Not every autumn fright experience must scare players. Including iconic favorites for example animated detectives to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, many autumn-inspired staples are enjoyable without needing raising your heart rate. There’s also, a expanding collection of eerie-charming games including autumn atmosphere, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on degree of terror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in September, and serves as an excellent relaxing option to the intensely frightening titles of 2025.
A Distinctive Single-Player Cooperative Quest
Labeled as a solo collaboration problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they begin an adventure to bring the sun back to their gloomy environment. Their appearance evokes Funko Pops mixed with the puppets from a animated feature. The pale-skinned and heavy-lidded aesthetic borrows heavily from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the story is a classic family-friendly journey. These two builds an enduring connection over the duration of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to show to her religious guardian that, look, perhaps the undead can be friendly.
Innovative Gameplay Systems
The innovative label stems from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap amidst the budding companions to solve puzzles and progress through the levels. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the illumination of a lamppost, while Nena may be grabbed by wandering undead unless a beam is shone on them.
They have to collaborate effectively — in practice, gamers operate them in tandem — to finish levels. Nena could adjust or temporarily shut off illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will use his zombie strength to rearrange items in the environment, revealing routes for Nena.
Engaging World Building
The brain-teasers bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are hovering, diorama-like constructions that the view rotates in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, guiding the friends around a carnival and through a ghostly building, among other places. There’s a “diorama view” option that permits you to view from afar and rotate the stages, both to admire the visuals and hunt for routes that may not have been clear.
Small Hiccups and General Adventure
Here lies one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other releases with a locked camera, it’s not always clear where the heroes are able to move. Players might have to simply collide with a few random elements to determine which ones are interactable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nevertheless, those small obstacles don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas integrate minor sneaking and exciting moments with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — finale.
Release and Final Thoughts
Those steering clear of the terror of terrifying titles should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, and is presently discounted for 25% off on game marketplaces.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and provides a pleasurable choice for players looking for Halloween fun without fear factor.
