I am continuing to think about new column ideas to write about with video games, books, and movies/TV. This was one of the first ideas that came to my mind! The idea of this column is to highlight games on Game Pass that I think look cool, that I have played in the past, or something new that just came to the service that I have tried. There are hundreds of games on the service that get mixed in and out. I know that sometimes I will scroll through Game Pass and not really see anything that jumps out to me because it gets the streaming service effect of everything blending together. For the pilot of this column, we are gonna highlight a small game from Double Fine that we are in the perfect time during Spooky Season to play right now: Costume Quest!
Costume Quest originally came out on October 19 2010. In the game, you pick between two siblings who are going out trick or treating on Halloween. The sibling that you decide to not play as gets kidnapped by monsters who are going through the neighborhood stealing candy from houses. It is up to you to gather a party together and travel across the local neighborhood to get your twin back by collecting items for new costumes, candy, and other kids who become party members to face the leader of the monsters. Costume Quest has a strong Double Fine DNA at its core, with a mixture of role playing game elements (turn based combat, among other things) and adventure games that are at the heart of Double Fine.
I think the story of how Costume Quest originally came to be made is one of the most interesting stories, and really does a good job of showing why this ear of Double Fine Productions is one of my favorite. The idea of Costume Quest started during one of the original "Amnesia Fortnights" that happened during the development of Brutal Legend. During these Amnesia Fortnight sessions, the team would split into four smaller groups and work on prototypes for potential future games, which would then present these to the rest of the Double Fine team to look over and review. These projects got shelved after Double Fine went back to work on Brutal Legend and after Electronic Arts decided to not pursue Brutal Legend sequel, Tim Schafer decided to revisit these prototypes. Another great benefit of these Amnesia Fortnight prototypes (and would you would see even more with future ones) would that it would give different people the chance to lead a project and gain experience.
Tasha Harris, who was Double Fine's lead animator at the time (also a former Pixar artist) was the lead on Costume Quest. This was a concept that Harris came up with at the time while at Pixar but could never expand on it while she was there. In a interview with Gamasutra at the time of release she wanted the game to capture "that nostalgic feeling of these kids playing dress-up". This game nails that feeling, it makes me feel nostalgic for the time when Halloween was when I would dress up in a cheap costume and my family would drive to the rich neighborhood where we lived to get the really good candy.
One of the things that I was worried about with revisiting this game especially when I realized it was twelve (!) years old now, was will it still hold up? Well I am happy to report that it mostly does. Obviously you have to come into this game with some expectations. It is from a different era of indie games then we are in now. This was a Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network release and back then that had certain expectations. It was a shorter game that takes about five hours to beat, and because it is a couple of console generations back now, the graphics have aged. What I think works in Costume Quest's favor is also one of Double Fine's strengths: the writing and art style of this game aged gracefully.
The combat/gameplay of Costume Quest is pretty basic but it actually works well when you get more party members and more costumes to switch in and out of. Lets talk about the costumes for a second. One of the best moments of the game is when you are transitioning into combat, and the kid you are controlling as a robot transforms into a giant Megazoid-looking robot during the turn based combat. You can definitely tell that this game was influenced by big RPG franchises like Earthbound, Pokemon, and older Nintendo RPGs (Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest). The adventure game elements are pretty light so if you are not the biggest fan of those games, this is not a LucasArt's level adventure game.
As of this writing, the downloadable content (DLC) of this game called "Grubbins on Ice" is on sale on the Xbox store for $4.99, which takes place during winter break for the kids where they find a portal to the monster's world. If you enjoyed Costume Quest, I think the DLC is worth dropping five bucks to expand that experience by a few more hours. Also if you enjoyed this game, then the sequel called Costume Quest 2 is also available on Xbox Game Pass. The sequel expands the combat in some smart directions including counters and team up attacks and it picks up right after where "Grubbins on Ice" left off with the portals.
I think that Costume Quest is the perfect Game Pass game! It is a short, indie title that does not overstay its welcome, and it really does a good job of showing off one of the most unique developers we have in the video game industry. I think the story behind the development of the game, and seeing where the concept of "Amnesia Fortnights" took the creativity of Double Fine Productions and how Costume Quest was in one of the original iterations of that is so interesting. If you are looking for a fun Halloween/Spooky Season game that is not horror and is just a fun, short time then Costume Quest is a game that I think deserves a (Game) passing look.