(Warning: This blog mentions some politics, Neocities drama and spoilers on some of the games I played. And oh: Boo!)
In one of my of blogs that I wrote last month, I decided to cut back my time on the various social media accounts I have due to the upcoming election, which is going to be full of misinformation and heavy discourse. So what did I do instead of browsing Reddit for a millionth time? Play some video games! But these aren’t ordinary video games. Instead these ones tend to be spooky as this month is October!
But the thing is that I don’t like horror that much, so instead I’ll try to play anything that won’t scare me. So some of the game here are kid-friendly and have humor in it. But either way, I feel like this a great way to motivate me to play some more video games and at the same time, clean out my gaming backlog!
So, here are the following “spooky” games that I beat this month:
Costume Quest
I first heard of this game on a Twitch stream back in either 2019 or 2020. But I know it was played somewhere around October. And the streamer was playing the sequel, Costume Quest 2 instead of the first game! Don’t ask. But thankfully they didn’t make it that far, so I wasn’t spoiled too much on the plot of the first game.
A few years later, I finally bought the first game (and the sequel) from a Steam sale for cheap, cheap price. Ever since then, I get guilty every time I look at them (and all my other games) on my Steam backlog. But since game takes place on Halloween night (and it’s very short), I figure Costume Quest, would be my first spooky game to beat.
In this old-school RPG game (yes, RPG), it’s about twin siblings who go trick-or-treating in their new neighborhood on Halloween night. But then something goes wrong when one of them get kidnapped by a monster, who mistakes them as an actual piece of candy (but in reality, they’re wearing a lame candy corn costume)! So now, the player has to save their sibling from the Grubbins, who invaded their neighborhood to steal every candy there is to man, so they don’t get grounded!
How this work, is that you (and later two other kids) go to every house around the neighborhood and go trick-or-treating. If an adult answers the door, you get candy. But if a monster answers the door, then you go to battle!
But there’s a twist: whatever costume you’re currently wearing, transforms you into a giant version of what your costume is supposed to represent!
So the cardboard box robot you’re wearing at the start of the game? You become an actual robot (which has the best attack power in the game)! There are other costumes that you can look for later in the game that you can transform whenever you go to battle.
As for the difficulty, Costume Quest is not that hard. Actually, this is one of the most RPG beginner friendly games that I ever played! The action commands are similar to Super Mario RPG, you fully heal after every battle and if you get a game over, you don’t lose much progress as you just simply have to try again.
However, my biggest complaint of Costume Quest is also the reason why I decided to play this: it’s too short. Of course, the game’s main target audience is for kids. So the game has to be short for them to play in one sitting without them getting bored. But at least it’s an easy RPG game, where you only have to deal with action commands and you’re fully healed after each battle!
Despite the game being that easy, I nearly died at the final boss of the game for some reason! I blame bad luck and my timing skills for that.
But I enjoyed it and earn most of the Steam achievement of this game. I know that when I bought the first game, it also came with a DLC expansion, Grubbins on Ice, which is a Christmas themed. I might play that at a later time as there’s an achievement to play this game on Christmas Day (as it’s the wrong holiday)!
Luigi’s Mansion
In my next spooky game, I decided to play a favorite game of mine that I always wanted to play, but never had a chance growing up as I didn’t have a Game Cube (I owned a PlayStation 2 instead). I was 12 year old when I first discovered Luigi’s Mansion at one of my cousins’ house, where we were having a sleepover. I remember my cousin playing through the first area and beating the first boss of the game, Chauncey. Then a few years later, I saw a Let’s Play of the game on YouTube, where the Let’s Player 100% the game, which made me fall in the love with the game.
Now thanks to the power of emulation and Retro Achievements FINALLY added achievements for the Game Cube, I decided it was time to tackle this game and see if I can a Game Cube game without my 10 year old laptop exploding!
Thankfully it didn’t, but I then found out that I have to download the standalone Dolphin emulation (instead of using the one that's on the RetroArch app) in order for the achievements to work. And that I have to play the European version of the game since the American version won’t work! It’s because the European version has a hard, MIRROR VERSION of the game once you beat it the first time!
But the good news is that the Dolphin emulation worked beautifully on my laptop and being on windowed mood, helped.
The plot of the game is about the poor, underrated Luigi, who won a mansion in a contest. That’s great! Too bad it’s located in a dark, spooky forest and it’s from a mail-in contest he didn’t enter (hmm…). Then there’s a catch with the new mansion: it’s haunted and his older brother, Mario got kidnapped into a painting! Thankfully, an old ghost-buster/mad scientist, Professor E. Gadd comes to help out Luigi by giving him the Poltergust 3000, a vacuum cleaner that sucks up the ghosts, Boos and other things such as money, items and minor props.
So yeah, this game is about capturing all the ghosts in the mansion, saving Mario and finding as much money as he can. It’s also a comic parody of the survival horror genre, which was popular when the game was first released in 2001!
