Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Reviews
Another impressive PlayStation VR tech demo, but as a game, and the long-awaited return of a beloved franchise, the experience fails to satisfy.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is everything you know and love about the series except with a different perspective. It retains the humor and style while successfully adding a new type of gameplay.
There are a few boxes that you ought to check if you are thinking about Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. As a fan, it would be all too easy for me too lose myself and say that this is amazing and a must have, but for anyone that hasn’t played it, they might only find an amusing, yet scant VR experience. As great as it is to revisit Raz and the charming Double Fine writing before the sequel debuts in 2018, Rhombus of Ruin is replete with the very things that have plagued early VR titles: short length, lack of replayability, and being so accessible that it requires little skill or thought to complete. Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a game made specifically to appease the fans as Double Fine dips their toes in VR development and prepares the world for the second coming of Razputin Aquato, but this level of immersion is like psychically diving into the mind of Tim Schafer himself, and that alone is worth the trip.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, it was witty, it presented a challenge and – most importantly for a VR title – is comfortable to play. For owners of PlayStation VR looking to justify their headset purchase and an enjoyable game, look no further than this.
Rhombus of Ruin is short, but it does well as a VR game, a reminder of the colorful quirk many of us like about the Psychonauts world and a teaser of what's coming next.
Trying something slightly different while waiting for the true sequel, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a delightful VR puzzle game that does a great job reacquainting players with the charming and creative cast of Psychonauts.
It feels dirty to say “no” to new Psychonauts, but Rhombus of Ruin is a half-baked attempt at wrapping up the first game’s cliffhanger bundled with some monotonous gameplay and too little content for the asking price.
Although it's a very brief experience, I enjoyed my time with Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin. The game has a good sense of humor, some interesting puzzles, and it made me excited for the prospects of what a fully-fledged point-and-click adventure game could be like in virtual reality.
Even if our first follow-up to one of the most legendary games ever made is a more relatively small-scale PlayStation VR game, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is still an absolute treat indeed, and a must-play for anyone who owns the peripheral.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin serves as a fun side adventure, utilizing PlayStation VR to put players right into the world of the series. It does this well, with the usual excellent writing expected of Double Fine. The point-and-click gameplay is fun, and works well in VR, but the puzzles can and will stump you at some points, causing some extreme frustration. A short game, it is nonetheless worth trying out, especially if you were a fan of the original.
I should know better at this point than to doubt the talent of Double Fine and Tim Schafer, as within minutes of slipping on my PlayStation VR headset to play The Rhombus of Ruin, it all came flooding back to me.
Our favorite psychic secret agents return, trading platforming for puzzles and flat displays for a VR headset. The results are sweet but far too short.
Whether it's worth playing at that price depends on how into Psychonauts you are and/or how desperate you are for a delightful, well-crafted PSVR game. I'll say this much: as someone who is by no means a superfan, Rhombus of Ruin left me feeling proper excited for Psychonauts 2.