Not all spooky season journey must scare gamers. Including iconic favorites like animated detectives to endearing shows such as Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season titles offer entertainment without raising your heart rate. There’s also, a increasing selection of eerie-charming titles including Halloween vibes, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of fear. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and stands as an excellent relaxing option to the deeply scary games of 2025.
A Unique Self-Coop Journey
Labeled as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a living-impaired child called Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they embark on an quest to return daylight to their dark, dark realm. Their design evokes collectible figures combined with the puppets from a animated feature. The light-complected and tired-looking appearance is influenced by the look of Tim Burton’s films, and the narrative is a quintessential all-ages tale. The pair forms an enduring friendship over the duration of the game’s multiple stages as Nena strives to demonstrate to her priest uncle that, you know, perhaps zombies can be friendly.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
The “self-coop” label comes about from the game’s environmental puzzles. Once Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, players alternate among the recent allies to solve puzzles and move forward through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures unless a lamp is shone on them.
They have to cooperate closely — actually, players control them together — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or briefly disable lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will employ his undead power to shift around objects in the environment, revealing routes for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
These challenges evoke memories a little of The Gardens Between, in the manner the stages are floating, diorama-like constructions that the view moves across in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are very enjoyable, taking the companions around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, amid other locations. Players can use a “diorama view” option that allows you to view from afar and rotate the stages, simultaneously to enjoy the designs and search for paths that may not have been obvious.
Small Issues and Complete Experience
This represents one of the sole problems with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other games with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the protagonists can and cannot go. Players might have to just bump into a multiple different elements to figure out which ones are interactable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
However, those small challenges don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly three to five hours worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages integrate minor stealth and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — ending.
Accessibility and Conclusion
Gamers avoiding the terror of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Switch console, Sony system, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is presently discounted for a discount on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on multiple platforms and delivers a delightful alternative for fans seeking Halloween fun without the fear factor.
