Not all Halloween horror journey must frighten players. Starting with beloved classics such as animated detectives to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, numerous autumn-inspired favorites are enjoyable without requiring raising your heart rate. Moreover, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable titles featuring autumn atmosphere, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in September, and stands as an superb relaxing choice to the deeply scary titles of the current season.
An Original Collaborative Solo Journey
Described as a single-player cooperative brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy known as Gloomy and a living girl called Nena as they begin an mission to return daylight to their gloomy world. Their design evokes stylized dolls blended with the characters from a animated feature. The fair-toned and baggy-eyed appearance is influenced by the appearance of Tim Burton’s films, and the plot is a archetypal family-friendly journey. The pair forms an enduring bond over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, hey, possibly living-impaired beings can be friendly.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative description originates from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena meet, you’ll swap between the budding companions to solve puzzles and move forward through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy cannot pass through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena can be captured by wandering undead unless a light is directed on them.
They must collaborate effectively — well, players control them in tandem — to finish levels. Nena may move or momentarily deactivate lights to open routes for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around items in the surroundings, revealing ways for Nena.
Captivating Level Design
The puzzles remind me a little of The Gardens Between, in the manner the levels are hovering, model-like designs that the view moves across in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, leading the duo around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, among other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” feature that allows you to zoom out and turn the levels, both to appreciate the artwork and look for routes that may not have been clear.
Minor Hiccups and Overall Experience
This represents one of the sole hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other releases with a static view, it’s not always clear where the protagonists may or may not travel. Gamers could require to randomly encounter a multiple different objects to discover which ones are interactable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
However, those minor obstacles don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with approximately a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages combine subtle hidden movement and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a satisfying — and slightly surprising — finale.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players avoiding the frights of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo platform, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is currently on sale for a quarter off on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and offers a delightful choice for fans seeking autumn enjoyment without terrifying moments.
