Not each Halloween horror adventure has to terrify gamers. Including well-known tales for example animated detectives to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season titles offer entertainment without raising your heart rate. Additionally, a increasing selection of eerie-charming games with autumn atmosphere, though lacking the truly terrifying intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes was released in September, and acts as an superb cozy alternative to the deeply scary releases of 2025.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Adventure
Described as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy named Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they begin an quest to bring the sun back to their dark, dark world. They look is similar to collectible figures combined with the puppets from a stop-motion animation. Their pale-skinned and heavy-lidded aesthetic borrows heavily from the appearance of Burtonesque cinema, and the plot is a classic family-friendly adventure. The pair forms an unbreakable friendship over the course of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, look, perhaps the undead aren’t half bad.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
This unique description stems from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena meet, gamers switch amidst the newfound friends to solve puzzles and move forward through the levels. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a streetlight, while Nena can be captured by idle zombies without a lamp is directed on them.
They must work in tandem — in practice, gamers operate them in tandem — to finish levels. Nena may move or briefly disable illumination to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will employ his undead power to rearrange objects in the surroundings, revealing ways for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
These challenges bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are hovering, diorama-like structures that the view rotates in conjunction with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are very enjoyable, leading the duo around a carnival and through a haunted house, amid other locations. There’s a “diorama view” button that enables you to zoom out and spin the levels, both to enjoy the artwork and search for paths that may not have been clear.
Small Hiccups and General Experience
And that’s one of the few difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the characters may or may not travel. Players might have to randomly encounter a multiple different elements to figure out which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nevertheless, those minor obstacles don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly a few sessions worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages blend together light hidden movement and action elements with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a satisfying — and somewhat unforeseen — finale.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players shying away from the frights of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, PlayStation 5, computer, and Xbox, and is currently on sale for a quarter off on digital platforms.
This charming title is out now on several consoles and provides a enjoyable choice for players seeking Halloween fun without the fear factor.
