Psychonauts 2 100% guide

I'm always here for you, darling! is the only achievement you can permanently lose on a save. Talk to Milla in her office as soon as you reach the Motherlobe Atrium, before you enter Hollis' Classroom. The route covers it at the right moment. If you miss it, you need a fresh save in another slot. It's available shortly after the opening level.

The game has two temporary lockouts. Neither costs you an achievement, but both cut you off from content until the credits:

1. The last of Ford's three aspects. Before you enter whichever of Ford's Follicles, Strike City and Cruller's Correspondence you have left, the game warns you to finish your business. Once that aspect is done, the story moves to Green Needle Gulch. The Motherlobe, the Quarry and the Questionable Area then stay locked until after the credits. Green Needle Gulch still has an Otto-Matic and access to the Brain Tumbler.
2. The Astralathe. Activating it in the Heptadome starts Lucrecia's Lament. From there the game runs linearly through the finale, with no Otto-Matic and no ranking up until the credits.

• Unlimited Power!: CURRENTLY COMMUNITY-FLAGGED / BUGGY. Double Fine's support page lists a rare issue where players collect everything and still end up a few Intern Credits short of the final rank-102 upgrade. There is no workaround on Xbox console or Game Pass. The cause is unknown, so there's nothing to avoid, but rule out the checks in that achievement's section before assuming you've hit it.
• Making Peace: HISTORICALLY REPORTED BUG. It sometimes failed to unlock after you talked to Nona. Workarounds are in its section.
• Quick Resume: HISTORICALLY REPORTED BUG. At launch, Xbox Quick Resume stopped some Psychonauts 2 achievements, including story unlocks, from firing. How often it happens now isn't verified, but the precaution costs nothing: fully quit the game between sessions instead of leaving it suspended, and check that each story achievement pops when you finish its level. Relaunching doesn't always recover a missed unlock. In some reported cases the only fix was another playthrough.

Minds hold:

• Figments, 1,300 in total
• Nuggets of Wisdom, 29
• Half-A-Minds, 22
• Memory Vaults, 20
• Emotional Baggage, 45 Tag-and-bag pairs

Hubs hold:

• PSI Cards, 99, plus 9 from the tutorial
• PSI Challenge Markers, 24
• Supply Chests and keys, 16 of each
• Scavenger Hunt items, 16

The achievements need every Figment, every Vault, every Baggage pair and every Scavenger Hunt item. The rank-102 cap for Unlimited Power! needs every rank source on top of that.

Many items need powers you get later, especially Mental Connection, Time Bubble and Projection. Don't try to clear a mind 100% on your first visit. Collect what you can as you go, then use the cleanup windows this route sets out.

To track your progress:

• The Figment viewer in the Intern's Manual lists every Figment design in each level, found or not.
• The Intern's Manual and the fast-travel menu show a checkmark next to any mind or area where you've found everything.
• After the credits you can buy the Otto-Spot filter for 75 Psitanium. Switch the Otto Shot camera to the Otto-Spot filter and look around. It highlights nearby PSI Cards, Challenge Markers, Figments and other collectibles, including some hidden behind scenery.

Scavenger Hunt items don't appear to count toward a hub's checkmark. The Collectibles section at the end tracks the Memory Vaults, Challenge Markers and Scavenger Hunt items individually.

You earn one Intern Credit per rank, and all 27 badge upgrades together cost exactly the 101 credits you earn on the way to rank 102. Nothing is wasted, but there's no respec, so don't click around on empty badge slots.

Two early priorities:

• Pouncy Ball (Levitation's second and third tiers, 4 credits). It opens several hub collectibles.
• Dark Thoughts (Mental Connection's top tier, 12 credits for the whole badge, rank 30). It opens several mind collectibles. Have the credits ready when you reach rank 30.

This is the tutorial mind. It teaches PSI Blast, Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis and Levitation.

Several of its collectibles need powers you don't have yet or sit behind areas you've already passed, so don't hunt for a full clear. You'll sweep it later. The Central Office Memory Vault is behind the shelf boxes left of the Loboto painting. Melee the boxes after the first fight.

After the tutorial, you reach the Psychonauts headquarters. The first Otto-Matic tutorial gives you a PSI Core, nine PSI Cards and a free pin.

