Psychonauts

Psychonauts

1,460 ratings
Psychonauts Steam Achievements Guide 3.0
By Rellik66
This is version 3.0 of the Steam Achievements Guide, the old version can be found on the old steam forums here.
This guide covers only the achievements that do not require heavy collecting, (ie Figgy Piggy.)
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Introduction
Welcome to the Steam achievements guide for Psychonauts, in this guide I will provide pointers and explanations for just the achievements.
Other Guides
These are past guides that I have used for reference while building this guide.
For Starters
If you are just getting started, here are a few things to note:
  • It should go without saying, but this guide will contain spoilers, so proceed with caution!
  • There is a point in the game known as The Point of No Return (PoNR) where you cannot return to collect certain items, these will be marked with this symbol: ⚠
  • Some achievements can be missed if you progress too far in the story, these will be marked with this symbol: 🛑
Recommended Game Saves
As mentioned above there are some achievements that can be missed, here are the points a save should be made to minimize backtracking:
  • Immediately after completing Sasha's Shooting Gallery
  • Immediately after completing Milla's Dance Party
  • Right before entering Edgar's Mind (Black Velvetopia) or more specifically, before turning all the cards into Edgar.
  • Right when Raz reaches the top of the Asylum. or more specifically, right when you get Mr. Pokeylope.
Any corrections or suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Now lets get started!
Storyline Achievements
These are guaranteed as you progress in the game, for help on any of these levels, see any of the other Steam walkthrough guides or check YouTube.

Your Last Chance to Chicken Out
Complete Basic Braining

A Victory for Good Taste
Complete Sasha’s Shooting Gallery

Rolling Rock Star
Complete Milla’s Dance Party

For Insurance Reasons
Complete Lungfishopolis

Time to Deliver the Milk
Complete The Milkman Conspiracy

You're All So Kind
Complete Gloria’s Theater

Thanks for All the Snails
Complete Waterloo World

I Always Loved You More
Complete Black Velvetopia

Height of Insanity
Complete The Asylum

I Thought That Was Unbeatable!
Complete Meat Circus
Leveling Achievements
These come as you level.

Junior PSI Cadet
Achieve Rank 20

Regular PSI Cadet
Achieve Rank 40

Advanced PSI Cadet
Achieve Rank 60

Super PSI Cadet
Achieve Rank 80

⚠Math is Hard
Achieve Rank 101

Pre-PoNR, you should have 18/19 vaults, 45/50 bags, 6 PSI cards and be Rank 98 (assuming you completed the punching mini-game, 97 if not.) Meat Circus provides the 3 remaining levels. (be sure to visit the fortune teller after getting the three cobwebs.)

Any post-PoNR collectable items should be collected before exiting the Tunnel of Love in Meat Circus. If you aren't careful, you could accidentally throw yourself into the final boss battles.

This should be the hardest to achieve, this one requires 100% completion of the following:
Raz starts at level 1
(+1)
Complete the punching mini-game in Basic Braining (see I LOVE PUNCHING)
(+1)
⚠Find all 117 PSI Cards found in the camp and asylum, combine 9 each with PSI cores in Agent Cruller's lab.
*
⚠Find all 9 PSI Challenge markers found in the camp and asylum
(+9)
⚠Find all 16 Scavenger Items and turn them in to Ranger Cruller
4+4=(+8)
⚠Find all 19 brains, and turn in to Agent Cruller to re-brain the children
(+19)
Gather all 1600 points worth of Figments (Some are worth more than 1)
1600/100=(+16)
Crack 18 memory vaults (the one in Meat Circus does not count)
(+18)
Sort all 50 emotional baggage
50/5=(+10)
Find and weave all 54 mental cobwebs in Agent Cruller's lab
*
*54 cobwebs plus 117 Psi Cards divided by 9
(+19)
1+1+9+8+19+16+18+10+19
Total
(+101)
And that's why it's called Math is Hard
Collector Achievements
Simply put, collect all the related items.

Props to ZomB Turtles for having a very complete guide for collectables:
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1712037819
They Should Totally Sell Those
Earn all Merit Badges

Most will come as you progress in the story, and a select few you need to pick up from Agent Cruller when you hit Levels 10, 20, and 30. The game cannot be completed without getting all the badges.

