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Memory Vaults

Memory Vaults are items found in mental worlds. If you can manage to chase them down all it would take to open them is a psi-punch. Within them you can find a collection of juicy visuals about the suppressed memories of the person’s mind you happen to be in.

–Old Psychopedia description

Some minds try to protect themselves by locking memories away in VAULTS. Chase them down and bust them open to reveal the repressed memories inside.

Psychonauts 2 description

Memory Vaults, also known as mental vaults, are mental figures found in mental worlds. They contain the memories of the person who's mind they reside in. These memories can be truthful expressions of what the person remembers, purposefully fabricated[1], or a combination of both.

For example, the vault A Land Without Caviar shows protestors signs adorned with slogans such as "Blah blah blah" or "Problems", highlighting the self-centered and egotistic worldview of the mind the memory belongs to. Much like how Raz' appearance changes through the eyes of others, seen when using Clairvoyance, what people remember is filtered by their minds.

Description[]

In all my days of whalin', I've never caught one of these!

First Mate Loboto

Vaultmouthopen

A memory vault with its mouth open.

Memory vaults are sentient safes that resemble dogs, with their "mouths" located directly behind their faces. They like to run around and will try their best to avoid being caught. Razputin can stun them with an attack, making them swing open their faces to reveal their tongue and mouth. Once opened, memories are viewed in a Viewmaster slideshow of images. Once a memory is unlocked, it can be accessed at any time from Raz's Journal.

Trivia[]

  • Using Clairvoyance on any Mental Vault will reveal they see Raz as a dog catcher.
  • All memories are presented in black and white, with the exception of Little House in the Psyche.
  • The (now defunct) Psychonauts Vault Viewer app for iOS provided a way of viewing the memories outside of the game along with developer commentary.
  • Although Mental Vaults can represent false or manufactured memories, this does not seem to affect their behavior.
  • All memories are illustrated by Scott Campbell.
  • Some characters that normally have 4 fingers on each hand will sometimes have 5 fingers in memory vaults.
  • Psychonauts has 19 memory vaults (29 including primal memories), Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin has 1, and Psychonauts 2 has 20.
  • Every mental world has 2 memory vaults, except for Meat Circus and Loboto's mind, which have 1, and Ford's Fractured Mind, which has 4.
    • The first vault, typically a happy or fabricated memory, is generally easier to spot. The second vault, often a traumatic or sad memory, is harder to find - buried deeper in the psyche.
  • The Memory Vault Raz comes out of in PSI King's Sensorium is unique:
    • It does not try to flee from Raz, while others do.
    • It released a Mental Figure, while most of the others simply show slides with the person's memories.
    • This vault cannot be opened, as it either only appears during the cutscenes, or cannot be reached due to being in the background.

List of Memory Vaults[]

Psychonauts[]

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin[]

Main article: Painful Memories/Little House in the Psyche

Psychonauts 2[]

References/Notes[]

  1. Oleander's Pride is a memory vault that contains a memory sequence which is entirely fabricated.
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