Not all spooky season adventure needs to frighten you. Starting with well-known tales for example Scooby-Doo to endearing shows like Over the Garden Wall, numerous autumn-inspired favorites provide fun without needing raising your heart rate. There’s also, a growing library of ghostly-adorable titles including autumn atmosphere, but not the truly terrifying degree of fear. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and stands as an excellent relaxing option to the deeply scary releases of 2025.
A Distinctive Self-Coop Quest
Labeled as a “self-coop” puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes teams up a undead youth named Gloomy and a human girl known as Nena as they start an mission to return daylight to their shadowy realm. Their design evokes stylized dolls mixed with the characters from a stop-motion animation. Their light-complected and tired-looking aesthetic draws inspiration from the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a quintessential family-friendly adventure. These two develops an strong bond over the span of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her religious guardian that, hey, possibly zombies can be friendly.
Creative Problem-Solving Features
The “self-coop” description stems from the game’s interactive problem-solving. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap amidst the recent allies to solve puzzles and move forward through the levels. Being a zombie, Gloomy can’t walk through the brightness of a streetlight, while Nena can be captured by wandering undead except if a beam is focused on them.
They have to cooperate closely — in practice, you’ll use them simultaneously — to complete stages. Nena could adjust or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious youth will use his zombie strength to shift around items in the surroundings, opening up paths for Nena.
Engaging World Building
The brain-teasers remind me a bit of The Gardens Between, in the manner the areas are hovering, diorama-like designs that the perspective pans around in coordination with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, taking the companions around a carnival and through a ghostly building, amid other locations. Players can use a “diorama view” option that enables you to view from afar and rotate the stages, both for appreciate the designs and search for routes that may not have been apparent.
Small Challenges and Overall Experience
And that’s one of the sole problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the characters may or may not travel. Players might have to just bump into a several various objects to discover which ones are interactable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nonetheless, those slight challenges don't hinder of a spooky-cute enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with about three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas combine subtle hidden movement and action elements with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a rewarding — and somewhat unforeseen — ending.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Those shying away from the terror of intense horror games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Switch console, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes has been released on various systems and delivers a pleasurable alternative for fans looking for Halloween fun without intense scares.
