Costume Quest 2 retains all the charm of the first game, and adds several improvements. The battle system is still simple (in a good way) but they've added a bit more depth to make it more interesting from a strategic standpoint.

Also: 60 FPS finally! (CQ1 was 30 FPS and had framerate issues, being a previous-gen console port)

I recommend the following:

• Play Costume Quest 1 first, and the (free) DLC, since the story in CQ2 continues immediately after that
  
• Go for the "hardcorn" achievement, if you want a little more depth to the battles

Pros:
-Very funny, witty story and dialogue.
-Easily accessible for all.
-Great music.
-Wonderful art and graphics.

Cons:
-Repetitive combat.
-A bit too similar to the first game.

I never really did Halloween when I was a kid. I’m one of those killjoys who rolls her eyes at the Halloween decorations the shops insist on trotting out and flogging to a mostly disinterested British audience every year. I managed to work my way through my formative years without it playing any part in my yearly routine. I never went trick or treating, or ‘glorified begging’ as I was told it was. I’ve never really done fancy dress in any big way either. In fact I’ve probably put more effort into making costumes for my hedgehog soft toys than I have for myself. Costume Quest 2 lets me precariously live out my repressed need to threaten strangers into giving me sweets and dress up in increasingly deranged outfits whilst hitting monsters, which I assume is standard Halloween behaviour for those inclined.

Costume Quest was a game that impressed me immensely. It was simple in places but filled with all the wonderful charm and wit that Double Fine have built their reputation on. Like Psychonauts (another game I love), Costume Quest is a game about being a kid, doing kid stuff and seeing the world in a fantastical way that the adults around them just cannot do. It’s silly and quirky without coming across as pandering or dumbed down. On the contrary, Costume Quest had some really clever writing. Despite my Halloween-cynicism, I was strangely excited about the prospect of Costume Quest 2 (especially after seeing the wonderful announcement trailer).

After stopping monsters stealing all the Halloween candy, brother and sister team Wren and Reynold are preparing to finally enjoy some trick or treating Halloween fun. But would you believe it, an evil dentist has changed history to outlaw the festival. The simple premise belies the sharpness of the writing and the sheer joy of finding all the gags and japes the game has to offer. There is always something happening on screen, be it a quick one liner or a visual gag going on in the background. It seems there is no wasted space in the game world, everything has a purpose. I adored the art style that lead designer Tasha Harris gave the first game, I’m very pleased to see that the sequel has added to it in the best way, keeping the style consistent as new characters are introduced and fresh costumes take centre stage. The game looks brilliant, being so full of colour and life as it is with some well thought out areas to explore.

It plays almost exactly as its predecessor. Costume Quest was never the most challenging of games in terms of gameplay, which is fair, not every game needs to be a hardcore l33t ultra noob-smasher pain-a-thon. I always enjoyed the gentler style Costume Quest took but it would have been nice to have the sequel mix things up a bit more to stop it becoming too repetitive or overly familiar. Very little has changed. The meat of the game is divided betwixt two scenarios; knocking on doors to trick or treat and seeing if you get candy or a fight, and then there is the fighting. It’s not a bad system but one that gets a bit too predictable the longer the game goes on. The fighting in particular runs close to becoming tedious after a while. Two parties line up and take turns hitting each other until one party has lost all its health points, it’s a time honoured system but one that wears itself pretty thin when it’s limited to a few characters with the same moves and little involvement from the player.

The combat system has had a bit of tweaking though. The button timing mechanic for attacking opponents has been streamlined slightly to make it more consistent over the various costumes and there is a more effective block/counter-attack move to be learned. However you’ll be performing the same actions so many times in combat you become numb to them. The joy of seeing the kids you play as transform into literal representations of their costumes and fight giant monsters or robots loses its impact after the hundredth fight or so. The special moves your characters can use are amusing (the clown’s ‘laughter is the best medicine’ is my favourite), but even they become tiresome the more you see them. There are some enemies that certain costumes are stronger or weaker against, but I never found myself needing to worry about it so much and just used the costumes I liked best or had upgraded most recently. You also need to heal your party after fights otherwise damage taken rolls over to the next battle, but even this was never an issue I needed to adjust my tactics for. You can just eat some candy at any point to replenish health or visit a water fountain.

In the end, combat started to become the tedious bits in between the story and exploring. As slight as the fetch quests and trick or treating that make up the bulk of the non-fighting sections are, I still did it all with a big grin on my face. The world is just so cute and charming that I was irresistibly compelled to play on and poke my nose into every little corner of the game. The story was enjoyably bizarre and presented well (it follows on directly from the CQ1 DLC, Grubbins on Ice). It’s frequently very funny and features a twist that had me giggling so much I dropped my controller. I spent a silly amount of time running around being a jerk honking a loud clown horn in people’s face, trying to initiate diplomatic talks with everyone and hitting alligators with candy buckets. That this is a game that encourages such childishness can only be a good thing in my opinion.

