Not all Halloween horror experience has to scare gamers. Including iconic favorites such as animated detectives to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, many Halloween-themed staples provide fun without needing causing fear. Moreover, a growing library of eerie-charming releases featuring spooky themes, yet without the keep-you-awake degree of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in September, and stands as an outstanding cozy option to the deeply scary releases of this year.
A Unique Self-Coop Quest
Labeled as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a human girl known as Nena as they start an quest to restore sunlight to their shadowy realm. Their appearance resembles Funko Pops mixed with the characters from a Laika film. Their light-complected and baggy-eyed appearance is influenced by the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the narrative is a quintessential all-ages journey. The duo forms an unbreakable connection over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena tries to show to her clerical relative that, hey, possibly the undead are actually good.
Creative Gameplay Systems
The innovative description comes about from the game’s interactive problem-solving. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap among the newfound friends to overcome obstacles and advance through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the illumination of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by wandering undead without a beam is directed on them.
They must cooperate closely — actually, gamers operate them simultaneously — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will use his zombie strength to move objects in the surroundings, opening up paths for Nena.
Engaging Environment Creation
The puzzles evoke memories a bit of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the areas are floating, miniature structures that the camera moves across in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, taking the friends around a fair and through a ghostly building, among other locations. There’s a “diorama view” feature that enables you to zoom out and spin the levels, both for admire the visuals and search for paths that may not have been apparent.
Small Challenges and Overall Adventure
This represents one of the few difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other games with a fixed perspective, occasionally it's confusing where the characters are able to move. You may need to simply collide with a few random items to discover which ones are usable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nevertheless, those minor speedbumps don’t get in the way of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with about a few sessions worth of puzzles. Later levels integrate minor stealth and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a satisfying — and slightly unexpected — finale.
Availability and Summary
Players shying away from the scares of terrifying games ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, Sony system, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is presently discounted for 25% off on digital platforms.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and offers a delightful alternative for gamers looking for spooky entertainment without terrifying moments.
