Not every Halloween horror adventure must frighten gamers. Including beloved classics for example mystery-solving cartoons to charming series including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed favorites provide fun without increasing anxiety. Moreover, a growing library of spooky-cute games with Halloween vibes, but not the truly terrifying intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in September, and stands as an excellent relaxing choice to the intensely frightening releases of 2025.
An Original Single-Player Cooperative Journey
Known as a solo collaboration puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a undead youth named Gloomy and a human girl named Nena as they begin an quest to restore sunlight to their dark, dark environment. Their appearance resembles stylized dolls combined with the puppets from a Laika film. Their pale-skinned and tired-looking aesthetic is influenced by the look of Gothic fantasy movies, and the story is a quintessential family-friendly journey. The duo develops an enduring friendship over the duration of the game’s multiple stages as Nena tries to demonstrate to her priest uncle that, you know, possibly living-impaired beings are actually good.
Creative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative term comes about from the game’s environmental puzzles. After Gloomy and Nena meet, you’ll swap among the newfound friends to complete challenges and move forward through the levels. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a streetlight, while Nena may be grabbed by wandering undead without a light is shone on them.
It's necessary for them to work in tandem — actually, players control them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena may move or briefly disable lamps to clear paths for Gloomy, while the open-brained youth will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around items in the surroundings, creating routes for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The puzzles evoke memories a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are hovering, miniature constructions that the perspective rotates in coordination with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, taking the friends around a carnival and through a spooky mansion, amid other locations. There’s a “diorama view” feature that allows you to view from afar and spin the areas, both for enjoy the artwork and search for routes that may not have been obvious.
Slight Hiccups and Overall Experience
And that’s one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other games with a static view, occasionally it's confusing where the heroes can and cannot go. You may need to just bump into a multiple different objects to figure out which ones are usable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nonetheless, those minor obstacles don't hinder of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly several hours worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages combine minor stealth and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and somewhat unforeseen — finale.
Availability and Conclusion
Gamers shying away from the scares of fear-inducing titles won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Microsoft console, and is currently on sale for a quarter off on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes is available on multiple platforms and offers a pleasurable alternative for players in search of autumn enjoyment without intense scares.
