Not every Halloween horror experience needs to terrify gamers. Starting with beloved classics such as animated detectives to endearing shows including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed staples provide fun without requiring increasing anxiety. There’s also, a increasing selection of eerie-charming releases including autumn atmosphere, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and acts as an excellent relaxing alternative to the truly terrifying games of 2025.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Quest
Labeled as a “self-coop” puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes teams up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they start an quest to bring the sun back to their dark, dark world. Their appearance is similar to Funko Pops mixed with the figures from a animated feature. The light-complected and heavy-lidded aesthetic borrows heavily from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the plot is a quintessential all-ages adventure. The duo develops an unbreakable bond over the duration of the game’s multiple stages as Nena attempts to demonstrate to her clerical relative that, hey, maybe zombies are actually good.
Original Gameplay Systems
This unique description originates from the game’s world-based challenges. Once Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, gamers switch among the recent allies to solve puzzles and progress through the stages. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies without a beam is shone on them.
It's necessary for them to cooperate closely — actually, gamers operate them simultaneously — to finish levels. Nena could adjust or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the thoughtful character will employ his undead power to move items in the surroundings, revealing paths for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The brain-teasers bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the manner the stages are hovering, model-like structures that the camera moves across in sync with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are quite fun, leading the companions around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, including other places. Players can use a “diorama view” feature that permits you to pull back and spin the stages, both for appreciate the artwork and search for paths that may not have been obvious.
Small Challenges and General Adventure
This represents one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other games with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the characters can and cannot go. Players might have to simply collide with a multiple different objects to figure out which ones are interactable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
However, those slight challenges don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with approximately several hours worth of brain-teasers. Later levels blend together subtle hidden movement and action elements with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a fulfilling — and slightly surprising — conclusion.
Release and Final Thoughts
Those avoiding the scares of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, Sony system, PC, and Xbox, and is presently discounted for a discount on game marketplaces.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on various systems and offers a pleasurable option for fans seeking Halloween fun without terrifying moments.
