December 2024 TA Playlist Game Revealed

I hope you’ve had the chance to dive into the shifting sands of Dubai with us for this November’s TA Playlist feature, Spec Ops: The Line. But as the month wraps up, it’s time to reveal the winner of the December 2024 TA Playlist poll.

For December, we decided to revisit all the Playlists of 2024. Each team member picked one or two games they felt deserved another shot at Playlist glory. ManicMetalhead threw in the 2017 run-and-gun platformer Cuphead and the open-world “ShARk-PG” Maneater. Meanwhile, BetaSigX20 chose the 2023 survival horror sequel Alan Wake 2, and ChewieOnIce went with the 2021 action-adventure Psychonauts 2. It was a nail-biter of a poll, right down to the very end. And the victor, our final TA Playlist game of 2024, is… Psychonauts 2!

Psychonauts 2, brought to life by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios, made its debut in 2021, a whopping 16 years after the original hit the shelves in 2005.

In this sequel, we follow Razputin “Raz” Aquato, a gifted young psychic and skilled acrobat who has finally joined the international psychic espionage group, the Psychonauts. But all is not well—there’s trouble on the horizon. Their leader’s behavior has been off since he was saved from a kidnapping, and even more concerning, there’s a mole within their ranks. Psychonauts 2 delivers a thrilling mix of danger, excitement, and humor as players accompany Raz on a mind-bending journey through the thoughts of both allies and enemies, all while battling a ruthless psychic foe.

The game has impressed the TA Community, boasting a solid 4.48 out of 5.00 rating. Nearly 178,000 tracked gamers have started playing, and about 9% (just over 16,000 players) have achieved full completion. For those eager to tackle all 57 achievements, it’s estimated to take roughly 25-30 hours, but with the Psychonauts 2 Walkthrough by CitrineWorm138, you might shave off a few hours. Play it now on any tier of Xbox Game Pass.

This poll was one of the closest contests we’ve seen in some time. Psychonauts 2 and Alan Wake 2 were neck-and-neck throughout, switching leads but never more than a vote apart. Maneater and Cuphead held steady in third and fourth place, respectively, without ever quite catching up to the frontrunners.

To earn your TA Playlist badge this December, just unlock any achievement in Psychonauts 2 or contribute a meaningful comment in the Spoiler and Spoiler-Free threads that will be available starting December 1st.

Regarding the forums, we’ve tweaked how participation badges get awarded. Previously, this was an automatic process on a set schedule, which didn’t give forum moderators enough time to sift through and weed out any non-substantive “badge only” posts. Moving forward, this will be manually sorted periodically after these have been filtered. So if you’re posting solely for a badge, there might be a slight delay before it appears, but don’t worry—as long as your contribution is substantial, you’ll see your badge within a day or two.

Thanks to everyone participating and providing thoughtful insights on our game of the month! We’ve noticed a significant decline in “badge only” posts, and it’s all thanks to your engaging discussions. TA Playlist truly thrives on your contributions, and we’re grateful to have you join us each month!