Not all Halloween horror adventure has to terrify gamers. Starting with well-known tales such as animated detectives to delightful stories such as Over the Garden Wall, many Halloween-themed staples are enjoyable without requiring raising your heart rate. There’s also, a growing library of ghostly-adorable games featuring autumn atmosphere, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and stands as an outstanding relaxing alternative to the intensely frightening releases of this year.
An Original Single-Player Cooperative Quest
Described as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a undead youth called Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they begin an quest to restore sunlight to their dark, dark world. They look evokes collectible figures mixed with the figures from a animated feature. Their light-complected and tired-looking style is influenced by the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a classic family-friendly journey. These two builds an strong friendship over the duration of the game’s numerous levels as Nena attempts to show to her religious guardian that, hey, maybe living-impaired beings aren’t half bad.
Innovative Gameplay Systems
The innovative term comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. Once Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, players alternate among the recent allies to overcome obstacles and progress through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy can’t walk through the illumination of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures without a beam is shone on them.
They have to work in tandem — in practice, you’ll use them together — to finish levels. Nena may move or momentarily deactivate lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around obstacles in the environment, opening up routes for Nena.
Immersive World Building
The puzzles evoke memories a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are suspended, model-like constructions that the camera moves across in coordination with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, leading the friends around a carnival and through a haunted house, including other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” button that permits you to zoom out and spin the levels, both to appreciate the designs and hunt for routes that may not have been obvious.
Minor Challenges and General Gameplay
And that’s one of the only hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other titles with a fixed perspective, occasionally it's confusing where the protagonists are able to move. You may need to simply collide with a multiple different objects to determine which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nonetheless, those small challenges don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly a few sessions worth of challenges. Subsequent stages blend together subtle hidden movement and action elements with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a satisfying — and somewhat surprising — ending.
Availability and Summary
Those avoiding the terror of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is currently on sale for 25% off on digital platforms.
The spooky-cute adventure is available on multiple platforms and delivers a delightful option for gamers in search of spooky entertainment minus the intense scares.
