This Ghostly-Charming Brain-Teaser Acts as the Ideal Alternative to Spooky Scares

Not each Halloween horror adventure must scare you. From beloved classics for example Scooby-Doo to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, numerous spooky-season staples provide fun without requiring raising your heart rate. There’s also, a expanding collection of spooky-cute titles featuring Halloween vibes, though lacking the keep-you-awake level of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in recent months, and stands as an excellent cozy option to the truly terrifying releases of this year.

A Distinctive Self-Coop Adventure

Known as a “self-coop” brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes unites a undead youth named Gloomy and a human girl known as Nena as they embark on an mission to return daylight to their gloomy environment. Their appearance is similar to Funko Pops combined with the figures from a animated feature. The fair-toned and heavy-lidded aesthetic borrows heavily from the appearance of Burtonesque cinema, and the narrative is a classic all-ages adventure. The duo builds an unbreakable friendship over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to show to her priest uncle that, hey, perhaps living-impaired beings can be friendly.

Creative Gameplay Systems

The “self-coop” term stems from the game’s environmental puzzles. After Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate between the budding companions to complete challenges and advance through the stages. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a streetlight, while Nena can be captured by wandering undead except if a light is focused on them.

It's necessary for them to work in tandem — in practice, players control them in tandem — to finish levels. Nena may move or momentarily deactivate lamps to open routes for Gloomy, while the thoughtful boy will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around items in the world, opening up paths for Nena.

Immersive World Building

These challenges evoke memories a bit of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are hovering, model-like structures that the view pans around in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, guiding the friends around a fair and through a haunted house, amid other locations. There’s a “diorama view” button that allows you to zoom out and spin the areas, both for appreciate the visuals and look for ways that may not have been obvious.

Small Issues and Overall Experience

Here lies one of the sole difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other releases with a fixed perspective, it’s not always clear where the heroes are able to move. Players might have to randomly encounter a few random items to determine which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.

Nonetheless, those minor challenges don't hinder of a eerie-adorable fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with about several hours worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages combine light sneaking and action elements with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and somewhat unforeseen — finale.

Release and Summary

Players steering clear of the terror of terrifying titles won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Switch console, Sony system, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is presently discounted for 25% off on online stores.

The spooky-cute adventure is available on various systems and offers a enjoyable option for gamers looking for spooky entertainment minus the terrifying moments.