Review of Costume Quest 2

The charming, funny, and surprisingly sweet sequel to the 2010 cult hit Costume Quest is back with a time traveling plot, a new set of twin siblings, and an insane dentist who wants to banish Halloween and candy for good. But can the lovable rogues at Double Fine manage to make this sequel work without just retreading old ground?

The player controls either Wren or Reynold as they travel through a series of portals that lead to the past and future. Their goal is to thwart an evil dentist named Dr. Orel White, who plans to destroy all of the world’s candy and Halloween forever.

Much like the first game, gameplay is mostly a mix of traversal puzzles and fetch quests, with combat serving as an occasional climax. In battle, the characters fight as gigantic versions of their costumes with a simple turn-based combat system that rewards precise timing. The more precisely a character hits the target of an enemy, the more damage they do, and if a player fills up a super meter by attacking or taking damage, they can unleash a powerful attack. Players also have access to reusable cards that can provide buffs or debuffs during battle.

Combat can be fun in small doses, but it can quickly become repetitive when fighting several enemies back to back. The lack of character customization and the need to reload your team’s health after every fight adds a lot of dull padding to the experience, and the fact that most of the battles are triggered by knocking on doors at random houses rather than being triggered by a specific event can make them feel like an endless grind.