As Double Fine head-honcho Tim Schafer told the crowd at the Develop conference last month, the poor sales performance of Brutal Legend meant that Eddie Riggs' first metal adventure would also be his last, with EA deciding against developing a sequel. With over 10 years of retail stores giving Double Fine's games the brick-and-mortar middle finger (i.e. the games didn't sell too well), Schafer has decided to give retail the double bird right back, starting a series of downloadable game projects within Double Fine.
Schafer told the Develop audience that three of their upcoming four games, each led by different Double Fine veterans, were currently in development as downloadable games, and today, the first of those games has been revealed from behind its cheap, plastic mask.
Costume Quest, the first downloadable release from Double Fine (and the first partnership between Double Fine and publisher THQ), is a hybrid RPG/adventure game centered around the only acceptable day to dress up in front of other people, Halloween. As revealed in UGO's exclusive announcement and preview of the title, Costume Quest will cast players as a young trick-or-treater searching for their lost sister after she goes missing during a candy romp. But finding your little sister won't be as simple as asking the neighbors, as her captor is a monster who hungers for her delicious candy. You'll search for the monster as well as do battle against his army of minions.
== TEASER ==Of course, these aren't real monsters you'll be searching for and fighting; Costume Quest's adventure-game puzzle solving takes place in a "normal" neighborhood on Halloween, while the game's RPG combat takes place in your character's imagination, where the dinky costumes of the neighborhood kids turn into what they believe they look like: a cardboard suit of armor turns to sterling silver, and tin can robot plating becomes harder than steel. You know... the way you acted when you were a kid wearing a silly costume that you thought was awesome.
It's also worth mentioning that while Tim Schafer is watching over the project, he is not the creative lead on this title. Costume Quest is being helmed by Tasha Harris, the lead animator on Brutal Legend (and a former Pixar animator).
UGO has more images and a full preview of Double Fine's latest, which sounds like it shares many gameplay and structure similarities with Hothead's Penny Arcade Adventures titles. I'll be interested in seeing how well Double Fine's strengths--their storytelling and art direction--translate to the digital format. We won't have to wait too much longer to find out; Costume Quest launches on (of course!) October 31 on both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
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