It may not be for everyone, but if you’re after a game that captures the child like glee of getting caught up in an insane festival, then Costume Quest 2 may be for you. It doesn’t do anything that its forbearer didn’t do, but it’s a game that boasts buckets full of wit and an incredibly adorable outlook that’s hard to dislike. After all, if it can make stone-hearted me appreciate Halloween in anyway, it has to be onto something.

From my review for Coffee Break Gaming.

8/10 – Much more challenging than the first, but I wasn't as investing in the story. If Time Travel is introduced in a TV show you've typically run out of ideas...

I did the “Hardcorn” achievement on my first playthrough, and it certainly added a welcome challenge compared to the first. Much of the charm is still there, and the changes made to the gameplay were intelligent. Persistent health between fights only served to artificially extend game time as a restorative save point was always nearby.

Highly recommended, but I'd wait for a sale.

Great!

Costume Quest 2 is Costume Quest with time travel and enhanced graphics, and that's not hyperbole. Many assets, including costumes, are recycled and the neighborhoods are likely to induce deja vu in those who played the original. The few adjustments that have been made are of little consequence so, if you enjoyed Costume Quest and wanted more of the same, you'll enjoy this; on the other hand, if you felt it began to drag and become repetitive, or that battles were tedious, you will feel it again here and sooner. For those who haven't played either, there's no reason you can't start with this one.

The story in Costume Quest 2 revolves around a group of kids who must utilize time travel to deal with the results of a mother obsessed with keeping her son's teeth in perfect condition; that is, save Halloween from being outlawed by the deranged dentist he becomes. To accomplish this, you'll need to skate around neighborhoods completing quests, knocking on doors and beating up baddies for candy that can be used to buy maps, costume upgrades and battle abilities. Some costumes grant powers that are needed to access secret areas or progress the story, and you can switch between them at any time while not in combat.

Combat begins with your characters morphing into giant versions of whatever costumes they're wearing and is turn-based, with QTEs for enhanced damage, blocking and combos. Whether it's Thomas Jefferson and his special attack, the Declaration of Destruction; generic robots and superheroes; or a useless candy corn that's still trying to find his courage, it's all amusing and the animations are nicely done. The biggest improvement that could have been made to the game, but wasn't, would no doubt involve the length and repetition of battles and QTEs.

Overall, Costume Quest 2 is a light-hearted, humorous, feel-good game that, when played by someone new to the series, should make up for in charm what it lacks in depth. I can easily recommend it to newcomers and lovers of the first title; for those who thought Costume Quest was nothing more than fair, don't expect this to change your mind: Double Fine didn't attempt to in the slightest.

Very similar to the first Costume Quest which is good for the most part but I found it getting repetitive after a couple hours. Removed the post battle healing and force you to backtrack to a water fountain to heal waaaay too frequently which can be a pain in the ♥♥♥ in unfamiliar territory. No maps provided of new areas unless you buy it. Even with the map there is no indication of your current location. Battle stamps (passive upgrades) have been removed and a new buff system using Creepy Treats cards as in battle items takes their place. Fairly entertaining story but I preferred the previous Costume Quest.

Caution: It is highly recommended that you play Costume Quest and Grubbins on Ice before this game. Much of the story would make little sense on it's own. It seems the developer assumes you've played the previous games and doesn't try to fill in the blanks too much. (Don't worry, it's worth it to play CQ before CQ2.) My review also assumes you're familiar with the first game.

the Good: - cute graphics, Halloween atmosphere
- witty dialoge
- fun gameplay, more complex battle system
- lots of exploration
- good story
- many new and upgradable costumes

the Bad: - main menu is quite annoying, call me old-fashioned but I prefer simple, efficient text on the screen

It's rare to see a holiday-specific game, but like those familiar Christmas songs, Costume Quest has become a tradition among it's fans. Much like the first game, Costume Quest 2 is simple, fun, and charming. The battle system has been refined to better engage the player with combo attacks and timed button presses. Health sometimes needs to be replenished after battles this time, adding a bit of difficulty, and the collectible card power ups have been re-tooled forcing more strategery.

In short, this is everything that made Costume Quest great with increased variety and the welcome addition of more complexity. Is it time for Halloween? Long for a little Trick-or-Treat nostalgia? Then it's time to play Costume Quest 2.

(BTW, if this type of game interests you I'd also recommend Saturday Morning RPG)

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll just change into an actual superhero and beat the candy out of you, you creepy monster!