It took me a bit to get used to the controls of Luigi’s Mansion as I remember being terrible targeting the ghosts as they’ll get away as soon I flash the flashlight at them! Then the ghosts keep moving around, which makes it hard for me to suck them in. But I did get a bit better by the time I finish the game.
Despite the control issues, I still loved the game like I loved it when I first saw my cousin playing it. I loved some of the portrait ghosts that you have to capture. Loved the Boos and their punny names such as Game Boo Advance, PeekaBoo, Booigi and Booscaster. Even though I don’t like horror games that much, I loved the tone and haunted atmosphere that this game where it’s spooky, but not too spooky.
Of course, it did have some scary moments such as the some of the boss fights and that in the Telephone Room during the blackout where Luigi’s shadow appears to be hanging by a noose!
But some of the issues I have with Luigi’s Mansion are that it’s too short! The area is too short as well. And the later bosses get mean. I dread the 3rd boss of the game, Boolossus (a giant Boo that combine 15 Boos), as it’s known to fly away easily whenever there 7 or less left in the area. I remember having problems aiming the remaining Boos and they keep hitting me to the point that I got my first game over!
It was thanks to the failure of beating Boolossus; I had to stop playing the game for a bit as it made me mad.
Then Games Done Quick had an emergency weekend marathon, where speed runners raised money and played games for those who were affected by Hurricane Helene and Milton. And one of the speed run games that were played was the European version of Luigi’s Mansion. Ha!
While the Games Done Quick weekend marathon happened, everyone on Neocities found out that the owner of the site was a fan of Gen AI, which caused some to flee the site in favor of Nekoweb! This then made me panic as there might be a mass migration coming soon, so I decided to create my Nekoweb account, few months early than usual. Then I end up spending the next few days, working on my secondary site, (which I mention in my last blog)!
Then after 6 days, I finally got motivation to play the game again and managed to beat Boolossus on my second try! Afterwards, I managed to capture not only every portrait ghosts, but ALL 50 Boos by using some of the tricks that I learned from that Luigi’s Mansion speed run that I saw earlier when capturing the Boos!
Eventually, I made to the final boss, King Boo himself. Where, it was one of the few times I used saved states when fighting him as he was actually tough! Thankfully, I beat him with only 32 HP left (and got a bronze frame for my troubles) and managed to get a B rank ending thanks to catching 50 Boos and some of the speedy ghosts and golden mouse.
Night in the Woods
I first heard of this indie game when it came out back in 2017, where some gaming sites that I read were raving about it, for being emotional and deep. Well, I also know about this game as back in university, one of my friends frequently wore a Night in the Woods t-shirt that has two of the main characters, Mae and Gregg on the front. And that it’s known for reaching its Kickstarter goal in ONE DAY! So, this game is a sort of a big deal.
Despite the game being this popular, I somehow for the longest, never touch this game up until just recently. Probably it’s because I had better things to do or I was too busy with life to even play the game. Heck, the only thing I know about the plot of the game is that it’s about Mae, who just dropped out of college and returned to her small town and that there’s somehow a mystery involved it! And I’m known to spoil game plot and events for myself!
But maybe it’s a good thing I never got spoiled on what happen in the game.
As for the game itself, its adventure platformer, where you go around town, talking to people and doing some side quests. Some of these side quests include stealing pretzels from a snack shake at a train station and giving them to some rats, commit random acts of vandalisms as the characters live in a middle-of-nowhere town and play a Guitar Hero like minigame (which I sucked at). The game also has grounded social commentary about living in a dying small town where local shops go out of business and people have to leave because there’s nothing left to do.
Overall, I liked the art style, the beautiful scenery and the music as make this game magical. The fact it takes place in late October/early November capture the fall aesthetic, which made the game look more beautiful than it did before.
Some of my biggest complaints with this game are the some of the control movements such as trying to jump on higher places such as rooftops, which causes me to miss them. Also was the Guitar Hero like minigame, where you have to push the buttons at the right time and it goes pretty fast. Then there was the “nightmare scenes” where the screen was too dark to see and I had to actually turn off my lamp, that’s near my laptop in order to see where I’m going!
Then there Mae’s mental state that scares me as there was a reason why she dropped out of college and I wondered what happened to her that led her to act the way she did in game. Like, I was worried that later on the game, it’s going to get her and it’s going to end badly to the point; I have to play the game in parts, so I can mentally prepare myself for the worst! But then I got to the last part of the game where…
Now I said in on the top of this blog there’s going to be game spoilers. But this one has MAJOR spoilers to the point, that I have a put in spoiler bars as this is basically gives away the plot twist of the game!
So, we end up having to deal with a cult, that’s been kidnapping people that no one in town would miss, in hoping to keep their town clean and stable. Like, I didn’t see that coming from a mile ahead. Yeah, the main characters did try to look for ghosts who were kidnapping random townspeople. At least we found out what happened to their missing friend Casey (who disappeared right before the start of the game), who was victim of said cult who was sacrificed to the Black Goat. But the main characters did eventually confront the cult and later escape the abandon mineshaft, where the cult did their sacrifices.
