Costume Quest is a single player, turn-based Role Playing Game created by Double Fine Productions and published by Double Fine alongside THQ. The game was released in October 2010 on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and mobile platforms.
Costume Quest opens with fraternal twins Reynold and Wren being encouraged by their parents to go out trick-or-treating, and to try to make some new friends. The twins have only recently moved into their new town, so their parents encourage them to be careful and decide that one of the two should be in charge. At this point, players are able to choose whether they would like to play the game as Reynold or Wren. Whomever the player chooses jumps into his or her robot costume and the sibling hops into what has to be one of the grossest costumes I've ever seen. Seriously...this costume just needs to be thrown into the trash. The twins then hit the streets in search of candy and new friends.
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| Ugh, gross. Can you think of a more disgusting costume? |
While out on the town, the twins stumble upon monsters (real ones, not just kids in costumes!) collecting candy from the neighborhood. One of these monsters grabs the player's sibling and runs off yelling with excitement at the giant piece of candy he has found. Following this monster, players find that an entire army of beasts have descended upon the town on a quest to collect as much candy from the humans as possible. While watching these creatures pack up their hoard, players catch a glimpse of their sibling stuffed into a bus with the other candy that has been collected by the creatures. A witch is also present - apparently commanding the smaller monsters and coordinating the candy collection. Unfortunately, the witch also notices the child spying on her and sends one of her lackeys to capture you!
The screen flashes and changes into battle mode - treating players to a short scene of the child's cardboard robot costume transforming into a real, gigantic robot. The monster, too, has changed into a much larger and scarier version of itself. Using his or her new robot-themed powers, the child quickly defeats the monster in an introductory turn-based battle. With the main character's discovery of the power of costumes, the lone twin sets off to rescue their kidnapped sibling from the witch and her monsters!
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| And you thought YOUR boss was a monster... |
Costume Quest plays similarly to other turn-based RPGs in that players travel through environments finding items and meeting new party members until they run into a monster. Once a monster is encountered, the kids transform into the real version of their costumes and a relatively simple to understand, turn-based battle breaks out. Each costume has its own unique basic attack and special attack that can be used against foes. Basic attacks do medium damage, but can be boosted by a quick-time event, such as a timed button press. Special abilities take three complete rounds of battle to charge, but can do massive damage, heal teammates, or perform other helpful actions. Similarly, enemies have varied attacks. When monsters attack, players have a chance to reduce the damage taken by successfully completing a timed button press.
These timed button presses become extremely important, as the game's battle system punishes missed attempts with massive damage. The battle system's simplicity also causes it to feel extremely rigid. By that, I mean players' limited choices for action often results in battles becoming a slugfest with enemies and players trading blows in a race to finish off the other before being defeated themselves. There are "battle stamps" which can be purchased throughout the game that give characters an extra ability such as more attack damage, a chance to dodge, or a stunning attack, but these abilities do little to change the back-and-forth nature of the game's fights. I often found that if I messed up one or two defense button presses that I would lose the battle I was fighting. This required perfection took a lot of fun out of the battles for me. It didn't help either that the game's early fights start out extremely difficult due to limited costumes to choose from and being without a full party to absorb and dish out damage.
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| Battles can feel more like a trick than a treat... |
The search for your candy-napped twin leads players through three different locales. In each of these settings, players can explore to find pieces of other costumes and trick-or-treat for candy. Once all of the candy is looted from a location, magic doors open up allowing the kids to get one step closer to rescuing the captured child. Players can also collect "Creepy Treat" cards as they go along, though these items serve no purpose other than to unlock a costume once they are all found.
Along the way, players will meet two other party members, complete quests for their friends and neighbors, level up, and find 11 different costumes to use in battle. Some of these costumes are given to the player as part of the story, while others have to be created by finding a schematic and three components scattered throughout the game's levels. There are also a few mini-games to take part in while searching for your twin such as bobbing for apples or a costume contest. These mini-games award costume items or candy depending on the difficulty completed.
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| Looks like some of these apples have already been bobbed. |
In my opinion, the biggest joys in Costume Quest are simply exploring around each location, talking to other characters, and enjoying the cartoony Haloween themed graphics. Each level is mid-sized and can seem confusing at first (especially since the game fails to provide any sort of map), but after exploring for a while they become quite easy to navigate. Some areas of levels require the unique ability of a costume to traverse, such as ramps that require the robot's boost ability. These abilities can also allow players to enter secret areas if they keep their eyes peeled for them! Often levels will require these abilities, or for other parts of the story to be completed first, in order to proceed through them.
Costume Quest is extremely charming. The game's cartoon-like graphic style works extremely well with its Halloween setting to appeal to the child inside all of us. For the most part, Costume Quest's levels are colorful and creative. Halloween decorations cover nearly every corner of the game, and almost everyone you meet is in costume - children and parents alike! Humor is everywhere in the game. From shops with clever names to the dialogue between characters, the game keeps things interesting and full of life. My only graphical complaint is that sometimes, when in battle, text and dialogue boxes can cover each other up to the point that you can't read what just popped up on the screen.
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| It's just like your childhood, only better! |
Costume Quest is a relatively short game. I finished everything that the game had to offer in something like 5 hours. I can't remember the last time that I finished a game in two sittings, and I have mixed feelings about the experience. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the game's atmosphere and didn't want it to end. On the other, I don't know if I could have stood to play many more battles. I was so tired of fighting at the end of the game that I started to purposely avoid enemies. I guess the fact that I'm conflicted means that the game ended when it needed to - before the negatives outweighed the positives.
While I became frustrated with Costume Quest's rigid battle system, and how often I found myself using it, I really enjoyed playing the game. The game's charm and nostalgia inducing themes kept me moving forward through its tedious battles so that I could see what the next area had in store for me. I instantly fell in love with the idea of hand-made costumes turning their wearer into a real-life version of what it represented, and some of those changes are quite hilarious. It's unfortunate that the game feels a bit shallow with its combat and useless collectibles when there is so much good about it in other areas. Costume Quest's positives and negatives balance each other out to the point that I really enjoyed playing it to celebrate Halloween, and I think that you might as well!
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