Costume Quest

This page is for the video game. For the animated series of the same name, see Costume Quest.

Costume Quest is a party-based role-playing game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by THQ on October 19, 2010. In the game, players assume the identity of one of the two twin siblings, Wren or Reynold. The player controls said sibling who is trick-or-treating with the other on Halloween night when they encounter a monster that kidnaps their sibling. The player must travel around the local neighborhood collecting items for their costume, candy, and fellow children as companions in order to face the leader of the monsters and rescue their sibling. The costume aspects are used in turn-based battle segments, where the player character and companions are transformed into whatever they are dressed as to fight other monsters; the costume aspects are also used for abilities outside of battles.

A DLC expansion titled Grubbins on Ice, was released on December 21, 2010, taking place after the events of the original game and set in the monster world of Repugia. A sequel, Costume Quest 2, was released in 2014.

Gameplay[]

Costume Quest incorporates elements of exploration of adventure video games and character growth of role-playing games. In the adventure part of the game, the player character explores their neighborhood, seeking out quests that reward the character with hints to the sister's location, more candy (a type of currency for interactions with other children), and costume parts that can be to alter the character's costume. The character can also befriend up to 4 non-player characters that can help with some aspects of quest solving.

At times, the player characters will encounter other children or monsters, leading to the battle mode for the game. Here the children become giant versions of what costumes they are wearing, along with abilities reflected by that costume; for example, a child wearing a makeshift robot costume becomes a giant mechanized robot, while a child wearing a medieval sweater becomes a knight in armor and sword. Battles are turn-based, allowing the player to select attacks, blocks, or a special move that requires hitting a quick-time event at the right moment to achieve maximum damage to their foes. Winning battles leads to additional rewards towards the player's main quest.

DLC[]

The game also features downloadable content (DLC). "Grubbins on Ice" expands Costume Quest's story, offering a brand new ensemble of missions, characters, locations, costumes, and achievements. The sequel Costume Quest 2's plot continues off of this DLC.

Plot[]

It's Halloween Night in Auburn Pines and bickering twins Wren & Reynold are the new kids in town, ready for some fun, scares and candy! In the beginning cutscene, you must choose between one of the twins. The one you DO pick gets to wear the robot costume, while the one you DON'T pick ends up in a silly but rather convincing candy corn costume. When your brother/sister is kidnapped by monsters who have mistaken him/her for a giant, talking candy corn, it's up to you and the magic of Halloween to go on a rescue mission and save him/her from the monsters and their wicked Commander - Dorsilla the Witch.

Meeting the Enemy[]

After the monster who kidnaps your twin panics and runs off with him/her, you follow them to a large black gate. The monster can't get through to show the "candy" to them so he throws your twin over instead. You confront him and he says that you've seen too much and now you have to fight. After beating the monster that took your twin, a creepy looking girl named Dorsilla confronts you and tells you to go away. Instead, you threaten to fight her next. However, she summons a tornado spell which blows you back down the road and destroys your robot costume. Right after, a car crashes into some trash cans, and your access to the gate is blocked off. As you sit down, ready to give up, a black cat comes up to you and leads you to a piece of paper that has a schematic diagram drawn on it which you can use to build a new robot costume. The cat vanishes before you can thank him, however. You then follow a small path. Along with it, you find 3 "Treasure Coffins" (coffins that, when opened, give you candy or costume materials) each containing a piece of your robot costume. On your way back, a Grubbin (a type of monster in the game) is ordered by Dorsilla to knock several trash cans into your way to block your path and prevent you from interfering with Dorsilla's plan.

A friend in need...[]

Along the way, you meet two more kids who join in on your mission. Right after you lose your twin, you meet an adventurous boy who loves Medieval Lore named Everett. He joins you after you stop Travis, the local bully, from taking his candy. The two of you go on to explore the neighborhood and Trick or Treat at houses one by one, helping kids out with their needs, collecting various costumes and having to fight against various monsters in battles that take place on a titanic scale.

