–Sasha Nein, explaining their purpose to Raz.
Censors are the most common type of enemy encountered in mental worlds in the Psychonauts series. They resemble tiny, long-armed men wearing business suits and glasses. The natural defense systems of any mind, doing their best to stamp out dangerous or harmful thoughts such as manias, depression, etc. Unfortunately, they also see foreign psychics as dangerous invaders. They typically do not see their host psychic as an invader.
Censors function like a mental immune system for a person's mind. Their prime objective is to keep order and get rid of intrusive thoughts by stamping them out. Since Razputin is a foreign entity when entering another person's mind, he is considered an unwanted intrusion and the Censors will attack him. A healthy number of Censors is a key factor in dictating whether or not someone is sane, as generally a low censor count is a symptom of an underlying mental issue. However, psychics experienced in altering their own mindscapes can suppress censors if needed.
Varieties of Censors[]
Psychonauts[]
There are five types of Censors: Stamping Censors, Little Censors, Shouting Censors, Strongarm Censors, and the Mega Censor.
Stamping Censors[]
A stamping censor.
–Psychonauts Official Manual Guide
The most common variety of Censor. They will chase after Razputin, attempting to stamp him out from up close. Having only a basic stamping attack, they can be easily disposed of, and are good enemies to practice psychic powers on. Unlike the other censors, the stamping censors don't have eyebrows.
Little Censors[]
These Censors are much smaller than the ordinary stamping censors, but usually appear in larger numbers, and will try to surround Raz. The Palm Bomb is an effective method of dispatching them. Like the stamping Censors, they don't have eyebrows.
Shouting Censors[]
A shouting censor.
–blurb from the Psycho Manual
The Shouting Censors are larger Censors who carry clipboards covered in X's. They shout a deadly "No" blast at Raz, and take more hits to defeat. Simply hitting them with a few PSI Blasts can finish them off, but Raz can also use Invisibility to get up close while avoiding their shouts. Raz can additionally use Shield to protect himself from their blasts. The shouting Censors can use their clipboards as melee weapons, striking Raz if he gets too close.
Mega Censor[]
Main article: Mega Censor
The Mega Censor.
–Sasha Nein
The Mega Censor is an enormous Censor wielding a massive stamp, accidentally fused from the many Censors in Sasha Nein's mind due to blocking off all Censor outlets. Fought only in Sasha's Shooting Gallery in Psychonauts.
Psychonauts 2[]
–Raz's notes
There are three types of Censors: Stamping Censors, Little Censors and Heavy Censors.
Censors[]
A stamping censor.
Stamping Censors return in Psychonauts 2, although without a confirmed variant name. They are the most common variety of Censor. Like in Psychonauts, they will chase after Razputin, charge up a stamp attack, and attempt to stamp him out from up close. They also have a shouting blast attack, carried over from the Shouting Censors from the first game, where they fire a prohibition symbol at Raz. They can also use a spinning attack on Raz, which makes them dizzy and vulnerable afterwards. PSI-Punch is useful against them.
Little Censors[]
Little Censors return in Psychonauts 2. These Censors are much smaller than the ordinary stamping censors, but usually appear in larger numbers, and will try to surround Raz. They can be taken out with a single PSI-Punch or PSI-Blast. While these Censors are weaker than other enemies and doesn't have the ranged projectile attacks of their bigger cousins, they can lunge significantly farther than than any other Censors.
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Heavy (Strongarm) Censors[]
–Description from the Psychonauts box pamphlet
–Raz's notes
Large, muscular Censors that have "NO" tattooed on their knuckles. They hit hard and can take it hard, attacking through punch barrages and slamming the ground, but they're quite slow and they don't have a whole lot of range. Raz can use Pyrokinesis on them to sap away their health, and finish them off with Marksmanship. Alternatively, Raz can make them use that strength against their fellow Censors with Confusion.
In Psychonauts 2, Strongarm Censors make a return in the form of Heavy Censors and taking the title of mini-boss along with other new mental enemies like the Judge, Panic Attack and Bad Mood. They retain their ripped clothing and muscular form, but have a few minor redesigns. They have notably hairier arms, and their tattooed knuckles have been replaced with brass knuckles with red "NO"s engraved on the front.
