences those games provided me with, and I have no need whatsoever for sequels.

Fans asked American McGee to come up with a sequel to his awesome Alice, and it's clear he didn't want to do it, the end product was inferior to the first game in every way, except for the obviously more polished graphics, product of the different periods the two games were developed in. He made that game to please the fans and to cash in on some nostalgia factors, and it shows. It's not the American McGee's Alice the fans expected or had thought about for years, it was just a passable product that tried to capture the feel of the original, but without any substantial creative thought process supporting it. The first Alice was a labor of love and dedication, the second one was just because fans wanted it.

The way I see it, Psychonauts is finished. I don't want a sequel, and I don't think we should ask Tim Schafer to come up with one when he probably doesn't have the vision for it. Creating video games that have a little bit of art in them is not an easy process, and I believe Mr. Schafer is a man who works based a lot on visions and concepts. If he doesn't feel like revisiting the Psychonauts universe for a sequel, then, it's better that way, for now. Forced sequels are worse than no sequels at all, at least with no sequels you can replay the games and think of all the possibilities for continuation on your own, as soon as the game is over. Whatever the devs might have come up with for a sequel to our most cherished video games would probably just be a huge disappointment for us.

In a perfect world, developers should be free from fans' and publishers' demands, creating what they wish to create, taking their time, delivering the end product they want, not having to release watered-down sequels just so fans and publishers are happy for a while. Since this world we live in is far from perfect, all I can do is act the way I feel is the most honest and respectful towards the creative minds behind the works I love, and not asking them for sequels of any kind, unless they want to do it themselves, as part of their vision for the product.

That being said, I'd love a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil, because Michel Ancel, the mind behind it all, has it thought up for years, and I want to see his idea come to life.

I don't think we need a sequel to Psychonauts...as much as I adore the game. I just don't think it would be as interesting as the first game, not that Tim Schafer couldn't think of something awesome. I'd rather get more people interested in the original and it's brilliance than continue a story that not many people even know about...

What I think we do NEED is like a spiritual successor to Psychonauts made by Double Fine. I've always loved action adventure platform games and the genre is pretty much dead as of today. I love having a big, interesting hub world to explore with portals into large, open worlds. I like collecting stuff (if it is useful stuff you need to progress vs random optional crap). I LOVE games like Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, etc and hope Double Fine returns to the genre with something as amazing as Psychonauts is...

I don't think asking for a sequel puts in question if the game is finished or not, because it is finished. But there is nothing wrong with asking for a sequel. The end of the game is an epilogue to a new adventure and Tim has shown interest and plans for many years on making a sequel (budget being the only thing stopping him from doing one).