This Ghostly-Charming Puzzler Acts as the Excellent Substitute to Frightening Flicks

Not all autumn fright experience must terrify players. Starting with iconic favorites for example Scooby-Doo to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed staples offer entertainment without needing raising your heart rate. Additionally, a growing library of ghostly-adorable releases featuring autumn atmosphere, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes was released in recent months, and serves as an outstanding comfortable alternative to the truly terrifying releases of the current season.

Gloomy Eyes screenshot
Image: Creators, ATLAS V, 3DAR, Publishers

An Original Single-Player Cooperative Journey

Known as a solo collaboration puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a zombie boy named Gloomy and a mortal child named Nena as they start an adventure to bring the sun back to their shadowy world. Their design is similar to collectible figures mixed with the figures from a Laika film. The pale-skinned and tired-looking style is influenced by the appearance of Tim Burton’s films, and the plot is a quintessential family-friendly journey. The duo forms an unbreakable connection over the course of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, look, possibly living-impaired beings can be friendly.

Innovative Gameplay Systems

This unique term stems from the game’s interactive problem-solving. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap between the newfound friends to solve puzzles and move forward through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the illumination of a streetlight, while Nena may be grabbed by loitering creatures without a lamp is focused on them.

It's necessary for them to collaborate effectively — in practice, gamers operate them simultaneously — to finish levels. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off lights to open routes for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious boy will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around items in the environment, revealing paths for Nena.

This adventure gameplay
Screenshot: Developers, Production Team, 3DAR, Be Revolution/Untold Tales

Captivating World Building

The puzzles remind me a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are suspended, miniature constructions that the view pans around in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, guiding the friends around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, among other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” option that permits you to view from afar and rotate the levels, simultaneously to appreciate the visuals and search for paths that may not have been clear.

Slight Issues and Overall Experience

Here lies one of the sole difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Like other games with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the characters are able to move. You may need to just bump into a several various elements to determine which ones are interactable, as it’s not always intuitive.

Nonetheless, those small speedbumps don't hinder of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with approximately a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages blend together minor sneaking and action elements with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a satisfying — and somewhat surprising — conclusion.

Release and Final Thoughts

Those avoiding the scares of terrifying games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is presently discounted for a discount on online stores.

The spooky-cute adventure is out now on various systems and delivers a enjoyable choice for fans seeking spooky entertainment without the fear factor.

Jerry Kirby
Jerry Kirby

Eleanor is a seasoned bingo enthusiast and writer with over a decade of experience covering UK bingo halls and online platforms.