Not every spooky season experience needs to terrify you. Starting with well-known tales like mystery-solving cartoons to charming series such as Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season titles provide fun without requiring causing fear. There’s also, a increasing selection of spooky-cute games with Halloween vibes, yet without the keep-you-awake intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and acts as an excellent comfortable choice to the truly terrifying titles of 2025.
An Original Self-Coop Journey
Known as a single-player cooperative problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child called Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they start an adventure to bring the sun back to their dark, dark realm. Their design is similar to Funko Pops blended with the figures from a animated feature. Their fair-toned and heavy-lidded appearance is influenced by the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the story is a archetypal suitable for everyone tale. The duo builds an unbreakable friendship over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena attempts to demonstrate to her religious guardian that, you know, possibly zombies are actually good.
Original Problem-Solving Features
The “self-coop” label comes about from the game’s environmental puzzles. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, gamers switch among the recent allies to complete challenges and move forward through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the light of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies without a beam is shone on them.
They must work in tandem — well, players control them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena could adjust or briefly disable lights to open routes for Gloomy, while the thoughtful boy will utilize his supernatural ability to rearrange obstacles in the surroundings, creating paths for Nena.
Engaging Environment Creation
The brain-teasers bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the manner the levels are floating, model-like structures that the camera moves across in coordination with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are very enjoyable, leading the duo around a fair and through a spooky mansion, among other locales. Players can use a “diorama view” feature that permits you to pull back and turn the stages, both for admire the artwork and look for ways that may not have been obvious.
Minor Hiccups and General Experience
Here lies one of the sole problems with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other games with a fixed perspective, sometimes it's unclear where the heroes are able to move. You may need to just bump into a few random elements to determine which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nonetheless, those minor challenges don't obstruct of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with about three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Later levels combine light sneaking and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a fulfilling — and somewhat unexpected — finale.
Accessibility and Final Thoughts
Players steering clear of the scares of terrifying releases ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Switch console, Sony system, computer, and Xbox Series X, and is currently on sale for a discount on digital platforms.
This charming title is available on various systems and offers a delightful alternative for gamers seeking Halloween fun minus the fear factor.