I'm Gonna Live Forever
Find all Golden Helmets

All but one can be retrieved at any time in the following areas:
  • Brain Tumbler Experiment - (after Sasha's Shooting Gallery) behind the thorny tower.
  • Lungfishopolis - on top of a skyscraper after the monorail tunnel.
  • The Milkman Conspiracy - You need telephone access, it's on the island accessible from the telephone pole after the road crew.
  • Waterloo World - On the pink bridge near the peasant who is unarmed.
  • Black Velvetopia #1 - Hang the window painting on the upper ledge at end of the of an alley near the Queen of Diamond entrance, enter the newly created window.
  • 🛑Black Velvetopia #2 - THIS ONE CAN BE MISSED if you complete Black Velvetopia. Get the confusion grenade merit badge and use it to temporarily stop the bull so the dog can paint the poster on the wall, approach the painting* then return to Dingo Inflagrante for your reward.
    *There have been reported incidences where if you don't approach the painting after it has been painted, Dingo won't think it has been painted.

    BTW: you don't need the PSI Blast or Confusion Grenade upgrades for any achievements
---------
The next five achievements are too complex to put all into this guide, I recommend visiting GameFAQS[www.gamefaqs.com] or Steam Guides if you want to track down any of those hard to find items. I will link any Steam guides that show up.

⚠They Call Me the Hunter
Redeem all 16 Scavenger Hunt Items
All found around the camp area and the Asylum, return them to Ranger Cruller

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=817867807

⚠No Solid Food for Six Hours
Re-brain the Children

All found at the Asylum, return them to Agent Cruller in the the sanctuary. Note: By this time, Agent Cruller will have moved down the bright hallway to the observation room.
---

These next three are found in the various minds, you can check your status in the collective unconscious area:
No More Secrets
Crack all Vaults

Find and crack all vaults in each mind (most all minds have two, Meat Circus has only one)

Happy Bags
Sort all Emotional Baggage

Every mind has five emotional baggages, find the corresponding tag and make 'em happy.

Figgy Piggy
Gather all Figments
This is perhaps the second most painstakingly annoying achievement in the entire game.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=407472200
Holiday Dinner
Cook and consume two different kinds of roast in one sitting.

Use pyrokinesis, (available once you reach level 10,) to roast two small creatures in the same area, squirrel being one and a regular bird as the other(not a seagull or crow).

🛑Be sure to do this before the third brain tumbler, daytime is required as there are no birds at night.

Best area IMO to do this is on the pathway between the lodge and the parking lot.
This can be tricky as you have to sneak up on the creatures.

Christmas Shopping
(hidden achievement)
Buy an item from the Camp Store on Christmas.

Date dependent, you need to buy something from the camp store on Christmas Day. Be sure to play the game on December 25.

Or, you can set your PC system clock to Dec 25 and get the same effect. BTW, Despite setting your PC system clock, the achievement will still show up as unlocked on the current day and not Dec 25.
Witness Achievements
For lack of a better term, these depend on Raz being there at the right place and time to witness or do something, some can be missed if you progress the story too far.

🛑Made Man
Witness Maloof's transformation

Immediately after Sasha's Shooting gallery; don't do the 2nd brain tumbler just yet, instead go to the parking lot to find Maloof, talk to Maloof.


I'm Sure She's Over It
Uncover Milla's Secret

When you start going up the first vertical climb area in Milla's Dance Party, you will see a inconspicuous looking balcony, float on down to it to find something very unsettling.
http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=200906521

🛑Wolpaw Says Thanks
Hear Vernon's Ghost Story

Immediately after completing Milla's Dance Party, head to the lodge TV room to find Vernon telling a rather mindless tale. Hang around and listen to the entire tale.

🛑Maybe It's the Hair
Spy on Bobby's love life

Also immediately after Milla's Dance party, Go to the GPC Wilderness area and find Nils and Chloe, talk to them.

Look at those Pansies!
Find Edgar's Secret Garden

While in Velvetopia, purchase the Vine painting in the diamond alley, enter the sewer and find the gate that is opened via a telekinesis activated button. Once you climb out of the sewer, hang the vine painting at the end of the alleyway, climb the vine and follow along until you get to a secret garden.

🛑I Think They Were Impressed
Introduce all Camp Kids to Mr. Pokeylope

This assumes you re-brained all the children. When you get Mr. Pokeylope, DON'T take him to Shegore just yet. Instead, go back to the camp, find all the children and show Mr. Pokeylope to them.
    Locations:
  • Kid's Cabins JT, Chops, Dogen(around the grounds,) Kitty, Franke(girls cabin,) Bobby and Chloe(Coach's landing)
  • Main Lodge: Nils and Elka (back lodge patio area)
  • Main Lodge(Indoors): Phoebe, Quentin (playing) and Vernon(at a table).
  • Parking Area: Mikhail and Maloof (Coach's SUV)
  • Reception area: Clam and Crystal (Janitor Cruller)
  • Lake: Elton and Milka (On the dock)
  • Benny is nowhere to be found, but doesn't count against the achievement

Victory Tour
Revisit all brains after completion

After meeting each mind's main objectives, be sure to re-enter the mind from the Collective Unconscious once more.

