Around Halloween, many gamers find comfort in playing spooky and even horrific games to get in the mood for the scary season. Although many of those said games evoke the feelings of Halloween, there aren’t that many video games that take place on Halloween Night. In 2010, Double Fine productions, the studio behind Psychonauts, released the little-known game called Costume Quest. Its modest success helped spawn a sequel years later and even a cartoon show on Amazon Prime. Even though it's a simple and straightforward game, this title proves it can pack a lot of personality and atmosphere to make for an enjoyable Halloween experience.
Siblings Wren and Reynold have moved to a new neighborhood and, on Halloween night, are encouraged by their parents to go out and trick r treat while making new friends. Wren and Reynold are less than enthusiastic, especially when the parents pick one of them to lead the other in trick r treating. While out and about, a monster called a Grubin snatched one of the two siblings leaving the other sibling to go after the Grubin and defeat his minions. Along the way, the sibling acquires a group of other kids who help in powering up their special costumes and saving the day and Halloween itself.
The story for this game was developed by Tashia Harris, who has quite an experience in animation. Harris is most well known for being an animator for Pixar in the early years as she created some of the animations for movies like A Bug’s Life. when she left for Double Fine Studios, the company’s president Tim Schaffer (Creator of Psychonauts), was intrigued by her idea for Costume Quest and gave the green light to the idea. Harris’s background in animation reflects in the final product, as the game carries a boatload of charm with characters that have a childlike sensibility, especially from the kids themselves. One intriguing thing is how the kids are written, especially Wren and Reynold, who are immature siblings who constantly fight even though, deep down inside, they care about each other. This makes the characters feel grounded in some form of reality, even though the environment they exist in is cartoony and somewhat adventurous. It’s no Psychonauts, but Costume Quest’s story is fun and simple, making for a nice Halloween treat.
The gameplay takes much inspiration from other gaming classics, such as Dragon Quest, Earthbound and Pokemon, and puts a Halloween-themed spin on the whole thing. The majority of the game works like this. You start off playing as your selected character, which can either be Wren or Reynold, and you go around the area as you trick or treat around the given area. Some houses will give you candy, but others will be filled with Grubins, who you have to defeat with your given magical costumes that transform you into super-powered heroes with different abilities. Doing so will get you even more candy. That is mainly it; the game does not introduce other forms of gameplay. However, the short length and the minimal things to do in the gameplay are created with attention and love so that the entire game feels satisfying to finish as opposed to a game that tries too many forms of gameplay, and only a handful of forms are reasonable compared to others. The combat will test your abilities as attacks from characters can be done with a tap of a button. Each costume will come with different powerups, and more kids will join up with your adventure, which will help immensely when more enemies appear. Meanwhile, In the neighborhoods, you can run around, interact with other kids and find parts to make more costumes to battle Grubins. This is short, sweet, and fun; there are some challenging bits, but most of the game is just a comfortable ride that will make you feel like a kid again.
The visuals are simple and timeless, as the game incorporates a cell-shaded look that makes it feel like it could have been released any year. The backgrounds are just oozing with Halloween props and colors as every place the player visits include many neighborhoods with fall scenery and even other places in town like shopping malls. The game’s visuals also capture the childlike wonder of being out on Halloween night and trick or treating. These graphics are simple yet effective and will charm many players, as they have undoubtedly charmed me.
The music was composed by Peter McConnell, who scored the Psychonauts and Sly Cooper series. The score goes for a primarily mellow and soft feel that makes the player feel comfortable, but when the music suddenly turns epic, that’s when you know that stuff is getting real and it’s time for battle. It’s not the most memorable video game music ever, but the music brings the right amount of passion for creating a Halloween atmosphere.
Costume Quest makes a name for itself as a charming and fun experience that screams Halloween in every sense of explanation. It may be too straightforward and not as profoundly complex for some experienced gamers, but the simplicity of its story and the timelessness of the cell-shaded graphics make this game more of a treat than a trick. Suppose you're looking for a Halloween experience in the form of a Video game. In that case, Costume Quest will no doubt fill your craving for experiencing the joys of the spooky time of year while being just a short and sweet experience worth playing every Halloween for many more years.
(Final Grade: B)