Not each spooky season experience has to terrify you. From beloved classics like Scooby-Doo to endearing shows including Over the Garden Wall, numerous autumn-inspired staples are enjoyable without requiring raising your heart rate. There’s also, a growing library of ghostly-adorable titles featuring Halloween vibes, but not the truly terrifying degree of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in recent months, and acts as an superb comfortable option to the truly terrifying releases of 2025.
A Distinctive Single-Player Cooperative Journey
Labeled as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes unites a undead youth known as Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they embark on an adventure to restore sunlight to their dark, dark world. Their design is similar to Funko Pops mixed with the figures from a Laika film. Their light-complected and tired-looking appearance is influenced by the look of Tim Burton’s films, and the story is a classic family-friendly journey. These two builds an unbreakable friendship over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena attempts to prove to her priest uncle that, look, possibly living-impaired beings aren’t half bad.
Creative Problem-Solving Features
This unique label comes about from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena meet, you’ll swap amidst the recent allies to overcome obstacles and progress through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy can’t walk through the illumination of a lamppost, while Nena may be grabbed by idle zombies unless a lamp is focused on them.
It's necessary for them to work in tandem — well, you’ll use them in tandem — to advance through areas. Nena may move or temporarily shut off lights to clear paths for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will employ his undead power to move items in the surroundings, revealing paths for Nena.
Immersive Environment Creation
The brain-teasers bring to mind a bit of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the areas are floating, model-like structures that the view rotates in sync with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are quite fun, taking the duo around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, among other places. There’s a “diorama view” option that permits you to zoom out and spin the levels, both for admire the designs and look for ways that may not have been apparent.
Small Hiccups and General Experience
This represents one of the sole hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the characters can and cannot go. You may need to randomly encounter a multiple different objects to figure out which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nevertheless, those small challenges don't hinder of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly a few sessions worth of challenges. Later levels integrate light sneaking and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a fulfilling — and somewhat surprising — ending.
Availability and Summary
Gamers avoiding the terror of terrifying games should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, computer, and Xbox Series X, and is currently on sale for 25% off on digital platforms.
Gloomy Eyes is available on various systems and provides a delightful choice for fans in search of Halloween fun minus the fear factor.
