Not each Halloween horror journey needs to scare you. From iconic favorites like animated detectives to charming series including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of autumn-inspired titles offer entertainment without raising your heart rate. There’s also, a expanding collection of eerie-charming titles including autumn atmosphere, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of terror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in September, and serves as an outstanding comfortable choice to the deeply scary releases of this year.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Adventure
Labeled as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes unites a zombie boy called Gloomy and a mortal child named Nena as they start an mission to restore sunlight to their gloomy realm. They look evokes collectible figures blended with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The light-complected and baggy-eyed aesthetic is influenced by the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a classic suitable for everyone adventure. The pair develops an enduring friendship over the duration of the game’s multiple stages as Nena tries to show to her clerical relative that, hey, perhaps living-impaired beings aren’t half bad.
Creative Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” description originates from the game’s interactive problem-solving. Once Gloomy and Nena cross paths, gamers switch between the newfound friends to overcome obstacles and move forward through the areas. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the light of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies except if a light is directed on them.
It's necessary for them to work in tandem — in practice, players control them together — to advance through areas. Nena could adjust or briefly disable lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the thoughtful youth will employ his undead power to shift around items in the surroundings, revealing ways for Nena.
Captivating Level Design
These challenges bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the areas are suspended, diorama-like constructions that the view pans around in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, leading the friends around a fair and through a haunted house, amid other locations. The game includes a “diorama view” button that enables you to pull back and spin the stages, simultaneously to appreciate the visuals and look for paths that may not have been obvious.
Minor Issues and Complete Gameplay
And that’s one of the sole difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other releases with a locked camera, sometimes it's unclear where the protagonists can and cannot go. Players might have to randomly encounter a few random items to figure out which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nonetheless, those minor challenges don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages blend together light stealth and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — finale.
Accessibility and Final Thoughts
Players avoiding the frights of intense horror releases should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Switch console, PlayStation 5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is presently discounted for 25% off on online stores.
This charming title is available on various systems and delivers a enjoyable option for fans in search of Halloween fun without the intense scares.
