The Ghostly-Charming Puzzler Acts as the Ideal Substitute to Frightening Flicks

Not every spooky season journey must scare gamers. Including beloved classics like mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, many spooky-season staples provide fun without causing fear. Additionally, a growing library of spooky-cute games with Halloween vibes, yet without the keep-you-awake intensity of terror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and serves as an excellent relaxing option to the truly terrifying titles of this year.

A Unique Single-Player Cooperative Adventure

Described as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a undead youth named Gloomy and a living girl known as Nena as they embark on an adventure to restore sunlight to their shadowy realm. Their design evokes collectible figures mixed with the puppets from a Laika film. The fair-toned and baggy-eyed appearance is influenced by the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the narrative is a quintessential all-ages tale. These two builds an strong bond over the course of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her religious guardian that, you know, maybe the undead are actually good.

Innovative Puzzle Mechanics

The “self-coop” term comes about from the game’s interactive problem-solving. When Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate amidst the recent allies to overcome obstacles and progress through the stages. Since he's not alive, Gloomy can’t walk through the brightness of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies without a light is focused on them.

It's necessary for them to work in tandem — in practice, players control them in tandem — to advance through areas. Nena could adjust or briefly disable lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will use his zombie strength to shift around obstacles in the world, opening up routes for Nena.

Immersive World Building

These challenges evoke memories a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are suspended, model-like constructions that the view rotates in conjunction with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are quite fun, taking the friends around a fair and through a spooky mansion, among other locations. Players can use a “diorama view” option that enables you to view from afar and turn the stages, simultaneously to admire the artwork and search for ways that may not have been obvious.

Minor Issues and General Experience

Here lies one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a fixed perspective, sometimes it's unclear where the characters are able to move. You may need to just bump into a multiple different elements to discover which ones are interactive, as clues aren't consistently provided.

However, those slight speedbumps don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with approximately a few sessions worth of challenges. Subsequent stages integrate light sneaking and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — conclusion.

Accessibility and Final Thoughts

Gamers shying away from the terror of fear-inducing titles should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, and is presently discounted for a discount on online stores.

Gloomy Eyes is out now on various systems and delivers a delightful option for gamers looking for Halloween fun without the intense scares.