Double Fine has done alright with this gem of a game. Don't let the cuteness of the characters or the story fool you. Costume Quest is fun for children of any age. You play as siblings who go out for a harmless night of trick or treating only to have one of the kids kidnapped by monsters mistaking them for candy. Children obviously are just too sweet! Then proceeds a quest through 3 different neighborhoods for the search to get your bro/sis back.
While you only get a party of three what's really fun about Costume Quest is finding different outfits to fight bad guys in. You start off with your initial robot costume but to gain others you have to find materials throughout your journey to assemble them. They serve two purposes. The basic one is the fighting aspect. When you go into battle wearing a certain costume you're transformed into your fighter form personified with a special power unique to each costume. The other is a side ability that is an environmental aspect such as using a power to help you see in particularly dark spaces or a shield so you can go under sewer drains without getting drenched in water. The variety of costumes and abilities is what really makes this a fun game.
You can tell this game is meant to be a little bit eerie but its mostly just good hearted, wholesome fun. Fighting is pretty repetitive. Kill the monsters as quickly as possible because their attacks hurt you just as much as yours them, rinse and repeat. The only boss battle that was a bit challenging was the final boss and once you find the right combination of tactics and accessories that'll be simple too.
After you finish the main game there is the Grubbins on Ice expansion which the kids travel to Repuggia to rescue a kidnapped friend. Yes, you are doing the same exact thing as the main story only in a different location with a few new costumes and bad guys to fight. While I don't mind the repetitive story, because that's not why I'm playing Costume Quest to begin with, I do mind that the developers left the ending in limbo, literally. Here I am at the end of this expansion watching the credits role, expecting there to be a little "gotcha" or "surprise" moment. Something to indicate a proper ending. Alas, my ending never comes. It would be a cruel joke had I not gotten a solid 10 hours of gameplay. So I was satisfied. But those guys at Double Fine better have a sequel planned with more super awesome costume quest goodness. There's a lot of potential in this little game.
Story: ^__^ - Generic as hell but still a fun story to play through. In all honesty I was more interested in finding new costumes to fight in and all the quirky things you can do with them. Although it was lukewarm it didn't keep me from enjoying this game. It keeps you busy with side quests as well as optional bobbing for apples / eyeballs mini-game.
Sound: (^__^) - There's no voice acting but things like sound effects and music fit wonderfully setting the overall mood of the environment.
Graphics: ^__^ - This game is pretty polished. Environments look vibrant even when you're running around in the dark. Battle screen takes on a comic strip like view with players and bad guys having really good looking animations.
Overall: ^__^ - I was thoroughly entertained playing this game. I would have liked it more if there was a proper ending to the DLC but got a solid amount of time and I had fun. The dialogue and quests were generally well written and the game never got boring. You can't go wrong playing this game but consider getting it in a Double Fine bundle with a couple of this developer's other great games.
Buy it On: Steam, Amazon
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