You learn Clairvoyance during the storage-room escape. After you leave Sasha and Otto's lab, Norma gives you the Scavenger Hunt form. That starts Keep Your Shirt On, which you can only hand in after the credits. Pick up items as the route reaches them.

On the way to the mail room after Hollis' office, Lili gives you fast travel. Sort the mail, deliver the package to Truman's office, and follow the story into Hollis' Classroom.

Grab these as you pass through:

• Challenge Marker, Noodle Bowl: climb the wall vines and cross the tops of the light fixtures.
• Challenge Marker, Sasha's lab: in the side chamber.
• Challenge Marker, Think Tank classroom: under the entrance stairs.
• Challenge Marker, Mail Room: use the boxes in the corridor to reach the catwalks. The marker is on the top conveyor belts.
• Day Old Sushi (Scavenger Hunt): on the Noodle Bar buffet counter.
• Psychonauts Name Plaque (Scavenger Hunt): on Coach Oleander's office door, next to Milla's office.

This level teaches Mental Connection. The Memory Vault is on the main path, in the x-ray hallway toward the chapel.

The story takes you to the Lady Luctopus casino and then into Hollis' second mindscape. The Memory Vault is in the Morgue, behind the "Doctors Only" door.

Three items here have to wait:

• the Pharmacy back-room Nugget, which needs Dark Thoughts
• the Maternity Ward Duffle Bag, which needs Dark Thoughts
• the Cardiology storage-room Nugget, which needs Projection: send the archetype through the mail flap

If you skip the pachinko Figments, they move to the hallway side area, so they aren't lost.

Sasha shows you the Brain Tumbler and the Collective Unconscious. From now on you can replay any completed mind from the Brain Tumbler.

The Quarry is reached through reception. Talk to everyone here now to start their side quests.

Reach it through the Quarry, via the Old Mine rail ("Danger: Abandoned Mine") or the cave under the crane supports.

Take the bees back to Compton in the Psychoisolation Chamber, then talk to him to enter his mind. You can do Compton's Cookoff and PSI King's Sensorium in either order. Time Bubble from PSI King's Sensorium helps here but isn't required.

The dishes are timed. Beating each limit wins a prize box. Dishes 1 and 2 hold the two Half-A-Minds, and dish 3 holds the Steamer Trunk Tag; the Steamer Trunk itself is behind the blender. If you miss a time limit, the prize isn't lost: the boxes are open after the credits. Don't count on an earlier replay, because the boxes can still be locked before then.

The blender-frame Nugget needs Dark Thoughts. The Memory Vaults are at the base of the cat-face blender and on the lower ledge left of the chopper pig's hoof.

Get Nick's replacement brain, Heptadome Harry, from the Hall of Brains terminal in the geodesic dome in Otto's Lab. Then talk to Nick in the mail room to enter his mind.

Time Bubble is learned here. Both Memory Vaults sit in wicker cages that need Projection, so leave them for later.

Barber Ford is in the Atrium salon. The Memory Vault is in the long hallway near the bend, just past a Half-A-Mind ledge.

Bowling Ford is in the Astral Lanes bowling alley. Before you enter his mind, grab two things here:

• Challenge Marker: on the rotating ring above Ford's counter. Use Pouncy Ball to reach its lowest point.
• Deck of Cards (Scavenger Hunt): throw bowling balls down the lanes with Telekinesis until it comes out of the ball return.

Inside Strike City, the Memory Vault is behind the start. Turn around and cross the plywood ramp. You reach the Duffle Bag behind the ball polisher before you find its Tag in the hole of the "O" in the JOE'S sign, so you may need to come back for the bag.

You can do the three Ford aspects in any order once each is open. This route leaves Cruller's Correspondence for last, but nothing depends on which one is third. The game warns you before you enter the remaining aspect, and finishing it triggers the first lockout.

