Not every spooky season adventure has to terrify players. From beloved classics like mystery-solving cartoons to charming series such as Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed favorites offer entertainment without raising your heart rate. There’s also, a increasing selection of eerie-charming titles featuring spooky themes, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on degree of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and acts as an superb comfortable choice to the truly terrifying releases of 2025.
An Original Collaborative Solo Adventure
Described as a single-player cooperative problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they begin an adventure to return daylight to their dark, dark environment. Their appearance resembles stylized dolls blended with the characters from a stop-motion animation. Their fair-toned and heavy-lidded style borrows heavily from the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the narrative is a classic family-friendly adventure. The duo builds an enduring friendship over the course of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena tries to demonstrate to her priest uncle that, hey, perhaps the undead aren’t half bad.
Original Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative term originates from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap among the budding companions to overcome obstacles and move forward through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the light of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures except if a beam is directed on them.
They must work in tandem — in practice, gamers operate them together — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the open-brained youth will use his zombie strength to rearrange obstacles in the surroundings, creating routes for Nena.
Captivating Level Design
These challenges evoke memories a bit of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the stages are hovering, model-like structures that the camera rotates in coordination with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are quite fun, leading the friends around a carnival and through a ghostly building, including other places. There’s a “diorama view” option that enables you to zoom out and spin the stages, both to appreciate the designs and search for routes that may not have been obvious.
Small Challenges and General Gameplay
Here lies one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other releases with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the heroes may or may not travel. You may need to just bump into a multiple different elements to determine which ones are interactive, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nonetheless, those minor speedbumps don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with approximately three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas combine minor stealth and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and somewhat unexpected — ending.
Availability and Summary
Players shying away from the terror of intense horror releases should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, PlayStation 5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a quarter off on online stores.
This charming title has been released on several consoles and offers a delightful choice for fans in search of Halloween fun minus the fear factor.
