**Spoiler Free**

Quick Review: Costume Quest is a cute and simple turn-based RPG that celebrates the spirit of Halloween and captures the childhood joy of trick-or-treating. What it lacks in depth or strategy, it makes up for with charm and atmosphere. I recommend playing this around Halloween, or if you’re new to the genre or gaming in general.


Gameplay: A review here on Steam described Costume Quest as “baby’s first RPG,” and I think that’s an apt summary. The gameplay is basic and straight forward. You explore little neighborhoods searching for candy by trick-or-treating at houses or smashing objects around the environment. Every house must be visited to progress the story. It’s a linear story, so there are no branching storylines, and no decisions to make in conversations.

The candy can be used to purchase Battle Stamps, which are equipped to your characters to add an ability or effect in battle. One stamp can be assigned per party member.

Of course, Costume Quest is all about the costumes. Costumes must be crafted by finding the materials needed around the world. Most costumes will give you an ability you can use while exploring the world, allowing you to reach new destinations that would otherwise be blocked. Each costume will also give you a different ability in battle. I thought the costumes were handled well given how simple the game is.

Speaking of battles, the turn-based system is very simple. On your turn, you can either attack with your basic attack, use your special if you’ve charged your meter, or flee the encopunter. You charge your meter every three turns. If you have a battle stamp ability, you can use that too. The limited combat options give you very little room to experiment or strategize. It’s just very straightforward. I actually lost a couple of battles, so there’s “some" skill involved, but it’s minimal. (Basically, you just need to make sure you're succeeding on the quicktime events.) And if you lose, you spawn right before the battle, so it’s no big deal.

The one thing about combat that makes it feel more engaging is the quicktime events. Every attack (and defense) you make requires a quicktime event to maximize its effectiveness. These are not combo heavy events. You either have to time a button press at a certain point, or react fast enough to press a button in a limited time window. While I felt this feature dramatically helped the gameplay feel more interesting, I actually think this could be frustrating for a new or younger gamer because the windows are pretty small. And if you’re not familiar with gaming button layouts, there isn’t enough time to look down and check what button you need to click. Obviously for any experienced gamer this isn’t an issue.

Character stats are minimal: Health and Attack Power. That’s it. No dodging, defense, critical chance, etc. It’s very simple. Characters heal to full health after each encounter.

There is also a mini game about bobbing for apples. You simply eat enough ripe apples before the timer ends. If you complete all three tiers you’ll get a card to add to your collection. Cards are collected throughout the game. I don’t believe they impact the game at all. They’re just collectibles.

The game takes around 5 hours to complete. Outside of going back to gather collectibles you missed, there's not really any reply value. There is also an included DLC called Grubbins on Ice, which is probably 2+ hours of extra game and story.

Overall the gameplay is basic and simple. It’s at a level a new or younger gamer would find appropriate (assuming they know their way around a controller for the quick time events).


User Interface: The UI is artistically consistent with the rest of the game with its hand-drawn aesthetic. The text uses a hand-drawn font, and action prompts are colorful and squiggly. The inventory menu is presented as a notebook, so the whole game looks like it was designed by a kid (in a good way).

The speech bubbles auto-continue conversations. I found the speed of the text to be fine, but it would have been nice to have an option to slow them down in case you wanted to read a little slower.

The key bindings are also remappable, which is good.

Atmosphere: Let’s face it, this is probably why you want to play the game, and it’s why I recommend it. When have you ever seen a game literally about trick-or-treating? It’s a cute, wholesome experience of Halloween that celebrates this fun holiday of childhood. The whole game is presented from a kid’s point of view. From the hand-drawn artstyle, to the conversations, to the battles.

The premise is: Your sibling is stolen by a candy-stealing goblin, and in order to advance your rescue mission quest, you need to collect candy by trick-or-treating to unlock the goblin gates and fight an evil witch...because if you come home without your sibling, you’ll be grounded by your parents. This totally sounds like a story some little kids would come up with! All of these monster encounters take place right in the middle of civilization, and none of the adults believe you when you tell them these monsters are out and about. The casual dismissal of the adults is the kind of humor and thematic consistency that plays throughout the game.

The battles are also pretty cute. Depending on your costume, when you enter battle you will transform into an epic version of that costume. When you’re a kid and you dress up for Halloween, part of the fun is make-believing that you really are this awesome robot, or you really are a powerful knight. The translation of this young mindset to a video game works really well here, and reminds me of the fun times I had growing up with Halloween!

The music is very Cartoony. I believe there is a term in music composition called “Mickey Mousing” -- when you write music very on-the-nose to line up with hits and beats in the cartoon. The soundtrack has that kind of vibe. There is a foreboding jolting character with a light-hearted instrumentation. And the battle music has kind of a huffing-and-puffing fast pace to it. I guess it all sounds like a B-Horror film. It’s nothing memorable, and on its own I would find it annoying. But it works well with the game.

Conclusion: Costume Quest is able to pull off a worthwhile experience despite its simple gameplay because of its strong atmospheric foundation. It’s commitment to presenting Halloween from that of a kid whose having fun going on an epic quest to get candy succeeds throughout its design. This is not a complicated game to play. A younger player may find this appropriate, and older gamers could find this boring. But I think if you go into it knowing what to expect, you’ll enjoy your time being a kid again, trick-or-treating on Halloween. Recommend.

