Not every autumn fright experience has to terrify gamers. Starting with well-known tales such as animated detectives to delightful stories such as Over the Garden Wall, many Halloween-themed staples are enjoyable without needing raising your heart rate. Moreover, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable games with spooky themes, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in September, and acts as an superb comfortable alternative to the intensely frightening titles of this year.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Journey
Described as a solo collaboration puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a living-impaired child named Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they embark on an mission to restore sunlight to their dark, dark environment. Their design resembles collectible figures combined with the characters from a Laika film. Their light-complected and baggy-eyed aesthetic is influenced by the look of Tim Burton’s films, and the story is a classic suitable for everyone tale. The pair forms an strong friendship over the duration of the game’s multiple stages as Nena strives to demonstrate to her priest uncle that, you know, possibly the undead are actually good.
Creative Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” description comes about from the game’s interactive problem-solving. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap among the budding companions to overcome obstacles and progress through the levels. Since he's not alive, Gloomy cannot pass through the illumination of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies except if a lamp is directed on them.
They must collaborate effectively — in practice, you’ll use them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena may move or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious youth will employ his undead power to rearrange items in the environment, creating routes for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
These challenges remind me a bit of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are suspended, miniature structures that the perspective moves across in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are quite fun, leading the friends around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, among other locations. There’s a “diorama view” option that allows you to pull back and rotate the areas, simultaneously to appreciate the designs and look for ways that may not have been obvious.
Slight Hiccups and General Adventure
And that’s one of the only hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other titles with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the protagonists can and cannot go. Players might have to simply collide with a few random items to figure out which ones are interactable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nevertheless, those slight obstacles don't hinder of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with about a few sessions worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages blend together minor sneaking and exciting moments with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a satisfying — and slightly surprising — ending.
Release and Summary
Those shying away from the terror of fear-inducing titles won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, computer, and Xbox, and is currently on sale for 25% off on game marketplaces.
Gloomy Eyes has been released on various systems and provides a delightful choice for gamers in search of autumn enjoyment minus the intense scares.
