Not every spooky season adventure has to scare players. From well-known tales such as mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed staples offer entertainment without needing causing fear. Moreover, a increasing selection of spooky-cute titles including autumn atmosphere, but not the keep-you-awake intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and stands as an excellent relaxing option to the intensely frightening releases of 2025.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Quest
Described as a “self-coop” puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes teams up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a living girl known as Nena as they start an adventure to restore sunlight to their shadowy world. Their design evokes Funko Pops mixed with the characters from a animated feature. The pale-skinned and heavy-lidded aesthetic borrows heavily from the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the narrative is a archetypal family-friendly adventure. These two develops an enduring bond over the span of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena tries to show to her clerical relative that, hey, perhaps living-impaired beings are actually good.
Innovative Gameplay Systems
The innovative label stems from the game’s world-based challenges. When Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap between the recent allies to complete challenges and progress through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a light source, while Nena may be grabbed by idle zombies except if a light is directed on them.
They have to cooperate closely — actually, you’ll use them together — to advance through areas. Nena could adjust or temporarily shut off lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will employ his undead power to shift around items in the environment, creating routes for Nena.
Immersive World Building
These challenges bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the stages are hovering, diorama-like designs that the camera pans around in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are quite fun, leading the duo around a fair and through a spooky mansion, including other locations. The game includes a “diorama view” option that allows you to zoom out and rotate the stages, both to admire the visuals and hunt for routes that may not have been obvious.
Minor Hiccups and Complete Adventure
Here lies one of the sole problems with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other titles with a fixed perspective, sometimes it's unclear where the heroes may or may not travel. You may need to randomly encounter a multiple different objects to discover which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
However, those minor obstacles don't obstruct of a spooky-cute enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas combine subtle sneaking and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a rewarding — and moderately unexpected — ending.
Release and Final Thoughts
Players steering clear of the terror of intense horror releases ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, PS5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a quarter off on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure is available on multiple platforms and provides a enjoyable option for fans in search of spooky entertainment without intense scares.