They're now faster, can take out much more punishment, can charge at Raz for an uppercut, and most of their attacks take out at least 1 entire unit of health, including their fast and large projectiles. They have also adopted the ranged attack of the Shouting Censors on account of their absence.
Boss Fight Strategy[]
The Strongarm now renamed as Heavy Censor is initial fought at the casino parking lot in Hollis' Mind (Hollis' Hot Streak). A duo of heavy censors are fought in this place: the first one is accompanied by two bad ideas and the other by one single stamping censor and bad idea. Despite their title of mini-bosses they don’t bring a complex gimmick or even obligatory PSI-Powers to defeat these combatants, but for preference PSI-Blast is the best option, specially since the focus of their entire moveset is on melee attacks and also it deals much damage. Their range attack is tricky but keep on track that it follows the direction you are moving (If you are moving to the left change to the right and vice versa).
Attacks and Health[]
- Censory Pummel: One of three melee attacks he uses when approaching Raz or the latter approaches him. He’ll swing his left and right arms respectively and horizontally in front of himself. Worth to mention, each punch deals 2 hit points to the mental health which combined does a total of 4 hit points (1 whole brain).
- Prohibitive Smash: Besides the past attack, occasionally the heavy censor will rise his arms, charge quickly and immediately slam his fists in front and into the ground. This attack not only does it deals 4 hit points (1 whole brain) of damage but also pushes Razputin backwards.
- Smack: If Raz stays in front of him after performing any of his past mentioned attacks, he’ll smack Raz right away and in the process he gets pushed back. This only deals 1 hit point.
- Forbidden Symbol Blast: At long or slightly far distances from his mouth he shouts a large forbidden symbol similar to the one the shouting censor used to perform. The speed is even the same, only with the obvious difference of the size of said blast being considerably bigger. Getting hit by this attack deals 4 hit points.
- Uppercut Rush: From time to time, whenever attempting to outrun him, he’ll move in circles his left arm to charge his next movement, while chasing Razputin in order to do an uppercut towards him. If this attack hits Raz he’ll get punch and thrown into midair, high enough to stun him and also damage him with 4 hit points.
Since the health system for enemies and bosses is much different from Psychonauts 2 to the one to Psychonauts 1 it is quite difficult to come up with an specific amount of health for this boss fight.
Minds censors do not appear in[]
- Censors do not appear in the Milkman Conspiracy until the Den Mother's home is entered by Raz.
- Censors do not appear in Loboto's mind until he recovers his moral compass.
- Censors do not appear in Lungfishopolis because of Coach Oleander's mental interference.
- Censors do not appear in the Meat Circus. This could be because of how Raz and Coach Oleander's brains got scrambled together.
- Censors do not appear in Basic Braining. This could be due to Coach's bad mental state, or he could have them under control so they don't attack the campers.
- Censors do not appear in Tomb of the Sharkophagus, likely because the level only exists for the plot. It is the only mental world in Psychonauts 2 with no Censors.
Appearance in other minds[]
In Psychonauts, for the most part, their suits remain the same although in some specific mental worlds they wear a cosmetic related to the theme of the mind. In Milla’s the stamping and little censors wear purple top hats identical to the male party dancer’s one, in Gloria’s the stamping and even personal demons are seen wearing a purplish flower headgear and Waterloo has them wearing Napoleon hats with a forbidden symbol feature on the middle. However, Black Velvetopia gives the censors a drastic change; their main cosmetic is a montera with a small forbidden symbol, their outfit has now a 'Blue Charcoal' color with thick red lines on each front side of their arms and lower part of their pants and part of the "No" symbol in the stamp has now 'neon pink' tones.
The shouting and strongarm censors don’t use any cosmetics in any minds, though in Black Velvetopia they have the same color scheme changes of the stamping censor, including the more darker tone of skin and the glowing greenish cyan tints in parts of the clothing and glasses where they used to be white.
