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Brain Tumbler Experiment

Okay, time to face my big, diving-helmet spitting personal demons.

Raz

The Brain Tumbler Experiment is a level in Psychonauts, and the second Mental World explored by Razputin, though he has to return to it several times after visiting other worlds to learn new abilities. Ostensibly, it is set inside his own psyche, but the world is in large part influenced by visions about a sinister plan being hatched at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.

Description[]

The Brain Tumbler Experiment was the result of a test carried out on Razputin by Sasha Nein using the Brain Tumbler, a device in Nein's lab that allows the subject to enter the Collective Unconscious, and pass through the door leading into their own mental world to learn more about their mind's inner workings and potential. However, the Brain Tumbler picked up on psychic interference in the form of Coach Oleander's thoughts about his secret plan to take over the world, broadcast through the camp's intercom. As a result, most of this world has less to say about Raz and more about the plot. Only the starting area, a dark void with the Aquatos' caravan in the middle, definitely reflects Razputin's own mind.

Past the starting area, a dark winding path overgrown with plants—most of them thorny, some of them vicious and many made of meat—leads to a tall tower made of thorns that looks like it's wearing a straitjacket and is surrounded by more thorns. A colossal brain sits at the top, which has a dentist's office inside where a vision of Dr. Loboto performs surgery. Down a chute where he puts extracted brains, there's only a small room with a set of blueprints, which leads to yet another area made entirely of blueprint drawings.

Because this world is made up mostly of temporary psychic interference, it most likely no longer exists beyond the end of Psychonauts.

Points of Interest[]

  • The Caravan: This is the area Razputin starts from after passing through the Collective Unconscious. It's made up of a dark void with the Aquatos' Caravan in the middle. Most likely, this is indeed part of Razputin's true mental world. This area contains some figments and a Vault, but not much else.
  • The Hatching Grounds: The area Razputin ends up in after entering the caravan and breaking out of an "egg" made of static. From here, the path into the woods begins.
  • The Tower: An enormous tower made up of thorns that "wears" a straitjacket. Razputin needs Levitation to float up on the fumes coming off a decaying piece of meat to reach the brain at the top of the tower.
  • The Blueprints: An area Razputin happens upon by following the brain extracted from Dogen in his vision. This is where he fights the Blueprint Brain Tank.

Foreshadowing[]

A lot of the strange things seen in the Brain Tumbler Experiment are allusions to Coach Oleander's plot to take over the world:

  • The bathtub above the path right before reaching the tower is a reference to having to cross Lake Oblongata to reach Oleander's base of operations, and the fish-shaped figment underneath represents Linda.
  • The tower made of thorns symbolizes Thorney Towers, and the round room at the top that looks like a brain is Loboto's office.
  • The bottom of the tower looks like a straitjacket; this is a reference to the inmates on the lower floors and the building's history as an asylum.
  • In the clearing around the tower, four figments are shaped like a basket of milk bottles, a large thistle, a Napoleonic hat, and a purple bull, each representing one of the patients found on the Asylum's lower floors.
  • The Memory Vault "The World Shall Taste my Eggs!" in its entirety represents the plot. The eggshell is a head, the "chick" that hatches is a brain, and the teacup is the Brain Tank.

Other elements of this world foreshadow Oleander's involvement and his personal issues, which are explored in the Meat Circus.

  • The many cuts of meat and plants made of meat, one of which also appears in Basic Braining, point towards Oleander's past and the trauma his father left him with.
  • Raz inadvertently calls the bunny he follows to the tower Mr. Bun, which happens to be what Little Oly calls his bunny, as well. It represents Oleander's inner child looking to give away the plot. Bunnies also feature in Basic Braining, around the cannon area.

In Psychonauts[]

Immediately after completing Basic Braining, Razputin is approached by Sasha Nein, who suggests the boy come over to his lab for additional training. Once there, Sasha asks Raz to subject himself to the Brain Tumbler to explore the possibilities of his own mind.

Upon entering the door to his own mind through the Collective Unconscious, Raz finds himself in a dark clearing covered in thick fog, with a lone caravan sitting nearby. Raz identifies this caravan as belonging to his family: it's the place where he was born. Upon entering, however, static fills his view, and he soon realizes he's trapped in a tiny ball-shaped room made of static. Upon punching the static, the "walls" shatter, and Raz tumbles into a large bird's nest, having apparently "hatched" from an egg. The first thing Raz spots nearby is a small bunny-like creature that quickly scampers away. Raz decides to follow it. The bunny leads him to an open clearing, where a nightmarish monster with big glowing eyes lies in wait. Since the young PSI-cadet has not yet learned how to defend himself, Sasha immediately pulls him back into the real world just as the creature spits a diving helmet at him.