[h1]Costume Quest Review[/h1] [i]**Spoiler Free**[/i] [u]Quick Review:[/u] Costume Quest is a cute and simple turn-based RPG that celebrates the spirit of Halloween and captures the childhood joy of trick-or-treating. What it lacks in depth or strategy, it makes up for with charm and atmosphere. I recommend playing this around Halloween, or if you’re new to the genre or gaming in general. [u]Gameplay:[/u] A review here on Steam described Costume Quest as “baby’s first RPG,” and I think that’s an apt summary. The gameplay is basic and straight forward. You explore little neighborhoods searching for candy by trick-or-treating at houses or smashing objects around the environment. Every house must be visited to progress the story. It’s a linear story, so there are no branching storylines, and no decisions to make in conversations. The candy can be used to purchase Battle Stamps, which are equipped to your characters to add an ability or effect in battle. One stamp can be assigned per party member. Of course, Costume Quest is all about the costumes. Costumes must be crafted by finding the materials needed around the world. Most costumes will give you an ability you can use while exploring the world, allowing you to reach new destinations that would otherwise be blocked. Each costume will also give you a different ability in battle. I thought the costumes were handled well given how simple the game is. Speaking of battles, the turn-based system is very simple. On your turn, you can either attack with your basic attack, use your special if you’ve charged your meter, or flee the encopunter. You charge your meter every three turns. If you have a battle stamp ability, you can use that too. The limited combat options give you very little room to experiment or strategize. It’s just very straightforward. I actually lost a couple of battles, so there’s “some" skill involved, but it’s minimal. (Basically, you just need to make sure you're succeeding on the quicktime events.) And if you lose, you spawn right before the battle, so it’s no big deal. The one thing about combat that makes it feel more engaging is the quicktime events. Every attack (and defense) you make requires a quicktime event to maximize its effectiveness. These are not combo heavy events. You either have to time a button press at a certain point, or react fast enough to press a button in a limited time window. While I felt this feature dramatically helped the gameplay feel more interesting, I actually think this could be frustrating for a new or younger gamer because the windows are pretty small. And if you’re not familiar with gaming button layouts, there isn’t enough time to look down and check what button you need to click. Obviously for any experienced gamer this isn’t an issue. Character stats are minimal: Health and Attack Power. That’s it. No dodging, defense, critical chance, etc. It’s very simple. Characters heal to full health after each encounter. There is also a mini game about bobbing for apples. You simply eat enough ripe apples before the timer ends. If you complete all three tiers you’ll get a card to add to your collection. Cards are collected throughout the game. I don’t believe they impact the game at all. They’re just collectibles. The game takes around 5 hours to complete. Outside of going back to gather collectibles you missed, there's not really any reply value. There is also an included DLC called Grubbins on Ice, which is probably 2+ hours of extra game and story. Overall the gameplay is basic and simple. It’s at a level a new or younger gamer would find appropriate (assuming they know their way around a controller for the quick time events). [u]User Interface:[/u] The UI is artistically consistent with the rest of the game with its hand-drawn aesthetic. The text uses a hand-drawn font, and action prompts are colorful and squiggly. The inventory menu is presented as a notebook, so the whole game looks like it was designed by a kid (in a good way). The speech bubbles auto-continue conversations. I found the speed of the text to be fine, but it would have been nice to have an option to slow them down in case you wanted to read a little slower. The key bindings are also remappable, which is good. [u]Atmosphere:[/u] Let’s face it, this is probably why you want to play the game, and it’s why I recommend it. When have you ever seen a game literally about trick-or-treating? It’s a cute, wholesome experience of Halloween that celebrates this fun holiday of childhood. The whole game is presented from a kid’s point of view. From the hand-drawn artstyle, to the conversations, to the battles. The premise is: Your sibling is stolen by a candy-stealing goblin, and in order to advance your rescue mission quest, you need to collect candy by trick-or-treating to unlock the goblin gates and fight an evil witch...because if you come home without your sibling, you’ll be grounded by your parents. This totally sounds like a story some little kids would come up with! All of these monster encounters take place right in the middle of civilization, and none of the adults believe you when you tell them these monsters are out and about. The casual dismissal of the adults is the kind of humor and thematic consistency that plays throughout the game. The battles are also pretty cute. Depending on your costume, when you enter battle you will transform into an epic version of that costume. When you’re a kid and you dress up for Halloween, part of the fun is make-believing that you really are this awesome robot, or you really are a powerful knight. The translation of this young mindset to a video game works really well here, and reminds me of the fun times I had growing up with Halloween! The music is very Cartoony. I believe there is a term in music composition called “Mickey Mousing” -- when you write music very on-the-nose to line up with hits and beats in the cartoon. The soundtrack has that kind of vibe. There is a foreboding jolting character with a light-hearted instrumentation. And the battle music has kind of a huffing-and-puffing fast pace to it. I guess it all sounds like a B-Horror film. It’s nothing memorable, and on its own I would find it annoying. But it works well with the game. [u]Conclusion:[/u] Costume Quest is able to pull off a worthwhile experience despite its simple gameplay because of its strong atmospheric foundation. It’s commitment to presenting Halloween from that of a kid whose having fun going on an epic quest to get candy succeeds throughout its design. This is not a complicated game to play. A younger player may find this appropriate, and older gamers could find this boring. But I think if you go into it knowing what to expect, you’ll enjoy your time being a kid again, trick-or-treating on Halloween. Recommend.