Not all autumn fright experience needs to scare gamers. Including iconic favorites for example Scooby-Doo to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season staples are enjoyable without needing raising your heart rate. There’s also, a increasing selection of eerie-charming releases with spooky themes, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of terror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in recent months, and acts as an excellent comfortable option to the truly terrifying titles of 2025.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Journey
Labeled as a “self-coop” puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a living-impaired child named Gloomy and a mortal child known as Nena as they start an mission to restore sunlight to their shadowy environment. Their appearance evokes collectible figures mixed with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The light-complected and tired-looking appearance draws inspiration from the visual style of Tim Burton’s films, and the plot is a archetypal family-friendly adventure. These two builds an enduring friendship over the span of the game’s numerous levels as Nena tries to show to her clerical relative that, look, possibly living-impaired beings can be friendly.
Creative Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” label originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. Once Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap between the budding companions to solve puzzles and advance through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures without a beam is directed on them.
They have to cooperate closely — well, you’ll use them in tandem — to advance through areas. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off illumination to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained boy will employ his undead power to shift around obstacles in the environment, opening up routes for Nena.
Immersive Environment Creation
These challenges bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the stages are floating, model-like structures that the camera rotates in coordination with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, taking the companions around a fair and through a ghostly building, among other places. The game includes a “diorama view” button that allows you to zoom out and rotate the areas, both for appreciate the visuals and search for paths that may not have been apparent.
Minor Challenges and General Experience
This represents one of the only problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other games with a fixed perspective, it’s not always clear where the characters are able to move. Players might have to simply collide with a several various objects to determine which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nevertheless, those slight challenges don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable good time. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly three to five hours worth of challenges. Later levels blend together subtle hidden movement and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and moderately unexpected — conclusion.
Release and Final Thoughts
Those avoiding the frights of terrifying titles should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Nintendo platform, PS5, Windows PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a quarter off on digital platforms.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on multiple platforms and delivers a pleasurable choice for fans looking for autumn enjoyment without terrifying moments.
