Not all Halloween horror adventure must scare you. Including well-known tales like animated detectives to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season titles offer entertainment without needing raising your heart rate. Additionally, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable titles including autumn atmosphere, but not the keep-you-awake degree of horror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and serves as an outstanding comfortable option to the intensely frightening games of 2025.
A Unique Single-Player Cooperative Adventure
Known as a “self-coop” problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes unites a undead youth called Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they begin an adventure to return daylight to their gloomy environment. Their appearance evokes stylized dolls blended with the puppets from a animated feature. Their light-complected and tired-looking style is influenced by the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a archetypal all-ages journey. These two develops an enduring friendship over the duration of the game’s numerous levels as Nena tries to demonstrate to her clerical relative that, you know, maybe the undead aren’t half bad.
Original Gameplay Systems
This unique label comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. Once Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, players alternate between the recent allies to complete challenges and move forward through the areas. As an undead, Gloomy can’t walk through the illumination of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies without a lamp is shone on them.
They must cooperate closely — in practice, you’ll use them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained youth will use his zombie strength to move items in the environment, creating paths for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The brain-teasers evoke memories a little of The Gardens Between, in the manner the levels are suspended, model-like structures that the view rotates in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, guiding the friends around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, including other places. There’s a “diorama view” button that permits you to pull back and spin the levels, both to appreciate the visuals and look for ways that may not have been obvious.
Small Issues and Complete Experience
Here lies one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other titles with a fixed perspective, it’s not always clear where the protagonists are able to move. You may need to randomly encounter a few random objects to figure out which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nevertheless, those small speedbumps don't hinder of a spooky-cute enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with about a few sessions worth of challenges. Subsequent stages integrate light hidden movement and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a satisfying — and slightly unforeseen — ending.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players steering clear of the terror of fear-inducing games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, Sony system, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on online stores.
This charming title has been released on various systems and offers a delightful alternative for gamers in search of autumn enjoyment minus the intense scares.
