Not all spooky season experience has to frighten you. Including beloved classics like animated detectives to endearing shows including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season staples provide fun without needing increasing anxiety. There’s also, a increasing selection of ghostly-adorable releases including spooky themes, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on degree of fear. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and stands as an excellent comfortable option to the intensely frightening titles of 2025.
An Original Self-Coop Adventure
Known as a “self-coop” problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child called Gloomy and a human girl named Nena as they begin an quest to bring the sun back to their dark, dark world. Their appearance resembles stylized dolls combined with the characters from a animated feature. Their fair-toned and baggy-eyed aesthetic draws inspiration from the look of Tim Burton’s films, and the story is a classic all-ages tale. The duo forms an strong bond over the course of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her priest uncle that, you know, maybe the undead are actually good.
Original Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative description comes about from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, gamers switch among the newfound friends to solve puzzles and progress through the stages. Being a zombie, Gloomy can’t walk through the light of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures without a lamp is focused on them.
They must work in tandem — well, players control them together — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or momentarily deactivate lamps to open routes for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will use his zombie strength to rearrange obstacles in the world, opening up routes for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The puzzles remind me a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are suspended, model-like designs that the view moves across in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, leading the friends around a fair and through a spooky mansion, among other places. The game includes a “diorama view” button that allows you to zoom out and rotate the areas, simultaneously to appreciate the artwork and search for paths that may not have been clear.
Slight Hiccups and Overall Adventure
This represents one of the only hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other games with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the protagonists may or may not travel. Players might have to simply collide with a few random items to determine which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nonetheless, those minor speedbumps don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with roughly three to five hours worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages blend together subtle sneaking and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — conclusion.
Accessibility and Final Thoughts
Players steering clear of the terror of intense horror releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is presently discounted for 25% off on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on several consoles and offers a delightful alternative for gamers seeking Halloween fun without intense scares.