If you've played the first Costume Quest, then you know exactly what you're in for- kids beating the crud out of monsters for halloween candy. But this time... there's more to it than just "the bad monsters want to steal away our candy". Nope, this time, there's a new villain in town... the one person who has more reason to hate candy than any one other person in the whole city...

...the creepy local dentist.

In fact, he hates it so much that he's somehow managed to make it to where Halloween, candy, and costumes are crimes against his order, and he's recruited the Repugians to help enforce his views. It's up to Wren and Reynold to put a stop to it, and save Halloween for future generations.

To be quite honest, this is just as good as the first one- battles are a tad bit more complicated with a bit of Pokemon-style type weakness mixed in, but you'll pick up on that easily enough. Stickers are also gone, replaced with Creepy Treats cards that recharge after a certain number of battles. The automatic healing after every battle has been removed too- but it's not as terrible as it sounds, honestly. You either need to camp out around a water fountain to keep healed, or finally put that candy to more use than just as a currency- you can fully heal your party for 25 pieces of candy, or use it to buy upgrades and cards.

To be honest, the new costumes you get in this one may not be as powerful as some of the originals- for instance, the Unicorn's My Pretty Panacea special is still brokenly powerful compared to the revive you get without the preorder- but the right combinations are still very, very powerful.

Enemies are no longer a finite resource- there are respawning enemies in all the areas of the game in addition to the ones in the usual places, so if you just feel like sitting somewhere and grinding levels, you can do that, too. To be honest, though, you don't need a super-high level to beat the game- I finished it around level 9, with the Hardcorn achievement, even.

Some of the late-game random encounters need a specific strategy- you'll run into a group that can drop a group heal every turn, if they so choose, and if you don't destroy them in a specific order, they'll tear you apart.

It might need a little balancing in the late game, but overall, if you have the first one, you can expect more of the same fun that was in the first one- or you could just outright buy the first one as well and play through that if you want to! If you didn't play the first one, that's still fine- you might not understand some of the story elements, but you'll like the great gameplay and all the fun!

First of all, if you've never played the first game you should. Not only to get the whole story but because I feel it was overall a better game. Costume Quest 2 is a good game, but I feel there are some questionable design choices that were made solely to artificially extend play time and can be tiresome like having to update your treat cards after battles and having to go to fountains or eat candy to heal. Even leaving the game takes time. It's still funny, it's still charming, combat became a little more interesting and challenging than the first game. I enjoyed it at the end, though much less than the original.

Not much was fixed from CQ1, many flaws are still prevalent and it's kind of a shame.

The game length was shortened by almost half, I found myself wandering around aimlessly in this game for 20 minutes at a time trying to figure some of the more cryptic quests out and I still managed to finish it in half the time it took me to beat CQ1... although in it's defense, this game doesn't have DLC, but the DLC for CQ1 isn't 6 hours long.

The story was a bit rushed, It felt really manic and clumsey and the costumes all felt more useless than in the original...

The coolest costume is very hard to find and requires you to actually do a lateral thinking puzzle where all other quests are basically spelled out for you or documented in your note book. It's just a shame I finished the game before finding it because after discovering it I had no use for it... I tested out it's special move and thought it would of been cool to fight the final boss with it again, but he was already a push over.

The Candy Corn achievement is just gruling and brutal because of all the quips you have to endure every time that characters turn comes up but in the long run it does you a favor... Using Candy Corn slows the pace of the game to a crawl because you lose one of your fighters for the entire duration of the game but it helps tremendously during boss fights and even more especially during the final fight.

The music and design is nothing to gawk at... just more of the same except now you can double attack and use counter attacks... The buff badges have been removed and the creepy treat cards were given more utility...

So now you can actually use them for something other than staring at but I didn't want to waste any in fear that I might lose out on the collection achievement... so that was a waste of resources if I've ever seen one... I never needed to utilze a single card the entire time playing.

Either way, it wasn't their best effort, could of been better... I did enjoy it regardless of the lack of content but it didn't stray too far from the original in terms of innovation... just another copy and paste sequel.

I can't really recommend this unless you are a huge fan of the first. Dialogue is a little on the weaker side, combat is super easy (I never even touched the cards at all during the battle), and the story seemed a little unimaginative. Play the first one, and leave it at that knowing that you are playing the best game in the series.