Before you enter it, finish this checklist:

• Side quests: Good Vibes Only, Family is in Tents, Dance, Baby, Dance and A Fungus Among Us.
• Challenge Markers: all 19 in the Motherlobe, Quarry and Questionable Area. The one still to pick up is the Atrium marker: use the Tuner in the Atrium and follow the node set that leads to the floating platform nearest the Agents ramp. Leave the Mail Room slot-door marker for later; it needs Projection.
• Time Bubble items: the Mail Room key past the fan, the Otto's Lab key and PSI Card past the fan, the Fungus Cave chest behind the Questionable Area waterfall, and the Switchblade Hatchet (Scavenger Hunt) on the roof of the haunted waterwheel building.
• Pouncy Ball items: the Truman's office key on the shelves, and the Questionable Area restroom-roof ladder card and key.
• Other gated items: the Nerve Center chest on the ledge above Truman's door, which needs the Tuner and Mental Connection, and the second Atrium PSI Card, a long Levitation jump from the same floating platform.
• PSI Cards: every one in these three hubs, combined in sets of nine at an Otto-Matic. The Otto-Matic sells PSI Cores for 25 Psitanium, so you're never stuck with nine cards and no core.
• Dark Thoughts items: if you've reached rank 30 and bought Dark Thoughts, revisit Hollis' Hot Streak (the Pharmacy back-room Nugget and the Maternity Ward Duffle Bag behind the roulette wheel, on top of the neon dice) and Compton's Cookoff (the blender-frame Nugget).
• Shop: the Otto Shot filters and wallet upgrades, if you haven't bought them yet.

The fast-travel and Intern's Manual checkmarks for the Motherlobe, Quarry and Questionable Area confirm you're done. Each hub should have everything except the Projection items: the Mail Room marker, the Enemy Surveillance Device and the Novelty Mug.

None of this is permanently missable, since the hubs reopen after the credits. Doing it now just avoids a long post-game cleanup and gives you rank for upgrades along the way.

The Memory Vault is in the mail room by the flywheel, on the edge of the Ford-bot after the typewriter puzzle. You reach the Hatbox bag atop a paper-clip box on the left, at the top of the slope in the International Dead Letter Office. Its Tag comes after you exit the office: swing the poles on the left. You may need to come back for the bag.

Ford's central mind follows straight away. Its Memory Vault isn't there on the first visit. It appears when you come back through the Brain Tumbler.

The earlier hubs are now locked until the credits. The Heptadome has an Otto-Matic and access to the Brain Tumbler.

This level teaches Projection, the last power you need for collectibles. Some items here sit behind Projection doors and mail slots, so finish the level, then sweep it again.

The Memory Vaults are:

• in the Children's Corner, at the start of the last area, behind the chair against the green bee wallpaper
• on the Waterfront, at the top of the Print Shop tower, up and left through two archways

The Steamer Trunk bag on the library's globe-chandelier walkway needs Pouncy Ball, Time Bubble on a drawer and Projection to pull the lever. Its Tag is on the Waterfront bookmark platforms after the final windmill book.

The Memory Vault in the third bottle (Bog of the Betrothed) is across the sinking lily pads and the soda-can straw grind, at the banquet table. The second Vault, in the Submerged Motherlobe, needs Projection.

This mind has 165 Figments. If your count stalls at 164, the missing one is a dull yellow banana, high in a tree near the bottle opening against the yellow sky. The Figment viewer shows every possible design, so check it for one you haven't found.

This is your last chance to shop and rank up until the credits.

Combine every leftover PSI Card now. There's no Otto-Matic after the Astralathe.

Green Needle Gulch, now that you have Projection:

• the outhouse Challenge Marker near the start of the honey path: send the archetype through the mail slot
• the chest in Cassie's house bedroom, behind the upper door

Mind items through the Brain Tumbler:

• PSI King's Sensorium Memory Vaults: send the archetype to the slider handle on each wicker cage. One is in the Eye Shrine (also called the Vision Shrine), above the Half-A-Mind platform. The other is in Concessions, at ground level near the start.
• Hollis' Hot Streak: the Cardiology storage-room Nugget, through the mail flap.
• Bob's Bottles: the Submerged Motherlobe Vault, through the mail slot behind the door on the right.
• Tomb of the Sharkophagus: the Memory Vault, now on the graveyard's sharp right as you enter, near a vault-shaped headstone.
• Cassie's Collection: the Projection-door Half-A-Minds, the Print Shop Duffle Bag Tag and the Steamer Trunk bag.
• Dark Thoughts: any items you haven't collected yet.

None of the mind or hub cleanup is required before the finale, since everything reopens afterward. Ranks earned now do help you buy upgrades sooner.

Activating the Astralathe is the second point of no return. From here the story runs straight to the credits.

