Intern Credits

“More intern Credits for me!”

–Raz

Intern Credits serve as the ranking system of Psychonauts 2. The counterpart ranking system in Psychonauts is the PSI-Cadet Rank. Ranking up using intern credits allows interns to upgrade their psychic powers. The highest rank that can be obtained is 102.

Gaining Psi-Powers

There are a number of ways Raz can increase his Intern Credits:

1. Collecting nine PSI Cards and purchasing a PSI Core at Otto-Matic Machines across the world, using those same machines to turn the cards into PSI Challenge Markers. There are 99 PSI Cards scattered throughout the game, plus the Otto-Matic gives you another 9 free as a tutorial, for a total of 12 ranks.
2. Finding PSI Challenge Markers. There are 24 of them scattered throughout the physical world.
3. Collecting Nuggets of Wisdom within brains. There of 29 of them scattered throughout the mental worlds.
4. Collecting Figments worth a total of 100. There are 1300 figments in the game, adding up to 13 ranks.
5. Sorting out 5 pieces of Emotional Baggage. There are 5 pieces per world, 9 worlds = 9 ranks.
6. Doing optional missions in the overworld, including collecting the Mission Critical Assets for Norma, helping Gisu regulate the Psychoseismometers, and bringing Lili a rare fungus. These account for 3 ranks.
7. Completing mandatory story missions, for 11 ranks.

Upgrades

There are a number of ways Raz can upgrade his abilities using Intern Credits, as opposed to the automatic upgrading of abilities with the PSI-Cadet Rank. Each upgrade can have two different requirements, Rank, which is your overall Intern Rank, and Cost, which is how many Intern Credits you need to spend on that specific upgrade.

Melee

• Base Power - Press X while on the ground to punch, and while airborne to ground pound.
• Dodge Attack - Press X while dodging to execute a Dodge Attack. - Cost 1
• Slap Happy - Get in an extra attack with your melee combo. - Rank 10 - Cost 3
• Shockwave - Add a radial shockwave to your ground pound that damages and pushes enemies back. - Rank 20 - Cost 5

Telekinesis

• Base Power - Lift objects to carry or throw.
• Extra Mustard - Fling objects with increased force to deal more damage. - Cost 1
• Sleight of Hand - Cooldowns between TK plucks are shortened. - Rank 5 - Cost 3
• Swift Lift - Objects that are stuck in place are plucked faster. - Rank 20 - Cost 5

PSI Blast

• Base Power - Blast concentrated beams of psychic energy from your mind to cause damage.
• Overcharge - Hold to chard your blast for a bigger explosion upon release. - Cost 1
• Mind Mag - Gain an additional blast before having to recharge. - Rank 5 - Cost 3
• Chain Brain - On impact, bursts into smaller PSI Blast projectiles that do less damage. - Rank 20 - Cost 5

Pyrokinesis

• Base Power - Conjure fire with your mind to inflict damage over time.
• Bonfire - Pyrokinesis burns a larger area. - Cost 1
• Slow Cooker - Pyrokinesis damage duration is increased. - Rank 5 - Cost 3
• Très Bon Fire - Pyrokinesis burns a MUCH larger area. - Rank 20 - Cost 5

Levitation

• Base Power - Move more quickly and jump higher from the ground, or summon in the air to slow falls.
• Wrecking Ball - Your Levitation ball will damage enemies if you slam into them at high speeds. - Cost 1
• Pouncy Ball - Compress your Lev Ball, then release to bounce high in the air. - Cost 3
• Levastation! - Increases the devastation of Wrecking Ball attacks. - Rank 10 - Cost 5

Clairvoyance

• Base Power - See through the eyes of other people and animals to reveal new details.
• Lasting Gaze - Revealed hidden objects stay visible longer. - Cost 1
• Mental Block - Take no damage for a brief period when entering Clairvoyance. - Cost 3
• Limitless - Your powers are no longer restricted by cooldowns. - Rank 102 - Cost 10

Mental Connection

• Base Power - Grapple between thoughts to make connections.
• Sucker Punch - Dishes out a free knuckle sandwich to incoming grappled enemies for bonus damage. - Cost 2
• Think Fast - Cooldowns between enemy grapples are shortened. - Rank 15 - Cost 4
• Dark Thoughts - Connect to Dark Thoughts to reach previously untraversable areas. - Rank 30 - Cost 6

Time Bubble

• Base Power - Manipulate time to slow-moving objects and enemies.
• Quick Time - Decrease cooldowns between Time Bubbles. - Cost 3
• Time Zone - Time Bubble affects a large area rather than a single target. - Rank 30 - Cost 5
• Overstay - Increases Time Bubble duration. - Rank 50 - Cost 7

Projection

• Base Power - Summon an Archetype to distract enemies and help with puzzles.
• Medi-Pal - Your Archetype has a healing presence that slowly restores mental energy. - Cost 3
• Two-Ply - Your Archetype can take twice as much damage. - Rank 15 - Cost 5
• Paper Cuts - Enemies take damage when they melee attack your Archetype. - Rank 30 - Cost 7

Trivia

• After the end of the game, if Raz talks to Harold in Truman's Grotto, Raz will eventually say he has to leave to go work on his personal stats, causing Harold to squeak and Raz to reply, "102? Wow! Really?" This is of course a hint that rank 102 is the highest in the game.