After capturing Loboto and recovering Truman's comatose body, Raz joins the other Psychonauts inside Loboto's mind to learn his co-conspirator's identity, but they find his psyche secured against their efforts. However, Raz sees a vision of a woman whom Sasha identifies as Maligula, a cruel hydrokinetic who flooded and destroyed the nation of Grulovia's capital. Maligula was believed killed by the Psychic Six, but her followers, the Deluginists, have looked to necromancy to resurrect her. The senior agents suspect a double agent within the Psychonauts aided Loboto in kidnapping Truman.
The single player controls Razputin "Raz" Aquato, the ten-year-old child runaway of a circus acrobat family, who possesses powerful psychic abilities which allow him to delve into the minds of others. Raz is a new graduate of the Psychonauts, an agency of psychic spies. His acrobatic skills are used to deftly navigate game environments; he may run, jump, scale walls and platforms, and slide along rails, but cannot swim due to a family curse. Raz hones his abilities into an array of psychic powers that allow him to use pyrokinesis, levitation, telekenesis and so on. Several powers return from the original game, with additions such as Mental Connection, which Raz uses to tether between floating points. Up to four powers are assigned at once, and are swapped out via a pop-up interface.