Graveyard of Exposition[]

When you've been to all 20 houses in the neighborhood, the black gate which blocks off access to the graveyard where your twin was taken opens up. While in there, you come across a ghostly scarecrow who gives you a new costume pattern and your first material to make it. It then goes on to explain the reason why the monsters are stealing candy - There is a character called "Cadaverous Big Bones" who seems to be the Grim Reaper of their monster world of Repugia. Big Bones is always hungry and he has a major sweet-tooth and if he doesn't get his regular feast of candy, he eats his monster minions instead. So the reason why the monsters are stealing all this candy is that they're afraid of being eaten, not particularly because they want to. When you reach the other end, you find that the monsters are taking all the candy in town. Dorsilla orders BoJonn (Head Accountant & Chief Inspector) to get all the candy taken from the suburbs to the Autumn Haven Mall where her General (Metxel) reports of finding a place called "The Mother Lode" where there is candy galore. After she vanishes, you notice that your twin is being thrown aboard too. You & Everett come out of hiding to confront BoJonn and tell him that you don't care about their candy heist; all you want is your twin back. He refuses (still believing that your twin is candy) and so commences your first boss battle. Right after you defeat him, the bus that your twin & all of the candy has been thrown into starts to drive away. But You & Everett manage to jump onto the rear bumper and ride it all the way to Autumn Havel Mall.

The Dark Side of the Mall[]

As the bus passes one of the doors into the Mall, the bus hits a bump in the road and bounces, causing you and Everett to fall off. You both run inside the Mall and are locked in as the shutters fall behind you. So your only way out now is forward. As you make your way through the darkness of the area of the Mall that is still under construction, you discover that The Mother Lode is a brand new candy store - and it's being raided by the monsters. Once you reach the other side of the mall, you find another black gate; blocking access to the candy store to all but monsters. It asks you to leave a message after the beep. You leave it a message saying horrible things about your twin, but you then go on to say that despite your dislike for your twin, you still care for them. The answering machine beeps again and you then walk through a door to the open part of the Mall.

The Mall[]

Once you're there, you would have to go around to each of the 20 stores that as it turns out, are handing out candy to help with their businesses. You also discover that the "Mall-o-Rail" is out of order for some reason. As before in the suburbs, you're meeting more characters, fighting more monsters, completing more tasks & collecting new costumes. As you walk around on the ground floor, you notice that there's something happening at the "Arrr-cade!" When you go inside, you notice that BoJonn and his crew are forcing kids to play games so that they can trade the tickets they win for candy and give it to the monsters. After you fight BoJonn again, he and a Grubbin run away through a secret door, covered by an arcade game. You follow them and discover that it's an emergency door to the "Mall-o-Rail" tunnels. This is where you meet your third party member - Lucy. Lucy explains that she is investigating why the trains are broken. When Everett tells her that it's monsters, she believes you about creatures causing the trouble but argues that they are actually aliens, being that she's a science enthusiast. Despite the debate on what they are, she joins your team. As you explore the tunnels further, you discover that the monsters have hijacked the railway to transport the candy from all over the mall faster and quieter. BoJonn is there where you face him for the third and final time. Once you've beaten him for good, you can ride the Mall-o-Rail back to the station and now use it to go through the gates once all 12 stores have been cleared of candy.

Reunion[]

The train then stops right outside the candy store. The place is empty and all the bags of candy are waiting for collection. Your twin then comes out of hiding amongst the bags. Just before you leave, Metxel appears on his Candy Dozer getting ready to load the bags onto a truck outside. You and your team then decide to take it upon yourselves to stop them since all the adults are so oblivious to them and what they're doing. You take on Metxel and his beastly bulldozer in another boss battle. Once he's beaten, Dorsilla appears and makes him vanish. She then goes on to ask how you and your twin got over the horrible things you said about your twin earlier. A shrunken-down version of one of the speakers from the black gate appears in her hand. It then plays an edited version of your message, cutting out how you cared for your twin and only playing the horrible parts you regretted saying. You say that it's inadmissible evidence. Your twin, however, doesn't listen to you and tries to run off. But before they could, Dorsilla traps your twin and then you and your team by paralyzing you. She then takes you to her candy trove.

Underdressed[]

You wake up at the top of a hill in Fall Valley. You and your team are trapped in a cage of thorns. Your twin, however, is nowhere to be seen. The three of you are wearing candy-corn costumes, identical to your twin's costume. Dorsilla has taken all of your costumes away to be destroyed so that if you break out, you can't fight her or her army. She then orders her army to raid Fall Valley of its candy before they return to Repugia. Soon, you all escape by sliding on a board showing the monsters' progress with getting enough candy for Big Bones. You land at the bottom of the hill, nothing broken except for your candy corn costumes. All three of you are now costume-less. Seconds later, a pair of Crestwailers carrying a Treasure Coffin to a fire appear, and inside the coffin are all of your costumes. You've beaten them to the fire and fortunately, they decide to take a break which buys you some time to get a new costume to get them away from the chest. As you explore Fall Valley, you find a French Fry stand. Once the merchant has given you the costume, you use it to lure the Crestwailers into the nearby barn and trap them inside. Then you can get your costumes back. After you use the French Fry costume to lure 3 kids to the stand, you are given 3 tickets to enter the town carnival.

