Not each autumn fright experience has to frighten you. Starting with well-known tales like mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories such as Over the Garden Wall, many autumn-inspired favorites offer entertainment without causing fear. There’s also, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable titles including autumn atmosphere, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and acts as an outstanding relaxing choice to the intensely frightening games of 2025.
An Original Self-Coop Quest
Described as a solo collaboration problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a living-impaired child known as Gloomy and a human girl named Nena as they begin an adventure to restore sunlight to their gloomy world. Their design resembles Funko Pops mixed with the puppets from a animated feature. The pale-skinned and tired-looking aesthetic is influenced by the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a archetypal family-friendly journey. The pair develops an strong connection over the course of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena attempts to demonstrate to her religious guardian that, you know, perhaps zombies can be friendly.
Original Puzzle Mechanics
This unique label comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap among the budding companions to complete challenges and move forward through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the illumination of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies unless a lamp is directed on them.
They must work in tandem — actually, players control them together — to finish levels. Nena might relocate or momentarily deactivate illumination to open routes for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will use his zombie strength to move items in the world, creating paths for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The puzzles bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are floating, miniature designs that the camera moves across in coordination with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, guiding the companions around a fair and through a haunted house, including other places. The game includes a “diorama view” option that permits you to zoom out and turn the stages, both to appreciate the artwork and look for paths that may not have been apparent.
Slight Hiccups and General Adventure
This represents one of the only problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other releases with a fixed perspective, occasionally it's confusing where the characters may or may not travel. You may need to simply collide with a few random objects to determine which ones are interactable, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nonetheless, those slight challenges don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly three to five hours worth of puzzles. Later levels integrate minor sneaking and exciting moments with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and somewhat unexpected — ending.
Release and Final Thoughts
Those shying away from the frights of intense horror releases ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, Sony system, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is presently discounted for a discount on digital platforms.
This charming title has been released on multiple platforms and delivers a enjoyable choice for players looking for Halloween fun without fear factor.