But we did found out the real reason why Mae dropped out of college as it was due to that she feel like she didn’t belong there and for her mental issues, it was based on a possible psychotic break had when she 14 year old, that made her the way she is, which made me feel sorry for her. At least she and her friends made it out (mostly) okay at the end, but it doesn’t stop all the other bad things in their life.
Despite the control issues with some of the minigames and the bittersweet ending, I’m glad I finally get to play this popular game. And without getting spoiled over the main plot of the game! Another Steam game off the backlog!
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
In my 4th and final spooky game, I decided to play another emulated classic game, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow that originally came out for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. I remember this game being streamed on Twitch a few years back and that it’s similar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, as it’s a hybrid platform RPG, also known as Metroidvania. I also know that this is one of the best Castlevania games that Konami made. But what I didn’t know that Aria of Sorrow was the THIRD Castlevania Game Boy Advance game that came out! Thankfully it sounds like I didn’t miss out too much as the previous Game Boy Advance games weren’t that great as Aria of Sorrow.
Then there’s the fact that I despite watching various Castlevania games on Twitch, I never managed to play one before. That’s because the earlier games were pretty difficult and it was made for the NES, which is known for hard games. Since this game was made for the Game Boy Advance, it shouldn’t be that hard. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard. Although, I did had to use a few saved states in some of the boss fights.
As for the plot of the game, it’s about two Japanese high school students, Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba who was transported to Dracula’s Castle during the solar eclipse in 2035 and now have to find a way to get back home. At the same time, Soma (the main character) has to find the secret of the castle’s reappearance.
The main gimmick of this game is that Soma has the Power of Dominance, that allows him to take the souls of the enemies and used them in order to get around the castle. Some are useful and others… aren’t.
Overall, Aria of Sorrow is a good game as it not only have one of the best bosses in the game (which you can only fight in the best ending route), but it also has the best graphics, music and gameplay, which made my gameplay better.
But what I didn’t like about the game are the times you have to backtrack. Of course, it takes in a huge castle, which makes sense. And while they have Wrap Rooms, there’s only a few in the game. And how much you have to grind just to get a soul, which could either take one try or it’ll take you HOURS to get the soul. Especially if you want to 100% the game!
But at the end, we find out who’s responsible for all this (a mad cultist name Graham Jones) and we put the end of Graham’s sad, miserable life as he thought he’s the reincarnation of Dracula. So games over and we can get to go back home, right?
Well…that if you get the normal ending.
Yes, there are 3 different endings for this game and when I play this game for the Retro Achievement, the normal ending doesn’t count for beating the game on their site. You have to get the BEST ending in order to mark the game as clear! So, how do I do that?
You have to get 3 different souls and have to equip them right before you head up to beat Graham. The first soul is you get automatically after you beat one of the bosses. The last two souls you have to look them yourself and hope you get lucky if you get them on the first try. The first soul I did caught it on my first try and didn’t notice until I looked at the in-game bestiary. It took me a bit to get the last soul, but I managed to get it after about 5 minutes. At least it’s better than that one time it took me an HOUR to get one soul, so I can get past the waterfall in the Underground area, ugh!
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Despite doing a bit more to get the best ending, I managed to beat the TRUE final boss, Chaos themselves and didn’t die at all! It also helped that I was level 47 when I got to endgame.
Even then, I’m glad I finally beat a Castlevania game for once and hope that I’ll eventually play Symphony of the Night in the future.
Kirby’s Dream Land
Hey, that’s not a spooky game! Why did you put that there?
Well, I hear Kirby can suck up villains and get to wear their hats based on which one he ate and use their powers.
But that wasn’t until the second game, Kirby’s Adventure that allows that!
Oh…
Okay, the main reason why I put this game here is because this was during my 6 day slump on not beating Boolossus in Luigi’s Mansion and the Neocities AI controversy that stressed me out. I figure that since I already played (and beat) this game on the Nintendo Switch subscription (which I recently cancelled because I’m too broke to renew it) and it’s very short (it’s only about 45 minutes long), I should do it take some of my stress out. And plus, I can earn achievement points for the Retro Achievement. So it’s a win-win for me!
And the other reason is because after I finished Aria of Sorrow, I released that this is my first time that I managed to beat 5 games in a month, which is impressive! Prior to doing that this year, I suffered from burnout and one of my special interest came back, which took my focus away from gaming.
…
On this Halloween day, I’m glad that I managed to beat 4 spooky games this month, despite some of the personal setbacks in my life. Such as the Neocities drama and that my period started towards the end of the month, which made me too tired to play. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve played one more spooky game. But by the time I would beat it, it’ll already be November!
At least this helped me keep my eyes away from reading the doom and gloom of this upcoming election and my fear that Trump might win.
But other than that; happy Halloween and Samhain for those who celebrate!