Hey Penguins!

Halloween has ended on the Island and we've experienced another crazy party with lots to recap! I'll be covering a bit about the story line from last years party, but mostly focusing on part two. If you want to read into more detail about part one of this story, then please check out last years Halloween recap post here.

The Box Dimension started to decompose a few weeks before the party started during the 20th Anniversary mini-party. Gary was sending us messages on our spy phone with updates regarding the state of the dimension. This then led directly to the events that happened in the Halloween Party, with the box dimension going through multiple phases.

We could either replay the story from the beginning or skip it and start from where we left off, giving newer players the chance to play it as well. The mansion was taken over by Skip and the Wanderer who kidnapped the Penguin Band, with Gariwald ending up sacrificing himself to save the island or so we thought..

To honour Gariwald's sacrifice for the island and having been a year since those events, the plan is to rebuild a monument in place of the mansion! With Rookie, Gary, Jet Pack Guy, Dot, Rory and Aunt Arctic reoccurring throughout the story. Rookie was in charge of the demolition of the remaining ruins of the mansion but it went terribly wrong! A giant Sink Hole appeared swallowing Rookie and the mansion! It was up to us to talk to Gary and investigate these strange happenings.

Gary discovered that all of the strange signatures he was detecting in the box dimension over the last few weeks were the same as those being emitted from the mansion. He tells us that to help rescue Rookie he needs to build a dimensional resonator and we find the final part he needs, a transmitter from the lodge attic to complete this. We then made our way to the forest to go underground.

We met Jet Pack Guy and Agent Delta down there who gave us a rundown on the mission at hand, we then got some rest whilst Gary set up the necessary tech that we needed to complete the mission. We then played as Rory talking to Dot about how he feels responsible for Rookies disappearance and she reassures him that we will find him and bring him back safely!

Then we cut back to our current mission, Jet Pack Guy gave us a torch which helped us greatly to navigate through the dark sequence of labyrinths of the many different rooms, which were all pretty eerie looking.. following the paths allowed us further access into the underworld and areas such as the forgotten forest.

We also had to complete a Simon Says like puzzle to enter the Underworld Castle Gate.

After entering the doors at the swamp, we made our way to the mysterious Soul Mirror and upon interacting with it we went back to the past, the EPF Command Room on Nov. 1st 2012. Gary recalled a conversation with Gariwald, which was an emotional moment for him!

After we experienced that moment between Gariwald and Gary, we went back to the present day and we finally discovered where Rookie was being kept. We entered a secret laboratory and we spot Rookie, but it seems there was something more sinister at play and a past villain came back! The Living Sled from the Halloween Party in 2022 fell into a portal and had been in here ever since.

The Living Sled then went on to say how they had no care for the box dimension which is why it ended up in the state it was in recent events. After talking with the sled an agreement came to be and everything was resolved, with Rookie apologizing in the end.

We then suddenly appeared in the Coffee Shop, along with the others after completing a successful mission. Agent Delta then rewarded us with the Stunt Penguin stamp, which many of us were waiting for some day! We also earnt two exclusive backgrounds, the Underworld Castle & Swamp.

Alongside the main story line, there were also various side quests to complete from Dot, Cadence, Aunt Arctic and Tourdude. Completing these gave us various rewards such as Halloween clothing items and coins! The Community Challenges also returned again this year, completing these together earnt everyone coins.

Similar to last years Halloween recap post and other recaps, we'll be giving you guys some insight into the creative process behind this years party and showing off some of the amazing work by our talented artists! iContinux has added some comments below:

"Following the events of last years story, we saw that players really wanted to visit the underworld and see more of Gary dealing with the experience, so we used that as the building blocks for our story."

"As it was the 20th Anniversary month, we wanted to have an event that referenced the past, without just doing a 'here is everything you've seen before!'. So we decided to design the Underworld to be a void of sorts. If the Box Dimension is a place that can connect other worlds, why not make the Underworld be the dumping ground/overflow? Filling the Underworld with pieces from Club Penguin's past let us create a familiar yet eerie world."

Below are some images showing the process for a few of the underworld rooms featured in the party!

"This room has always been a personal favourite, was great to be able to bring it back with a slightly updated look. The underworld was a great way to reuse previous art without it being out of place."

"Fantastic location finished by the wonderful Tello! Lot's a small easter eggs in here."

"An absolutely stunning location, the Soul Mirror! It was a great opportunity to let players go back to an old room design for the anniversary and let Gary see within his own memory, showing him exactly what he needed. Maybe we'll see more cutscene esq events in future stories!"

"Originally, there was to be a heavier focus on Gariwald, a sequence where he would rise from his grave in a nightmare dream sequence for Gary. We decided that this might be a little too heavy, Club Penguin is an escape for many and we didn't want to take that away."

You've probably all been taking your guesses at what the next party could possibly be. Well, we can announce that the next party will be... Monsters University! Keep your eye out on the Discord server and blog for more info about that coming VERY soon.

That is all for this years Halloween recap, I hope you enjoyed reading and as always be sure to join the New Club Penguin Discord Server and follow us on our socials to never miss an update!

Waddle On!

Amy