Not every Halloween horror adventure needs to terrify players. Including well-known tales for example Scooby-Doo to delightful stories such as Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed titles offer entertainment without requiring raising your heart rate. Moreover, a increasing selection of ghostly-adorable releases including spooky themes, but not the truly terrifying degree of fear. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and stands as an outstanding cozy alternative to the intensely frightening releases of 2025.
A Distinctive Self-Coop Quest
Described as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes teams up a zombie boy known as Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they embark on an quest to bring the sun back to their gloomy realm. Their design is similar to collectible figures blended with the characters from a Laika film. Their fair-toned and heavy-lidded aesthetic is influenced by the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the narrative is a quintessential family-friendly adventure. The pair develops an enduring friendship over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena tries to show to her clerical relative that, look, maybe living-impaired beings can be friendly.
Original Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” description stems from the game’s interactive problem-solving. After Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate amidst the recent allies to solve puzzles and advance through the areas. As an undead, Gloomy can’t walk through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena can be captured by loitering creatures except if a lamp is focused on them.
They must cooperate closely — actually, gamers operate them together — to advance through areas. Nena may move or temporarily shut off lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained youth will utilize his supernatural ability to rearrange objects in the environment, revealing ways for Nena.
Captivating Environment Creation
The puzzles bring to mind a bit of The Gardens Between, in the manner the stages are hovering, diorama-like constructions that the camera moves across in conjunction with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are very enjoyable, taking the companions around a fair and through a haunted house, including other locales. Players can use a “diorama view” option that permits you to zoom out and spin the levels, simultaneously to admire the artwork and look for routes that may not have been apparent.
Slight Issues and General Gameplay
Here lies one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other releases with a fixed perspective, it’s not always clear where the characters are able to move. Players might have to simply collide with a several various items to discover which ones are interactive, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nevertheless, those minor challenges don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Later levels blend together minor stealth and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and slightly surprising — conclusion.
Release and Conclusion
Those avoiding the scares of terrifying releases should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Switch console, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on game marketplaces.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and offers a pleasurable alternative for fans in search of spooky entertainment without intense scares.
