Psychonauts Strategy Guide Table of Contents

Intro

Welcome to Lunabean's Psychonauts Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. This guide will take you through the game, from beginning to end, and will help in your quest to find all Baggage, Baggage Tags, Cobwebs, Vaults and Scavenger Items. This guide does not includes details on where to find all of the Figments (of which there are several hundred), nor does it include details on the locations of all Psi Cards. Both Psi Cards and Figments contribute to your character's ability to rank up. I was able to get Raz (your character) to a point where I was completely satisfied with his rank without ever going out of my way to search for additional Figments or Cards. Just grab what you see in front of you, and, if you get bored, look around, but acquiring all of these items is of such little importance to gameplay, detailing locations seemed pointless.

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There are several ways to "Rank Up" in Psychonauts. The first and easiest way is to collect Figments. Figments are the colorful translucent images you'll see when you're in someone's head. Each Figment is worth a certain number of points (usually between 2 and 6). When you earn 100 Figment points, you'll rank up one level.

PSI Cards and PSI Cores create PSI Challenge Markers, which also increase your rank by one. PSI Cards are located in the outside world. You'll find them around camp and inside certain buildings. They are not items you'll find within someone's brain. PSI Cores are primarily purchased from the Camp Store, located in the Main Lodge. Occasionally you'll find one in the outside world, but, if you need one they go for the low price of only 10 Arrowheads, so buying them is your best option. When you have nine PSI Cards and one PSI Core, go to Ford's Sanctuary and use the machine on the lower level to create a PSI Challenge Marker, which automatically increases your rank. PSI Challenge Markers can also be found in various places on their own.

Mental Cobwebs, which can be sucked out of brains once you acquire the Cobweb Duster, are converted into PSI Cards upon using the other machine on the lower level of Ford's Sanctuary. Again, get nine PSI Cards and one PSI Core to rank up.

Scavenger Items, like PSI Cards, are only located in the outside world. They often require the use of your upgraded powers to obtain, so don't worry about collecting them early. However, they are worth collecting, as collecting the first eight will upgrade your rank 4 levels, as will the second group of eight. In other words, collect all 16 Scavenger Items, take them to the Ranger (near the Cabin in the Wilderness) and he'll increase your rank by eight.

So, what does all of this ranking up get you? Not a whole heck of a lot until you rank up 10 levels. At every tenth rank you'll earn something new. At the beginning of the game it will be Badges (although Badges do come via other means outside of rank). Badges provide you with the powers necessary to move through the levels of the game. Once you've ranked up enough of earn a Badge, you'll spot a glowing Ford icon on your screen. This tells you that you should go see Ford in his underground Sanctuary (next time you get the chance).

Ranking up also allows you to purchase certain items in the Camp Store. For example, to purchase the Dowsing Rod you need to have a rank of, at least, twenty. I point out the Dowsing Rod because many people have already e-mailed me worrying about ever obtaining enough Arrowheads to purchase the Cobweb Duster. You will, but only after you purchase the Dowsing Rod.

Later in the game, ranking up ten levels will simply upgrade what you already have. Your Marksmanship shots will hit three enemies (instead of one), your Shield will actually damage enemies (instead of just protecting you), and so on and so on. The upgrades aren't vital to gameplay, but they are fun. If you don't want to go through the hassle of ranking up, there are always cheats. While we don't support cheats (meaning, if they don't work, we can't help you), we suggest going here if you want to cheat: http://www.gamewinners.com/codes/xbox/Psychonauts.htm.

Beyond ranking up you'll find items in the game which will unlock little extras, which can then be viewed with in your "Memories" menu. Finding Vaults unlocks films which give you background on the characters (and is often disturbing, as they're the characters' "locked up memories"). Finding all baggage/baggage tags within someone's brain unlocks "Primal Memories", which is often concept art.

Finally, later in the game you'll be asked to collect brains. Brains are found within jars which are located both on the grounds of and inside of Thorney Towers. Either return the brains to Ford in his Sanctuary (he'll be far down the upstairs hall at this point), or wait until you get to the Meat Circus and turn them into the man outside the tent. Brains increase your Health, which is a good thing.

If you're confused by this information, don't worry. It's a little overwhelming for what is, truly, a very fun and easy to understand game. You just have to play it to get it.

Before I get to the walkthrough, here's a quick run down of the Xbox controls. This game came out for the Xbox first, which is why only Xbox controls are mentioned. If the game comes out for the PS2 and is, for some reason, vastly different in its controls, I'll update the guide to include specific PS2 controls, but, truthfully, controls really aren't even necessary to mention as the game does a great job of teaching you. If you are a PS2 gamer, look at this list of controls as a guide for what controls you have, then play around with your buttons to find what does what.

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Start - Takes you into the Start Menu.
Select - Takes you into the Items/Badges Menu.
D-Pad - Takes you into the Items/Badges Menu.
Left Control Stick - Controls character direction/movement.
Right Control Stick - Controls camera.
L3 (click Left Control Stick) - Displays stats.
R3 (click Right Control Stick) - Puts you in first-person view.
Y - Action button. It will also turn you around anytime you're hanging from and object.
X - Punch button.
A - Jump button.
B - Cancel button. Pressing it will also cause you to fall from hanging objects.
L-trigger - Targets items, centers camera, switches Levitation Ball to Levitation Balloon.
R-trigger - Assigned badge power button.
White - Assigned badge power button.
Black - Assigned badge power button.

And, with that, you're ready to begin a very, very fun game. Have fun!