This Spooky-Cute Brain-Teaser Acts as the Perfect Substitute to Spooky Scares
Not each spooky season adventure needs to frighten you. Including iconic favorites such as mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, many spooky-season staples offer entertainment without needing causing fear. Additionally, a increasing selection of ghostly-adorable games featuring Halloween vibes, but not the truly terrifying level of horror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in recent months, and acts as an superb relaxing option to the truly terrifying releases of 2025.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Adventure
Known as a solo collaboration problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child known as Gloomy and a human girl named Nena as they start an quest to restore sunlight to their shadowy environment. They look resembles Funko Pops combined with the characters from a Laika film. The fair-toned and baggy-eyed aesthetic draws inspiration from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the plot is a archetypal suitable for everyone adventure. The pair forms an strong friendship over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, hey, perhaps zombies aren’t half bad.
Creative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative term originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. After Gloomy and Nena cross paths, gamers switch between the budding companions to solve puzzles and progress through the stages. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by wandering undead without a lamp is shone on them.
It's necessary for them to cooperate closely — well, gamers operate them in tandem — to advance through areas. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will use his zombie strength to rearrange items in the world, opening up ways for Nena.
Immersive World Building
The puzzles bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the areas are suspended, model-like constructions that the perspective rotates in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, leading the companions around a carnival and through a ghostly building, amid other places. Players can use a “diorama view” option that allows you to pull back and turn the stages, simultaneously to enjoy the visuals and hunt for paths that may not have been obvious.
Minor Issues and General Gameplay
This represents one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other releases with a fixed perspective, sometimes it's unclear where the protagonists may or may not travel. Gamers could require to randomly encounter a several various objects to determine which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.
However, those slight challenges don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming good time. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with about a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Later levels combine subtle sneaking and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a satisfying — and somewhat unexpected — ending.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Those avoiding the frights of terrifying games ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, Sony system, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure has been released on various systems and provides a pleasurable option for fans seeking Halloween fun without the intense scares.
