Not all autumn fright experience needs to terrify you. From well-known tales like mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, numerous spooky-season staples are enjoyable without requiring raising your heart rate. Additionally, a expanding collection of spooky-cute games featuring Halloween vibes, though lacking the truly terrifying degree of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and stands as an excellent relaxing option to the truly terrifying games of this year.
An Original Single-Player Cooperative Quest
Known as a “self-coop” brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes unites a zombie boy called Gloomy and a human girl called Nena as they embark on an adventure to restore sunlight to their gloomy environment. Their design resembles Funko Pops blended with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The light-complected and tired-looking aesthetic draws inspiration from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the story is a classic all-ages adventure. The pair forms an strong connection over the course of the game’s multiple stages as Nena attempts to show to her clerical relative that, hey, possibly zombies can be friendly.
Creative Puzzle Mechanics
This unique term stems from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap among the newfound friends to overcome obstacles and move forward through the stages. Being a zombie, Gloomy can’t walk through the illumination of a light source, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies unless a light is shone on them.
They must cooperate closely — in practice, gamers operate them simultaneously — to finish levels. Nena may move or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the thoughtful youth will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around obstacles in the environment, opening up paths for Nena.
Engaging Level Design
These challenges remind me a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are floating, miniature designs that the camera pans around in coordination with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are quite fun, taking the companions around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, including other locations. Players can use a “diorama view” feature that enables you to view from afar and rotate the levels, simultaneously to appreciate the visuals and hunt for ways that may not have been apparent.
Minor Issues and Complete Experience
This represents one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a static view, occasionally it's confusing where the heroes can and cannot go. You may need to randomly encounter a few random elements to determine which ones are interactable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nonetheless, those minor obstacles don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Later levels integrate light sneaking and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a satisfying — and somewhat surprising — ending.
Accessibility and Summary
Those steering clear of the frights of fear-inducing games should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, Sony system, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is presently discounted for a quarter off on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure has been released on various systems and provides a pleasurable alternative for players seeking spooky entertainment minus the terrifying moments.
