Just in time for Halloween comes the follow up to 2010’s favorite Halloween-themed RPG, Costume Quest 2. Reynold and Wren are back to save Halloween yet again this time against a new foe, Dr. Orel White. Double Fine made this title their first official sequel, this time with the help of independent publisher Midnight City. The original game stole the hearts of audiences with its cartoon-like visuals and its endearing story, but does the new entry capture lighting in a bottle twice or was one lap around the neighborhood enough? For us, the answer to that question lies somewhere in between.

This time around, the story is a little wackier than it was in the original game. Wren and Reynold just stepped through a time portal and find themselves back home in time for Halloween. However, as they settle back in to life at home again, they see Dr. Orel White suspicious lurk around the block angry that it is Halloween. Suddenly, he finds a time portal, goes back in time and finds a way to wipe Halloween off the map. Now it is up to you to find out what he did and get the holiday back on the calendar.

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Traditionally, video games never successfully found a way to incorporate holidays into their themes as well as movies have traditionally done. That doesn’t mean there are no good examples of holiday games, but Costume Quest has traditionally done a great job at conveying the theme of the holiday without relying on it completely. Thankfully, Costume Quest 2 does a nice job at keeping the theme alive. There is plenty to see and plenty to get you into the spirit of Halloween. However, the game does start to separate itself from the theme with a new time travel story that feels a little out of touch with the source material. It doesn’t get in the way of the story, but it does distracts from one of the main reasons to play the game.

Double Fine did a great job with the humor and visual aesthetics of this game. Visually, the game looks almost the same as the original did. If you enjoyed the cartoon-like visual elements, you are going to enjoy this game’s attempt. As far as humor is concerned, Double Fine did a nice job of keeping the humor light and funny without getting overly racy or inappropriate. It isn’t going to win a comedy award, but you’ll chuckle during some of the scenes and that is good enough.

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The combat system is very similar to the first game where you will have to use a gauge to time your attacks and to initiate defense stances. However, there are a few new mechanics that add some variety in the game. Attacks now come in several different varieties including Tech, Monster and Magic. Each character you play as and each enemy you face has a strength against and weakness to modifier. Knowing what enemies are weak to certain attacks will give you a distinct advantage.

Creepy Treat cards are part of the battle system now and give the player a source of consumables that give you a quick boost for the current battle. These boosts range from healing party members, dishing out strength or stat boosts to negatively buffing your enemies. These cards make a huge difference in battle, but they take several battles to recharge forcing you to plan your strategy accordingly.

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In addition to the tweaked battle mechanics, there are new costumes, attacks, environments and enemies. The costumes give the game some variety for returning players, as well as, providing a few laughs at the same time. The new content is great to play around with, especially if you liked the first game. Costume Quest 2 may have some improvements with new content, but it should still feel very familiar to returning players.

However, this is where the issues start to creep into the game. Just like the first game, the battle system starts to get old as time goes on. Sure, it is fun to play with the first few dozen times, but it quickly devolves and becomes stale. Especially once you find a good mix of costumes to use, there isn’t a reason to change it up and experiment with a new line up. The costumes are rather limited to a set of attacks and strengths and there isn’t much flexibility to customize your characters beyond that.

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The leveling system becomes increasingly important for dishing out additional damage as the game moves on. Unfortunately, leveling quickly slows down after the first hour or two of play and it just serves to remove much of what makes the game inherently rewarding. Instead, the game start to feel like a grind the higher level you get and that tends to alienate the crowd rather than keep them engaged.

In addition to the slow leveling system, the game makes is more difficult for the players in the beginning of the game. Wren and Reynold spend a lot of time going door-to-door trick or treating. This usually gives you a 50-50 shot of getting a bonus or getting into a big battle. After each one of these battles, you’ll have to find a fountain to heal back to full strength, to just trek back to the next house to get into a bigger battle. This system feels tedious and with the slow leveling system, it just makes this problem even worse.

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The game does have some light puzzle solving to advance the story forward. These puzzles really aren’t complex at all and are usually obvious in nature. For example, if a sleeping alligator blocks your path, just use your clown’s horn to wake him up, then proceed as usual. It would have been nice to get more of a break from the combat with some clever puzzle solving, but Costume Quest 2 keeps it a little too simple for its own good.

In the end, the best way to describe Costume Quest 2 is safe. The game looks and feels a lot like the original game did. It looks the same, it feels the same and it stays firmly within the bounds that the first game laid out. It isn’t that Costume Quest 2 is a bad game, because it isn’t, but we expected more from the game. With a little more depth and variety, Costume Quest 2 could have surpassed everything that Costume Quest was. Instead, we are left with something that doesn’t quite meet expectations and that is disappointing. If you loved the first game, you’ll probably love this game too, and for those people, we’ll give our recommendation.

This review is based on a review copy of the PC version of Costume Quest 2 developed by Double Fine published by Midnight City

Inter-dimensional Trick or Treating | Costume Quest 2 Review
Overall Score7
Positives
  • Fun Sense of Humor
  • New Characters, Environments and Costumes
Negatives
  • Very Slow Progression System
  • Lack of Variety
  • Combat Degrades to Grinding
7Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)
0.0

About The Author

Joe Marchese is the founder / Editor in Chief of New Gamer Nation. He has been a gamer for his whole life but has been focusing on his passion to deliver the industry's new to New Gamer Nation. He is an expert of video game culture and has been featured on Fox News Online. Don't be shy to reach out and let him know what you think!