Not each Halloween horror experience has to scare gamers. From well-known tales such as Scooby-Doo to endearing shows such as Over the Garden Wall, numerous autumn-inspired staples offer entertainment without requiring raising your heart rate. There’s also, a growing library of spooky-cute releases with autumn atmosphere, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on degree of terror. Gloomy Eyes debuted in the fall, and serves as an excellent comfortable choice to the intensely frightening games of this year.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Adventure
Described as a “self-coop” brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child known as Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they start an quest to bring the sun back to their gloomy realm. They look resembles collectible figures mixed with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The pale-skinned and baggy-eyed style borrows heavily from the appearance of Burtonesque cinema, and the narrative is a archetypal all-ages adventure. The duo develops an unbreakable connection over the span of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena attempts to prove to her religious guardian that, hey, maybe the undead aren’t half bad.
Innovative Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” term originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, gamers switch amidst the recent allies to solve puzzles and advance through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies except if a light is focused on them.
It's necessary for them to cooperate closely — actually, players control them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena could adjust or momentarily deactivate lamps to clear paths for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will employ his undead power to shift around objects in the environment, revealing paths for Nena.
Immersive World Building
These challenges remind me a bit of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are floating, diorama-like designs that the camera pans around in conjunction with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are very enjoyable, taking the friends around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, amid other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” button that enables you to view from afar and turn the areas, both for appreciate the visuals and search for paths that may not have been clear.
Small Issues and Overall Experience
Here lies one of the sole hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other titles with a static view, occasionally it's confusing where the characters are able to move. You may need to simply collide with a several various items to figure out which ones are interactable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
However, those slight obstacles don't obstruct of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with about several hours worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas blend together minor hidden movement and exciting moments with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a fulfilling — and somewhat surprising — conclusion.
Release and Final Thoughts
Players shying away from the scares of intense horror games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo platform, PS5, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is currently on sale for 25% off on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on multiple platforms and delivers a delightful option for players in search of spooky entertainment without fear factor.