The only reason you'd want to play this is if you've beat the first game. Worth playing? Yes. But compared to the first game, this game definitely made some bad decisions. I can see why critics gave this game such low reviews. They oversimplified the battle system, requiring only one button and the same "time your attack" mechanic. The dumb aspect is that they mapped each character to a different button, which is completely pointless. A lot of the new costumes are cool, but they share a lot of the same abilities from the first game. I didn't preorder so I didn't get the DLC bonus costumes, but no worry. They're ones you already played in the first game and you'll probably prefer the new ones anyways. I liked how the 3rd child in your party was changing throughout the game. I like the ability to upgrade your costumes, but I disliked the new card system. Instead of equipping stamps for different effects, you can only choose 3 cards to bring into battle. Once used, they need a cooldown of X battles to use again. The only reason I used all of them was to complete an Achievement. Overall I had fun playing the game, but just like eating candy after brushing your teeth, it'll definitely leave a weird taste in your mouth...

The gameplay is solely based around turn based quick time events, and there is a bug in the game where the timing during these events is always off, usually due to slowdown.

Because of this, the game is nearly unplayable & I cannot recommend it at this time. Hopefully they patch it and fix this game breaking bug.

A quirky fun, enjoyable if short experience that is in many ways similar to its predecessor which is both good and bad.

+Fun written dialogue and interesting characters.
+Cool revamped (somewhat) combat abilities and creepy treat cards now have a use.
+Simple to pickup and play, 2 minute tutorial and then you are off.
+Maps that keep track of your progress and purchasable upgrades for your costumes gives your candy collecting more of a purpose.


-Repetetive quests (Knock on doors to collect candy is repeated many times in different environments)
-The fighting is a bit slow for my taste and tends to get tedious after a while. (long unskippable animations etc)
-Too short (About half the length of CQ1+dlc)

Final Score: 6/10 - I recommend this game to those who enjoyed CQ1 and are looking for more of the same thing.
Or those who are looking for a cutesy halloween story that is also kid friendly.
All in all, its not a disappointment really, I was just hoping for a bit more.

Buggy, short, and full of reused assets. Essentially unchanged from Costume Quest, only buy if your willing to play the same guy yet again.

If you haven't played the original Costume Quest, check that out first. The game plays pretty close to the original. The game isn't really hard and anyone should be able to pick it up and enjoy it. The costumes in this version are memorable and none of them repeat from the original unless you pre-ordered or they release the DLC. I thought the storyline in this met my expectations of a sequel. You play the kids from the original and they time travel to stop an evil dentist from destroying Halloween. This time both the brother and sister are teamed up. You still have to make a decision in the beginning on which one gets the dialogue throughout the story though. I recommend picking it up if you liked the original a lot.

I'm a big fan of Halloween and especially the first part of the game so i enjoyed it very much. There is no revolutionary step between both games but you will feel this atmosphere for sure.
9/10

I loved Costume Quest 1 and I also love Costume Quest 2, just not as much. Many of the assest in Costume Quest 2 are reused from the first. Many of the villians are copied right from the first and changed ever so slighly, like giving one monster a lab coat, TADA!!!, totally a new mob. Another big downside is how worthless some of the costumes are. Many of them felt like they fit the same roles and it was pointless to switch out much besides in open world puzzles. For example the clown, pharaoh and the unicorn. The clown for the whole first half of the game beat the unicorn and Pharaoh by miles in the healing department. The Pharaoh, you get so late into the game, I no longer died and needed her resurrection heals. However after upgrading the unicorn, the clown become useless. The upgraded clowns AoE heal was = to the unicorns, but the unicorn also healed one extra party member for quite a bit more. The best part about Costume Quest 2 is the story. The humor in the game is spot on, and I loved all of the characters and how many jokes they fit in, for the kids and for the adults. Sadly five hours into the game I was already sick of the combat, and just wanted to move onto the next story section. I would suggest Costume Quest 2 for anyone who loved the first, or just want a kid friendly non-spooky Halloween game to play this time of year. For anyone else looking for a deep RPG, or fun combat, I would look some place else.

Not necessarily finished with the game but I'm at end-game, so I'll go ahead and type this out

I think this is a good sequel to the first Costume Quest + Grubbins on Ice, so far from what I played.

+ Great follow-up to the cute-sy story the series has, along with excellent and consistent writing on-par with the first game
+ While time-travel can be a cliche, it can be seen as a fitting trope for the game (that is if you played the GoI epilogue)
+ While battle stamps were removed, creepy treat cards now take its place in a much more practical way


- Optimization needs work, it's harsher on the CPU than the first game
- Combat is dumbed down and less varied, and some the QTEs don't register from time to time
- While you could just hit the close window button, it takes too long to get back to the main menu

I still recommend this game to those that enjoyed the first game though!

I wanted to love this game, I really did, but it ended up being too much like the first one. The combat isn't particularly challenging, the story is cute, but not as witty as it thinks it is. I recommend playing it with a gamepad since using some skills while walking requires some serious finger twisting.
I will still recommend the first one to my friends, but the second one... not so much.