Fall Valley[]

When you enter the carnival, you are greeted by a medium who reveals that he is actually the Black Cat & The Scarecrow and he disguised himself with his magic. He also reveals that he is Dorian - Dorsilla's brother. He explains that his sister has been hanging out with the wrong people and ended up in debt to Big Bones. He says he can't stop her because the magic he possesses is nothing compared to what Big Bones had (supposedly) bestowed upon Dorsilla and now means to pay her back in return for her service and because Dorsilla scares him to death. He tells you that in order to continue, you must get up to the top of the Ferris wheel to "find the path". He then vanishes in green light. You learn that the Ferris wheel has been vandalized by the monsters so that no-one can reach them at the top of the wheel where 3 of them are shaking kids for candy. You decide to sneak inside a cannon while the human cannonball is addressing his audience. Once the monsters see you coming, they fly away. While up there, you see a Crestwailer (a kind of monster) walking between two stands. He then utters a spell and walks through the darkness. After you somehow make your way back down, you realize you can walk through the darkness using your Space Warrior costume's light-up sword. After you've emptied the 16 houses and tents of their candy, you can open the black gate. Before you reach it, Dorian in his Scarecrow form appears and not only gives you the third piece to the costume but also a miniature version of the speaker from the gate. He says that it'll work when the time is right. He then wishes you good luck and his enchantment over the scarecrow is gone.

Big Confrontations[]

When you get to the gate, you have to traverse a maze. The only trouble is that the only path to Dorsilla is to pass a guard. Closeby is a Grubbin who has Defected from Dorsilla's army and tells you that the monsters don't want her to live with them; that she is crueler than Big Bones. She has imprisoned 3 more Defectees in the maze. Each of whom will give you a piece of a Grubbin costume which, when completed, can be used to fool the guard into thinking that you've captured your companions so that he can let you pass. Once you're through and on your way up to Dorsilla, you run into Metxel again who's blocking your path and looking for a re-match. After he's dealt with you can finally make it to Dorsilla, who's standing beside a large blue portal which links between the two worlds...almost as if she's expecting you. While you were away, she had convinced your twin that if she came with her to Repugia, your twin would be treated better than you had treated her. You tell your twin that you admit you were mean and that you both had to stick together. Dorsilla then tells them that all 3 of you will be going with them to a world where she will be treated like a Queen. Your friends assume that they will be treated like royalty too (hence the Narnia reference) but Dorsilla tells the party that they will be fed to Big Bones to settle her debt to him. You tell her that it's not going to happen. She calls in a storm and thus begins your boss fight against Dorsilla.

Cheating Death[]

Once she has been defeated, you order her to return your twin. But this triggers your final boss. Since Dorsilla is no match for you, she's forced to bring out the big guns.....or rather, BIG BONES! She tells him that you 3 are the ones giving him all this trouble - that you took away all of the candy she stole for him. But just as the fudge hits the fan for our trio, Dorian's speaker pops up and plays a message for everyone to hear. It's a message from Dorsilla to Dorian. She tells her brother not to worry about her. She explains that the reason why she's working with these "idiot monsters" is just to trick them into taking her to Repugia so she can then use her powers to kill Big Bones and take his throne. She denies this, but the message is genuine and Big Bones becomes too angry to listen. He gets angry and exiles her from Repugia. Big Bones is still hungry, though. So he turns back to the 3 of you. But just as Dorsilla walks away, she gives you a little power boost to help fight Big Bones. Once you've beaten Big Bones down to 1HP, he will be forced back to Repugia with an empty stomach. Thus, the nightmare is over... for now.

Let's go home[]

Then comes the closing cutscene with Dorian driving the candy bus through Fall Valley. As they drive along, the kids throw all the stolen candy out the door to all the kids standing by the road as they cheer for them. They tell Dorian to drive them back home. The kids then all agree to meet up every Halloween and do this again. Back at Wren & Reynold's house, the kids are sat down in the living room to sort out their candy. Wren & Reynold's Mom comes in to tell Everett & Lucy that she rang their parents to ask if they have permission to spend the night with the twins and they say yes. Then the parents both head upstairs to bed and leave them to continue sorting their candy between them.