Psychonauts 3 seemed like it was ready to be announced. Ahead of the Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct, an official Microsoft account shared an image of a noughts and crosses-style board with three ‘Xs’ in a row – the rest of the spaces were filled with letters which, when rearranged, spelled ‘psych.’ ‘Psych’, noughts, and three crosses. Surely, the legendary platform game was about to make a return. Life is often disappointing, though, and now Tim Schafer, the legendary game-maker behind Monkey Island, Broken Age, Double Fine Productions, and tons of LucasArts classics, says Psychonauts 3 isn’t happening, or at least, if it is, Schafer isn’t involved.
Last time we checked in with Raz was 2021, with the launch of the much-anticipated (and also, at various points, thought abandoned) Psychonauts 2. Directed by Schafer, Psychonauts 2 and its 2005 predecessor remain some of the best games Double Fine has produced, and two of the best single-player games you’re likely to experience. Funny, colorful, and both masterclasses in level design, if you haven’t tried them already, they come with a big PCGamesN recommendation.
But it seems unlikely that Psychonauts 3 will surface any time in the near future. Despite the apparent tease back in May, Schafer goes on record to say that he is currently not working on Psychonauts 3. Speaking on the Cressup YouTube channel, Schafer is asked about the noughts and crosses image shared by Xbox.
“I didn’t see that,” Schafer says. “I’m not working on Psychonauts 3.” Nevertheless, Schafer jokes about Double Fine potentially revealing its next project later this year. “We’re kind of at the ‘Willy Wonka, closed doors’ phase. But soon we could open and cause a lot of harm to a lot of children, just like Willy Wonka.”
So, no Psychonauts 3 for now, but maybe something else, perhaps, possibly, potentially, eventually. That’s all we need to know for now.
If you’re a big Psychonauts fan and have a stack of nostalgia for the days of LucasArts and Monkey Island, try some of the best old games that you can still run today. You might also want to play the best story games on PC.