Yea, I think thats a throwback from the ancient mesh code which is 15 yrs old or something silly. BMesh will fix that though...when it gets finished that is :P
the psychonaut demo was just a breath of fresh air, it is indeed something of a throwback in the best way possible. God bless Tim... it's also one of the first games in a while that is genuinely funny.
Here is a personal project I worked on that was a throwback to the virtual pet days! I remembered so many kids at school playing with these things. Check out the animated videos at www.artstation.com/stavi