All five Emotional Baggage bags in this mind sit together at the end, by the Mental Dam, so pick up every Tag on the way:

• Steamer Trunk: first quilt area, left of the entrance.
• Hatbox: first quilt area, behind the exit portal. A cutscene moves you on, so jump back for it.
• Suitcase: flea circus, at the top of the high-dive ladder, on the ledge to the right.
• Duffle Bag: third quilt area. Hit the first big button with Telekinesis and go through the portal.
• Purse: third quilt area, behind the opening portal.

The Memory Vaults are:

• in the flea circus, in the corner under the Frazie and Augustus platform
• in the first quilt area, right of the main path after the river, behind the tomato pincushion

The Memory Vaults are:

• in Fall of Grulovia, upper level, in the train tunnel below the Maligula figure. Look left before the spinning platforms.
• in Infiltrating the Psychonauts. Shrink into the far-right cabin and PSI Blast two barriers.

Two Emotional Baggage items to know about:

• Duffle Bag Tag: behind the barrier under the red light on Fall of Grulovia's lower level, and it needs Dark Thoughts.
• Suitcase: the Tag is behind the tombstones in the Life in Exile graveyard. Its bag and six Figments are in the gift shop, which you pass through in an unskippable cutscene. Those wait until after the credits.

Buy the Otto-Spot filter for 75 Psitanium. The cleanup loop:

1. Find a mind or area with no checkmark in the Intern's Manual or the fast-travel menu. A missing Tag or bag keeps the checkmark off.
2. Check that mind's Figment count and the Figment viewer to see what kind of item you're missing.
3. Enter it through the Brain Tumbler, switch the Otto Shot camera to the Otto-Spot filter, and scan the area. Nearby collectibles light up, including some hidden behind scenery.

Post-credits items:

• Fatherland Follies gift shop: the Suitcase bag and six Figments. Take the Brain Tumbler to Fatherland Follies and move between scenes with the snot buddy. Don't re-enter the ride.
• Compton's Cookoff prize boxes: any you didn't win or couldn't open earlier.

Stubborn bag-before-Tag pairs you may need to revisit:

• the Strike City Duffle Bag
• the Cruller's Correspondence Hatbox
• the PSI King's Sensorium Hatbox (Tag behind the burnable poster in the Vision Shrine)
• the Cassie's Collection Suitcase (bag in a high alcove right of the Children's Corner entrance)

Finish the last hub items:

• the Mail Room slot-door Challenge Marker, beside the fan: send the archetype through the slot
• any PSI Cards, chests or keys you're still missing

The 99 hub PSI Cards are split Motherlobe 27, Quarry 18, Questionable Area 27 and Green Needle Gulch 27. Use the hub checkmarks and the Otto-Spot filter to find the last few.

If a Supply Chest won't open even though you have a key, your wallet doesn't have room for its payout. Spend some Psitanium, then try again.

Challenge Markers give a rank as soon as you pick them up and can't be bought. The Otto-Matic sells PSI Cores for 25 Psitanium. A Core plus nine PSI Cards makes one rank. Chests and keys give Psitanium only.

You gain 101 ranks on the way from rank 1 to the rank-102 cap:

• PSI Card sets: 12. There are 108 cards, including the 9 from the tutorial, and nine cards plus a PSI Core make one rank.
• PSI Challenge Markers: 24, one each on pickup.
• Nuggets of Wisdom: 29, one each.
• Figments: 13, one per 100.
• Emotional Baggage: 9, one per five Tags reunited with their bags.
• Side quests: 3, from Norma's Scavenger Hunt, Gisu's Psychoseismometers and Lili's fungus.
• Story progress: 11.

Memory Vaults, Half-A-Minds, chests and keys don't grant rank. Half-A-Minds only raise your maximum health.

Four ranks only arrive after the credits:

• the last Figment rank, from the gift shop
• the last Baggage rank, from the gift shop
• the Mail Room marker
• Norma's hand-in

If you're missing Objection!, Duck, Duck, Goose, Shared Regret, TK-O or Pyromania, use the bonus Psychoseismometer in Otto's Lab in the Quarry. It unlocks once Good Vibes Only is done. The fights are randomized and replayable, so keep going until Judges or Panic Attacks show up. Turn Narrative Combat off for the Panic Attack attempts.