This can be easily be done after winning the game; A final autosave is made that puts you back in meat circus, use the teleport critter to teleport to the collective unconscious, if you are 100% you will also see a special message too!

Alternatively, load up the Point of No Return save, begin the ending battle sequence, and then use the smelling salts. Using the smelling salts post-PonR will deliver Raz to the Collective Unconscious rather than the camp, which also comes in handy for the levels that don't have Teleport Critters
Repetition Achievements
These involve repeating a certain task over and over.

⚠Camp Gossip
Read many bulletin board messages

Self explanatory, find a camp bulletin board and activate it until the achievement activates

Mmm… Bacon!
Use the bacon. A lot.

Also mostly self-explanatory. The trigger takes place when you repeatedly ask Agent Cruller things after activating the bacon.

(Previously I said activating the bacon from Raz's inventory was the trigger, evidently this is not the case, per the comments)

⚠A Slice of History
Discover the secret history of Whispering Rock

In the middle of the camp parking lot is a giant log where the rings will detail the history of Whispering Rock, activate the front of the log until the achievement activates.

⚠Stump Speech
Give the Coach's speech on the stump

Go to the reception area where the campfire is, stand on the stump and press your use button to recite Coach Oleanders's speech he gave at the beginning of the game.

⚠Self Aware
See yourself through the eyes of many others

Use Clairvoyance on at least 13 unique non-hostile 'creatures/things'. (Per Zak in the comments)

I LOVE PUNCHING!
Complete the Punchy Target mini-game

In the second stage of Basic Braining is a punching mini-game that must be completed once to progress forward. This mini-game needs to be done 5 times total for the achievement, you will know you are on the final stage when it requires you get 50 points in 75 seconds.

Raz's PSI punch has a good enough reach that you should stay on top of the button once targets only appear in the inner ring.

NOTE: this seems to be much easier done with a good controller rather than KB+mouse
141 Comments
DraKoZo 1 Jan @ 2:31am 
For some of the dialogue related achievements like "A Slice of History" or "Stump Speech" you can't skip all of the dialogue you can however skip to the last possible one and let it play out as the achievement only pops after the last dialogue finishes
OneThumbUp 12 Nov, 2023 @ 6:49pm 
Possible miss-able with the helmets by cheating. :polar:

Cheats work and will net you the Rank and all Merits achievements, but if you enter the max lives It wont work with "I'm Gonna live forever". I used the as I normally do when I played this game as a kid and collected all helmets even the miss-able one in blackvelvetoipia to get nothing. So be aware of this before entering the cheat.
abol! 7 Aug, 2023 @ 3:55am 
Hey so, I'm just playing the game and I realized something. You only get 18 ranks from the memory vaults and there are 19 vaults in total right? It's said in your guide that the one in Meat Circus doesn't count. I'm at Waterloo and realized cracking the second vault did NOT rank me up.
So I'm not exactly sure, is it different for each person or is the second vault in Waterloo the one that does't count?
Amogitymogus 31 May, 2023 @ 12:16pm 
There's actually a glitch in this game to escape the Point of No Return, I saw it on a YouTube video. You have to be in the Collective Unconscious, go to Lungfishopolis, and climb Kochamara Tower to exit the level. Once you do that, you'll be back in the Overworld.

https://youtu.be/ZcatDqWt6Cs
WilliamRLBaker 28 Apr, 2023 @ 12:58pm 
@mankisser782 have you let the dialog play out completely no skipping?
Goobert Monkeypants 22 Apr, 2023 @ 3:10pm 
stump achievement doesnt work for me at all. i've reset the game and still doesnt work. many others have discussed certain achievements not just popping so I'm not sure its gonna be possible to 100% this game with the achievements bugged.
Steel Panther 24 Jan, 2023 @ 1:48pm 
How do I know how many golden helmets I have picked up?
Canopill 25 Dec, 2022 @ 6:50am 
I think my self-aware achivement is bugged any ideas?
Rellik66  [author] 11 Dec, 2022 @ 10:40pm 
Ah, good catch. Added.
RenStar 30 Oct, 2022 @ 3:11am 
What I mean is, you forgot to put the warning emoji on it 🛑