Not each spooky season experience needs to terrify you. From beloved classics like mystery-solving cartoons to charming series like Over the Garden Wall, many Halloween-themed titles provide fun without requiring raising your heart rate. Moreover, a expanding collection of eerie-charming games with spooky themes, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of terror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in September, and serves as an excellent comfortable choice to the deeply scary games of 2025.
A Unique Self-Coop Quest
Known as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a undead youth called Gloomy and a human girl known as Nena as they begin an adventure to restore sunlight to their dark, dark realm. Their design resembles collectible figures blended with the figures from a animated feature. Their pale-skinned and baggy-eyed appearance is influenced by the appearance of Gothic fantasy movies, and the plot is a quintessential all-ages journey. The duo forms an strong bond over the duration of the game’s numerous levels as Nena strives to prove to her priest uncle that, look, maybe living-impaired beings can be friendly.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative description comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena cross paths, players alternate between the recent allies to complete challenges and move forward through the areas. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the illumination of a lamppost, while Nena may be grabbed by wandering undead without a beam is directed on them.
They must work in tandem — well, you’ll use them together — to advance through areas. Nena may move or temporarily shut off lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the thoughtful character will employ his undead power to rearrange obstacles in the environment, opening up routes for Nena.
Captivating Environment Creation
The brain-teasers bring to mind a bit of The Gardens Between, in the manner the levels are suspended, model-like structures that the perspective rotates in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are very enjoyable, taking the companions around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, among other locales. There’s a “diorama view” feature that enables you to pull back and turn the areas, both to enjoy the designs and hunt for routes that may not have been obvious.
Minor Issues and Complete Adventure
Here lies one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Like other games with a static view, it’s not always clear where the heroes are able to move. Gamers could require to just bump into a few random objects to figure out which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nonetheless, those minor speedbumps don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Later levels blend together subtle hidden movement and exciting moments with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a satisfying — and somewhat unforeseen — finale.
Availability and Conclusion
Players avoiding the scares of terrifying games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, computer, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on game marketplaces.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on multiple platforms and offers a delightful choice for gamers seeking Halloween fun without intense scares.
