Not all autumn fright adventure needs to terrify you. Including well-known tales like animated detectives to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, many Halloween-themed staples provide fun without increasing anxiety. Moreover, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable releases featuring spooky themes, though lacking the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in recent months, and serves as an superb relaxing choice to the deeply scary games of the current season.
A Unique Single-Player Cooperative Adventure
Known as a single-player cooperative problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child known as Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they begin an mission to return daylight to their gloomy environment. Their design resembles stylized dolls combined with the characters from a stop-motion animation. Their light-complected and baggy-eyed appearance borrows heavily from the appearance of Burtonesque cinema, and the story is a archetypal family-friendly adventure. These two forms an unbreakable bond over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to prove to her clerical relative that, hey, perhaps zombies are actually good.
Innovative Gameplay Systems
This unique description originates from the game’s interactive problem-solving. Once Gloomy and Nena cross paths, gamers switch between the newfound friends to overcome obstacles and advance through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the illumination of a lamppost, while Nena can be captured by loitering creatures without a light is shone on them.
They have to collaborate effectively — in practice, you’ll use them together — to finish levels. Nena might relocate or momentarily deactivate lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious boy will use his zombie strength to rearrange obstacles in the surroundings, opening up routes for Nena.
Captivating World Building
The brain-teasers remind me a little of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the stages are suspended, diorama-like constructions that the perspective pans around in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are very enjoyable, taking the friends around a carnival and through a haunted house, amid other places. The game includes a “diorama view” feature that allows you to pull back and spin the levels, both for admire the visuals and search for ways that may not have been clear.
Minor Issues and General Gameplay
Here lies one of the sole problems with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other releases with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the characters can and cannot go. You may need to just bump into a few random items to figure out which ones are interactive, as clues aren't consistently provided.
However, those minor speedbumps don't hinder of a ghostly-charming enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with approximately a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages combine subtle sneaking and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a fulfilling — and slightly unforeseen — finale.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players avoiding the terror of terrifying releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Switch console, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on digital platforms.
This charming title is available on several consoles and delivers a pleasurable option for players in search of autumn enjoyment without fear factor.
