Double Fine and 2 Player Productions, which last February released a 22-hour documentary on the making of Psychonauts 2, are back with a surprising final episode about the game's reception, the subsequent recovery of the team, and what's next for the Microsoft-owned studio. The film returns with a surprising final episode about the game's reputation, the subsequent recovery of the team, and what's next for the Microsoft-owned studio.

From the outset, the story is more bittersweet than one might expect, given the very positive reception of Psychonauts 2. Contributor Matthew Castle gave this long-awaited platformer an 89% high score in his 2021 review, writing that it was “a glorious return to the most original and sympathetic universe in gaming.”

However, as depicted in the first 22-hour documentary PsychOdyssey, released last year, the game's development was a long and difficult one, and this final episode is a bit of a mystery, as the creative conflicts that occurred during the long development of Psychonauts 2 and somewhat haunted by staff departures. There is also a lengthy section on how staff were strained on the project and how even studios that operate with good intentions and a collaborative work culture can implicitly encourage or incentivize developers to take on unsustainable workloads.

But it's not all doom and gloom: Double Fine developers say that “Psychonauts 2” had fewer staff departures than other projects in the past, and everyone from general employees to studio leadership has They hope to learn from “Psychonauts 2” so that Double Fine's future development cycles will be less volatile.

And we got a small glimpse of what the future of Double Fine might look like: among the smaller games currently being worked on, company founder Tim Schafer has a small team working on a new prototype.