This Ghostly-Charming Puzzler Serves as the Ideal Replacement to Spooky Scares
Not every spooky season experience has to scare players. Starting with iconic favorites like Scooby-Doo to charming series such as Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed titles provide fun without requiring causing fear. Moreover, a growing library of eerie-charming releases including Halloween vibes, yet without the truly terrifying intensity of terror. Gloomy Eyes was released in September, and acts as an excellent relaxing choice to the truly terrifying titles of 2025.
An Original Collaborative Solo Adventure
Known as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a living-impaired child named Gloomy and a human girl known as Nena as they embark on an adventure to return daylight to their gloomy environment. Their appearance evokes stylized dolls blended with the figures from a Laika film. Their fair-toned and heavy-lidded style is influenced by the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a classic family-friendly adventure. The duo develops an strong connection over the duration of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, hey, possibly zombies aren’t half bad.
Innovative Problem-Solving Features
The “self-coop” label originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, players alternate amidst the budding companions to overcome obstacles and progress through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena can be captured by loitering creatures except if a beam is directed on them.
It's necessary for them to collaborate effectively — well, you’ll use them together — to advance through areas. Nena could adjust or briefly disable lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will use his zombie strength to rearrange objects in the environment, opening up paths for Nena.
Captivating World Building
These challenges remind me a touch of The Gardens Between, in the manner the levels are suspended, miniature designs that the perspective pans around in coordination with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are very enjoyable, leading the companions around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, amid other locations. There’s a “diorama view” option that permits you to view from afar and rotate the stages, simultaneously to enjoy the visuals and search for paths that may not have been obvious.
Slight Issues and Overall Adventure
And that’s one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other games with a locked camera, it’s not always clear where the heroes may or may not travel. You may need to just bump into a few random objects to discover which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nonetheless, those slight obstacles don't hinder of a eerie-adorable good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with about a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Later levels integrate subtle stealth and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and slightly surprising — ending.
Availability and Conclusion
Those shying away from the terror of terrifying releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo platform, PS5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is presently discounted for a quarter off on game marketplaces.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and offers a pleasurable alternative for fans in search of spooky entertainment without the fear factor.