In Psychonauts 2 instead of just cosmetics the censors tend to change their outfit much notoriously in the new minds. In Hollis' Hot Streak both stamping and (now renamed) heavy censors dress as bouncers (with black suits and sunglasses, as well as an 'in ear' in their left ear), in Compton's Cookoff their suits has now a golden tone with smallish dots or cubes and the little censors seen in the boss fight of this mind has vomit covering big part of their heads. In both Ford's Follicles and Fatherland Follies the censors wear what can be assumed as 'grulovian soldiers outfits' with red uniforms, a lapis sash featuring some sort of medals, a decorated golden stamp and black boots (The one in ford has a large yet strange hairstyle while the one in fatherland has an Ushanka with a goldish snowflake emblem). At the last combat segment of Fatherland, two censors can be seen wearing a similar custom of Gristol Malik like the ones the Ride Operator and the Propagandaneer use.
Multiple censors of different colors and with specific patterns are seen in PSI King's Sensorium, at Eye Shrine little censors are seen having the color scheme for greenish cyan (textures for the heavy and stamping censor exists but are never used in-game their color scheme is mostly greenish yellow). Ear Hand Shrine has the trio of censors having red-orange color scheme minus the glasses and some specific features of the clothing which has magenta color, though there’s also cyan-blue color schemed censors; this depends on what color does the arena has according to the progress of the enemies horde. Lastly at Nose Mouth Shrine while has only 'orange-yellow' with small bits of magenta little censors present, it can be assumed that the heavy and stamping features dark orange with purple colors or just the similar color scheme.
Trivia[]
- "No", "Yes", "Ow", "Yup!", "Doh", "Geronimo!", "Where'd he go?", and "Where is he?" are the only words the Censors say.
- In Waterloo World, They say "non" instead of "no".
- The Strongarm Censors, surprisingly, don't appear in Sasha's Shooting Gallery. Instead, they first appear in the minds of the asylum patients.
- In Psychonauts, upon death, Censors will be sent flying into the air and explode upon impact with the ground. However, the Shouting Censor will merely collapse rather than go flying, and will explode after a few seconds.
- Using Clairvoyance on any Censor shows they see Raz as a virus to eradicate.
- The beta design of the Censors depicted them as green-skinned beings with light green stripes and glowing orange eyes, far different from their human-like appearance used in the final product.
- The model of this beta Censors was retextured and temporarily used as a placeholder in early stages of Psychonauts 2 (Psychonauts 2 Update #5 - First Playable).
- Censors are able to interact with other entities in mental worlds.
- This is best displayed during The Milkman Conspiracy, where it is revealed that they are working alongside the G-Men to find and destroy the Rainbow Squirts, who are also a foreign presence in Boyd's mind.
- In Psychonauts 2, the Enablers have the ability to support Censors and other enemies within their surroundings, granting them an offensive/defensive buff that makes them completely invulnerable and also gives them a damage and speed boost as a result.
- Promotional art for Psychonauts 2 shows that censors are able to go on strike, which will apparently result in a total loss of inhibitions.
- Although most censors break into positive mental health when killed, not all of them do. In the Milkman Conspiracy, If Raz returns to the level once it has been completed, the corpses of dead censors can be found littered around the Rainbow Squirt's hideout.
- Three of the five variants of censors are known to make their appearance in Psychonauts 2, those being the Stamping censors, Little censors, and the repurposed Strongarm censors, having been renamed to "Heavy Censors".
- The G-men aren't considered censors, but they serve the same role, that is to eliminate foreign mental presences.
- The Personal Demons are called "suicide censors" inside Psychonauts game file names.
The picture seen in the art book.
- Early footage of Sasha's Shooting Gallery shows that the segment of the crib was planned to have little censors, explaining also why the censors of that part of the level only resists one hit.
- The Censors in Boyd's mind use black cars outfitted with oversized satellite dishes as transport during the raid at the Rainbow Squirt's hideout.
- In the page talking about the Censors in The Art of Psychonauts 2, a concept shows that there was an early idea for a Censor called "The Cleaner" or "The White Censor"
- Said concept shows a square-shaped Censor in a white suit wearing a cap and using as main weapons a giant vacuum, broom and paint roller.