Raz learns Marksmanship from Sasha Nein by completing Sasha's Shooting Gallery, then returns to face the demon. However, after shooting just one PSI-Blast at it, the monster disappears. Raz continues to follow the bunny until he reaches the last clearing, past a giant bathtub marked "S.S. Oblongata". In the middle of the clearing a colossal tower made of thorns rises out of the fog. At the very top is a brain with a small round room inside, where Raz can clearly see Dogen strapped to a chair, threatened by a strange dentist intent on removing his brain. Raz climbs up as high as he can, only to be informed by Sasha that he can't reach the top without using Levitation, an ability he has not learned yet. Once again, Razputin leaves the experiment for additional training.

After learning how to levitate in Milla's Dance Party, Raz returns to the experiment once more. This time, he witnesses the dentist remove Dogen's brain and dump it into a garbage chute. The dentist then walks into the next room, revealing Lili is also strapped to a chair, and locks the door behind him. Raz enters into the lab and immediately jumps down the chute to follow Dogen's brain. He falls into a small square room with walls covered entirely in blueprints. Dogen's brain is within reach, but before he can grab it, a mechanized claw snatches it and drops it into one of the blueprints, where it animates the machine that's depicted: a sort of tank powered by psychic energy.

The brain tank fires at Raz, and the boy engages it in combat, ending up in an arena made up entirely of blueprints. Even when the tank portion is destroyed, the brain inside still puts up a fight by itself, but Razputin eventually gets the better of it. As he is thrown back by the explosion that occurs when it's defeated, he is transported through the blueprint to the hallway he found at the end of Basic Braining, and realizes the Brain Tank is a plot set up by Coach Oleander. Immediately afterwards, Sasha extracts him from the Brain Tumbler, but the agent rushes off on "important Psychonauts business" before Raz can tell him what he has uncovered.

Collectibles[]

Figments[]

The Brain Tumbler Experiment contains 92 figments, most of which are shaped like meat, bones, thorns, or relate in some way to the foreshadowing already present in the level. For a list of figments and their locations, see the unofficial Psychonauts figment guide.

Figments of Interest[]

  • Underneath the tower, a pink bull figment, a basket of milk bottles, and a Napoleonic hat all reference the patients Raz will encounter at Thorney Towers. One figment shaped like a thorny vine might stand in for Gloria.

Emotional Baggage[]

  • Dufflebag
    • Bag: On a platform next to the large spire with netting on it.
    • Tag: On the ledge near the second censor swarm.
  • Hatbox
    • Bag: At the base of the thorn tower.
    • Tag: To the left after the fourth bunch of censors.
  • Purse
    • Bag: Behind the big monster.
    • Tag: Behind the large egg at the start of the level.
  • Steamer Trunk
    • ​Bag: On the high ledge after the big monster. Climb the tree to reach it.
    • Tag: Follow the bunny the bunny bath, after the egg is broken. The tag will be to the left.
  • Suitcase
    • Bag: Located after the third censor swarm. Double jump to the ledge with the bag.
    • Tag: Located in the area before the third censor swarm.

Mental Cobwebs[]

  1. In the area where the big monster was. The cobweb is behind a tree in the back.
  2. Reach to the top ledge and get swarmed by censors. Climb up until you see another ledge. Use the branches to swing to the pole. Jump off the pole and continue until you reach a large spire with netting on it. Swing to the spire and climb around to the back of it. Jump off the spire toward the mental cobweb.
  3. This cobweb is located off to the left against a wall after you get swarmed by the fourth bunch of censors.
  4. Go to the base of the thorn tower. The cobweb is behind a spire against the wall.
  5. Right before you reach the thorn tower, you should notice a levitation stone on the path. PSI float up to the large bathtub above. The mental cobweb is located inside the bathtub.

Memory Vaults[]

Enemies[]

Trivia[]

  • Throughout development and in early builds of Psychonauts, this level was initially called "Nightmare in the Brain Tumbler" before getting its current title.
  • Among the audio files for the Brain Tumbler Experiment is a short sound bite from The Wizard of Oz of the Scarecrow singing, "if I only had a brain", most likely put in as a joke.
  • The screaming faces in the sky in this world resemble the screaming faces in the clouds above Thorney Towers.
  • The "S.S. Oblongata"-labeled bathtub reappears in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin inside Loboto's mind.
  • The Brain Tumbler Experiment level was inspired by the transformative works of Salvador Dali, who was quite fond of eggs. One of Dali's painting techniques involved connecting two images with no rational connection to simulate a state of paranoia. This may explain the monster plants with eyes, the rattlesnake bushes, and skullcap mushrooms.
  • The Brain Tumbler Experiment level was also inspired by LucasArts adventure Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders, which opens with a dream sequence in which Zak comes across a series of surreal objects.
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